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Men's Swimmers Bounce Ball State, 129-113

Zach Ruske

BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo men's swim team defeated Ball State, 129-113, at Alumni Arena Natatorium on Saturday to close out a two-meet weekend slate. The Bulls earned their first Mid-American Conference victory of the season and now stand 2-1 overall and 1-1 in league competition. The Cardinals are now 1-1, 0-1 MAC.

The Bulls captured nine of the 13 events on Saturday's schedule with three individuals posting two wins apiece.

Junior Zach Ruske (Superior, CO/Monarch) picked up two wins on Saturday. Ruske took the 200-yard individual medley in 1:58.06. He later won the 100-yard freestyle in 47.95, lowering his season-best mark in the race by more than a half-second. Ruske also anchored UB's victorious 400-yard medley relay squad to a victory as the UB foursome of Andrew Tamchyna (Newmarket, Ontario/Newmarket), Jordan Matthews (Burnt Hills, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake), Kevin Schuster (Rochester, NY/Greece Athena) and Ruske combined for a 3:34.36 showing.

Distance freestyler Connor Vander Zalm (Kelowna, British Columbia/Kelowna) swept the two longest races on the program. Vander Zalm conquered the 1,650-yard freestyle in 16:49.13. He then won the 500-yard freestyle in 4:51.01.

Mike Hurst

Also posting two diving wins was sophomore Michael McDowell (Rush, NY/Rush Henrietta). McDowell took the one-meter springboard title with a six-dive total of 310.43 points. He also won the three-meter event, just missing out on his school record, with a total of 350.85 points. The total was six points shy of the three-meter record that he had posted against Duquesne on October 19.

Tamchyna, who swam the backstroke portion of UB's winning medley relay, won his signature event, the 200-yard backstroke for the second straight meet. Tamchyna took the race in 1:55.61.

Senior Mike Hurst (Rochester, NY/Greece Athena) won the 200-yard butterfly. As the lone UB entrant in the race, Hurst finished in 1:59.56 ahead of four Ball State racers. The time was the fastest by a UB butterflier this season.

The Bulls will rest during the remainder of November. They hit the water next for the three-day SummaCare Invitational, hosted by the University of Akron, starting November 30.