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Swimming Weekly Release

Swimmers Open 2007-08 Campaign With WNY Invite

The University at Buffalo's men's and women's swim teams opened the 2007-08 campaign on Saturday by hosting the WNY Invitational at the Alumni Arena Natatorium. There was no team scoring in the meet that also included men's and women's squads from Canisius, Niagara, St. Bonaventure and Binghamton. All events were timed finals as the UB women won 10 of the 15 events while the UB men took a pair of distance freestyle races.

Lehner Makes UB Debut a Success

Andrea Lehner

Western New York native Andrea Lehner (Lockport, NY/Orchard Park) returned home and made a big splash in her debut with the UB women’s team. Lehner, who swam at Maryland last season, took five individual events and was part of one of UB’s victorious relay squads. Lehner impressed in her first individual race, winning the 500-yard freestyle in 4:58.93, just one second off the UB school record set by Jennefer Brankovsky in 2004. Lehner also scored first place finishes in the two other distance freestyle races. In the 200-yard freestyle, she took first place in 1:56.24 and won the 1,000-yard freestyle in 10:15.36. Lehner also won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:08.25 and the 200-yard backstroke in 2:05.43. The backstroke time was also a second off the UB school record.

Koltz, Eckert, Ballard Also Score Women’s Wins

Three additional UB women picked up single victories on Saturday. Freshman Jessie Koltz (Chenango Bridge, NY/Chenango Valley) was victorious in the 50-yard freestyle, turning in a time of 25.07. Sam Eckert (Eden, NY/Eden) won the 100-yard butterfly in 58.52. Jessica Ballard (Montreal, Quebec/Academic Magnet) took the 400-yard individual medley by the slimmest of margins. Ballard turned in a time of 4:39.99, touching out St. Bonaventure's Kara Small by four-hundredths of a second.

Relayers Sweep Opening and Closing Races

Sam Palma

The UB women bookended the meet with victories in both relay events. In the opening race, the 200-yard medley relay, the foursome of Lehner, Ashley Schaffert (Lockport, NY/Lockport), Koltz and Sam Palma (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) won in 1:49.43, holding off St. Bonaventure's top squad by three-tenths of a second. The Bulls completed the meet with another relay victory in the 200-yard freestyle relay as the squad of Meghan Lafferty (East Aurora, NY/East Aurora), Palma, Koltz and Andrea Scharf (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) touched the wall in 1:41.06, a second ahead of another UB foursome.

Vander Zalm Leads Men With Distance Freestyle Wins

Connor Vander Zalm

The UB men were led by sophomore Connor Vander Zalm (Kelowna, British Columbia/Kelowna) in the distance freestyle races. Vander Zalm won the 500-yard freestyle in 4:48.85. He later scored a victory in the 1,000-yard freestyle in 10:01.30. Vander Zalm also placed second overall in the 400-yard individual medley in 4:23.24.