Behind Wrestling and a pair of basketball games Saturday, Swimming and Diving made history at home in the Alumni Natatorium.
After Friday’s yearly beatdown of Bonaventure, the Bulls brought in Eastern Michigan for their final MAC dual before the conference championship meets in a few weeks. When all was said and done, while the women fell 164-139, the men topped the Eagles 161-139 in EMU’s first MAC dual loss since 1997-1998.
UB won nine of sixteen events, and got critical points from their depth, taking seven second- and seven third-place finishes as well. With EMU always strong and Missouri State looming from the other side of the conference, it’s that depth that will be critical for the Bulls come the MAC Championships.
But the Bulls also won in large part because their top swimmers stepped up. Hudson Carroll and Eric Jensen were both part of two winning relay groups, Mason Miller won three individual events and anchored the final relay, and UB swept the top three in both the 50 Free and the 100 Breast while also going 1-2 in the 200 breast.
Garrett Clarke barely missed NCAA ‘B’ cuts in both breaststroke races.
On the women’s side, UB also won nine of sixteen events, but only found two second-place finishes, both in relays. The usual highlights, though, were still there: Megan Burns won all three sprint freestyle events while coming just .22s short of closing a 1.58-second gap in the 400 free relay, Julia Box won both butterfly events, and Hannah Miller won both distance freestyle swims.
Both groups are at Cleveland State next weekend. Once the MAC updates their season times I’ll have more of a look at the conference championships.