Geoff Wells

OXFORD, OH - Although it won't show in the final point totals, the University at Buffalo men's swimming team concluded the 2005 Mid-American Conference Championships on Saturday night on a positive note with several lifetime-best swims.

UB finished fifth among the five teams in the championship meet with 263 points. Defending champion Eastern Michigan rolled to its sixth consecutive and 25th title in school history with 1,008 points, easily outdistancing second-place Miami's 768 points. Ball State (571), Ohio University (465) and UB (263) followed.

Geoff Wells (Waterville, OH/Anthony Wayne) posted a lifetime-best with his sixth-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke to lead the Bulls on Saturday. Wells finished in 2:06.76, nearly three-quarters of a second better than his previous best. Wells recorded a 2:07.78 in the preliminaries, cutting his season-best by more than three seconds and nearly reaching Aviv Oren's 2002 record of 2:06.31. Erik Schwarz (Fairport, NY/Fairport) was 13th overall and fifth in the consolation final in 2:13.20.

Mark Sy

Mark Sy (Scarborough, Ontario/Mary Ward CSS) just missed his record in the 200-yard butterfly with his 1:52.79 clocking in the finals to finish seventh overall. The time improved on Sy's season-best 1:53.16 in the preliminary round and was just four-tenths of a second off his school record set in 2003.

The remainder of UB's finishes on Saturday came in the consolation races. In the 200-yard backstroke Luke Adams (Quinnesec, MI/Kingsford) placed 10th (second in the consolation) in 1:54.24. Evan McCormack (Webster, NY/Webster) and Jon Yarger (Centre Hall, PA/Penns Valley) posted lifetime-best performances in the preliminaries and finals. McCormack placed 11th (third in the consolation) in 1:54.65 while Yarger was 12th (fourth in the consolation) in 1:55.88. Jeff Hurst (Rochester, NY/Greece-Athena) took 14th (sixth in the consolation) in 1:58.18.

Prior to Sy's swim in the 200-yard butterfly finals, the Bulls placed three in the consolation race with two more lifetime-best marks. Aaron Moessinger (Elma, NY/Iroquois) took 11th overall (third in the consolation) in 1:57.46 while Mike Hurst (Rochester, NY/Greece-Athena) was 14th overall (sixth in the consolation in 2:00.02. Both swimmers had posted lifetime-bests in Saturday afternoon's heats. Fotis Bardis (Kisissia Athens, Greece/Third Lyceum of Kisissia) placed 15th overall and seventh in the consolation in 2:02.38.

Dustin Hui (Gardner, MA/Gardner) turned in a season-best performance in the grueling 1,650-yard freestyle race. The senior distance specialist finished in 17:04.10, slicing eight seconds off his mark at last week's ECAC Championships.

Kevin Gatley (Charlton, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Spa) finished 15th overall in the 100-yard freestyle, posting identical 48.10 clockings in both the finals and preliminary round. The time is a lifetime best for Gatley. Sean Reilley (Holland Patent, NY/Holland Patent) just missed reaching the finals, finishing 17th in the heats in 52.01, his lifetime-best.

The meet concluded with the Bulls' 400-yard freestyle relay team of Jeff Hurst, Yarger, Schwarz and Gatley posting a season-best time of 3:09.25. The team finished fifth in the race.

"We took 15 swimmers to the MAC Championships," said head coach Budd Termin. "Fourteen out of 15 scored in at least one event, while most scored in two or more events."

All told, the Bulls posted 12 lifetime-bests on Saturday and 20 in the three days of the MAC Championships.

"Everyday the team performed better and better," said Termin. "It was a very strong team performance, which is important to these championships, getting almost eveyone into the scoring. The individual performances made the meet a good combination for how the kids did in their races and how the team did overall."