UB Swimming Weekly Release

Bulls Have Record Setting Weekend at MAC Championships

The University at Buffalo men's swimming and diving team set eight school records and had three individual MAC Champions at the MAC/Sun Belt Championship meet in Nashville, TN. The Bulls finished in second-place, their highest finish at the championship meet since joining the MAC in 1998.

Connor Vander Zalm

Buffalo Opens Meet with Two Relay Records

UB kicked off the meet on Wednesday, setting school records in the 200 medley relay and the 800 freestyle relay. UB's first record breaking performance came from Jake Sangren, Jordan Matthews, Scott Woster and Chad Miller in the 200 medley relay, posting a time of 1:31.38, bettering the time of 132.12 set in 1992. The time was good enough for second place among MAC entrants. In the 800 freestyle relay, the team of Zach Ruske, Simon Proudfoot, Jared Heine and Connor Vander Zalm finished seventh overall and second among MAC schools with a time of 6:41.60, a full three seconds better than the previous record set in 1998. The men beat out MAC competition from Miami and Ball State in both events. Also on Wednesday, diver Michael McDowell placed fourth overall and third in the MAC on the three-meter board with a score of 358.10, finishing behind two divers from Miami. In the one-meter event McDowell earned 321.30 placing him second in the MAC and third overall.

Sangren and Vander Zalm Earn Conference Championship Honors

Sangren stole the show Friday night as the freshman won Buffalo's first MAC title of 2009, placing first in the 100 backstroke with a time of 50.03, just two-tenths off his own school record. Distance specialist 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.

Ruske Breaks Three Individual Records and Earns MAC Champ Title

Zach Ruske

On day two of competition, Ruske broke his first individual record in the preliminary round of the 200 IM (1:51.06), bettering his own record set last season. Ruske was the MAC runner-up in the 200 IM, earning 10th overall. On Friday, Ruske swam to a life-time best and record breaking 3:57.42 in the 400 IM during the preliminary heats, finishing third in the MAC and eighth overall at finals. In the final day of competition, Ruske broke the 200 backstroke record with a time of 1:47.08, bettering his own record, and earning the top spot among MAC entrants to take the title for the second consecutive year.

Final Scores

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. Buffalo head coach Andy Bashor was named MAC Coach of the Year following the team's performance at the championship meet.