Connor Vander Zalm and Zach Ruske Earn MAC Championships in Final Day

Vander Zalm, Ruske and Woster break school records

NASHVILLE, TN- The University at Buffalo men’s swimming and diving team wrapped up the MAC/Sun Belt Championships Saturday night with two individual championships and multiple school records.

Connor Vander Zalm

Distance specialist Connor Vander Zalm set the tone for the final day, winning the MAC Championship in the 1650 freestyle, setting a new school record with a time of 15:39.75, bettering the old record by nearly 10 seconds. In similar fashion, Zach Ruske swam the 200 backstroke in record-breaking time, 1:47.08, bettering his own record, and earning the top spot among MAC entrants. The 200 backstroke marked his third individual record of the weekend. Andrew Tamchyna also picked up points for the Bulls, finishing eighth overall and second in the MAC with a time of 1:50.46. Jared Heine placed eighth overall and second in the MAC in the 100 freestyle, with a time of 45.55 and Chad Miller earned consolation points in the same event, placing 15th overall and fourth in the MAC with a time of 45.85. Scott Woster bettered his own school record in the 100 butterfly, flying to a speedy 1:49.29 to put him in ninth place overall and second among MAC contestants. Chris Berloth swam a 1:51:06 to earn 16th place and fifth in the MAC in the 100 butterfly as well. The 400 freestyle relay of Ruske, Heine, Miller and Simon Proudfoot placed third in the MAC, finishing close behind MAC rivals Miami and Eastern Michigan, with a time of 3:02.18.

Scott Woster

UB finished sixth overall and second in the MAC with 639.5 points, beating both Miami and Ball State who finished with 588 and 267, respectively. Eastern Michigan won for the MAC schools with 1046.5 and Denver won the overall meet with 1226 points. The Bulls finish their season with their best showing at the MAC Championships since joining the MAC in 1998.