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Men's Swimming Weekly Release

Bulls Make Big Improvements at SummaCare Invite

UB ended the three-day SummaCare Invitational at the University of Akron with a fourth-place showing as the Bulls improved from last season’s sixth-place finish. The Bulls finished with 1,162 points, just a half-point shy of third-place Clarion’s total (1,162.5). Mid-American Conference rival Ohio won the team title with 1,322 points while Duquesne was second with 1,240 points. Behind the Bulls were St. Bonaventure (1,064.5), Xavier (1,036), Shippensburg (788) and Bloomsburg (377). Not only did the Bulls improve on their placing at this season’s meet, they improved their team score by nearly 300 points over last season’s six-team meet. The Bulls accumulated 15 lifetime-best swims on Sunday as UB swimmers reached the championship final in each of the final night’s six events. In the three-day meet, the Bulls posted 31 lifetime-best swims or dives.

McDowell, Vander Zalm Post Victories

Connor Vander Zalm

The Bulls scored a pair of victories in the three-day meet, highlighted by a record breaking diving performance on Friday’s opening night. Freshman diver Michael McDowell (Rush, NY/Rush Henrietta) won the three-meter diving event with a six-dive total in the finals of 332.40 points, breaking the Ocasek Natatorium record of 316.35, set at last year’s meet by former UB diver Cassidy Lynch and establishing a new meet record. It was also a lifetime best for McDowell who finished one point shy of Lynch’s UB record set at last season’s ECAC Championships. On Sunday, freshman Connor Vander Zalm (Kelowna, British Columbia/Kelowna) scored a victory for the Bulls in the grueling 1,650-yard freestyle. Vander Zalm conquered the mile distance in 16:13.96, eight seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, Chris Kobela of Duquesne. The 1,650-yard freestyle, the longest race of the meet, was a timed final with no preliminary races.

Second-Place Finishes Abound

Michael McDowell

The Bulls also posted five second-place finishes, including a relay event, in the three days. In Friday’s opening night, in the 500-yard freestyle, senior Luke Adams (Quinnesec, MI/Kingsford) clocked a 4:38.92 in the 500-yard freestyle. On Saturday, sophomore Kevin Schuster (Rochester, NY/Greece-Athena) scored a second-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly in a season-best time of 50.97, cutting nearly two and a half seconds off his previous season-best and just missing his lifetime best by a fraction of a second. Schuster also teamed with Zach Ruske (Superior, CO/Monarch) , Vander Zalm and Adams to rally the Bulls to a second-place finish in the night's final event, the 800-yard freestyle relay. The Bulls' quartet touched the wall in 6:58.20, the first time this season that they have raced the event. Also on Saturday, McDowell nabbed second place on the one-meter diving board with 228.90 points for his six dives. In Sunday’s final day, freshman Andrew Tamchyna (Newmarket, Ontario/Newmarket) placed second in the 200-yard backstroke with a lifetime-best time of 1:52.67, less than seven-tenths of a second behind Scott Darwin of Duquesne (1:51.99).

Time to Hit the Books

With the SummaCare Invitational now history, the Bulls head out of the water and back into the classroom for the first semester’s final exams. UB returns to the pool on January 13 when they host Ohio, the SummaCare champions, in a Mid-American Conference tussle starting at 1:00 pm.