MEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING

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BUFFALO, NY - Night two of the Mid-American Conference Men's Swimming and Diving Championships concluded Friday with a pair of new pool records established and the University at Buffalo's first MAC champion since 1999. After two nights of competition at UB's Alumni Arena Natatorium, Eastern Michigan remains in command of the six-team meet with 615 points. Toledo is second at 410, followed by Miami (OH) at 356, Ball State at 343, Ohio at 238 and Buffalo at 192.

Aviv Oren

The highlight of the evening was in the 100 breaststroke as UB sophomore Aviv Oren (Rishon Le-Zion, Israel/Makif A') became the Bulls' first MAC champion since 1999 with his thrilling victory. Oren, the school record holder in the 200 breaststroke, established a new mark at the 100-yard distance by touching out Eastern Michigan's John Bartlet by one-hundredth of a second. Oren placed first in 56.88 to Bartlet's 56.89. The clocking was a lifetime best for Oren and broke the record of Carl Carlson (57.41) set in 1996. It was also the first MAC individual championship for a Bull since Dan Hickey won the 200 freestyle in the 1999 meet, UB's first season in the league.

Mark Sy

Winning events for the second consecutive night were Justin Breitigam of Eastern Michigan and Lorent Divald of Toledo. Breitigam took the 400 individual medley in 3:54.71 to break an Alumni Arena Natatorium record set in 1990. Breitigam also won Thursday's 200 individual medley. Divald, meanwhile, took the 200 freestyle in 1:38.19 to establish an NCAA "B" cut time. He also set a "B" cut mark to win last night's 500 freestyle. Divald also swam the opening leg of Toledo's 800 freestyle relay which placed first in 6:41.82. He was followed into the water by Stephan Connor, Justin Lawrence and Vuk Danilovic.

Eastern Michigan's 200 medley relay team of Kevin Doak, Ondrej Pekarovic, Doug Fleming and Ryan Meekins won the opening event of the night in a pool record time of 1:30.32. Doak set the 100 backstroke meet record in Friday's preliminaries with a time of 48.51 and returned to win the finals in 48.65.

Geoff Wells

Other UB highlights Friday included Mark Sy (Scarborough, Ontario/Mary Ward) placing sixth in the 400 individual medley in 4:05.06. Sy turned in a lifetime best of 4:04.40 in the preliminaries to reach the championship round. Geoff Wells (Waterville, OH/Anthony Wayne) won the consolation final of the 100 breaststroke in a lifetime best of 58.79 to complete the event sweep as Oren immediately followed with his victory. Jeff Hurst (Rochester, NY/Greece-Athena) finished 10th in the 400 individual medley in 4:07.46, his lifetime-best, with Eric Schwarz (Fairport, NY/Fairport) racing 14th in 4:13.23. Freshman Kurt Bessel (Mexico, NY/Mexico Academy) earned points for the Bulls with his lifetime best performance of 53.05 in the 100 backstroke to place 13th overall.

Competition continues through Saturday. Live results and audio play-by-play can be downloaded via the internet through the UB athletic website, www.buffalobulls.com.

Friday's Champions

200 Medley Relay Eastern Michigan 1:30.32

(Kevin Doak, Ondrej Pekarovic, Doug Fleming, Ryan Meekins)

400 Individual Medley Justin Breitigam (Eastern Michigan) 3:54.71

100 Butterfly Patrik Johansson (Toledo) 49.22

200 Freestyle Lorant Divald (Toledo) 1:38.19

100 Breaststroke Aviv Oren (Buffalo) 56.88

100 Backstroke Kevin Doak (Eastern Michigan) 48.65

800 Freestyle Relay Toledo 6:41.82

(Lorant Divald, Stephan Connor, Justin Lawrence, Vuk Danilovic)