For the ninth time in 10 years, Buffalo men's swimming and diving finished in the top 10 at the Eastern College Athletics Conference championships, but the real highlight last weekend was freshman diver Cassidy Lynch, who earned the Diver of the Year title at the University of Pittsburgh meet.
The Westminster, Colo., native came away with both the one-meter and three-meter individual diving titles, breaking the school record in the latter event by nearly six points. Justin Monin set the old record in 1995.
In a six-dive total, Lynch scored 333.40 points for the first of his wins Friday night, the first diving title the Bulls have won since Patrick Lee in 2004.
"Winning means that I dove well and the coaching program here is great," Lynch said about his Diver of the Year honors. "However, the little credit our team is given is countered by the success we have seen."
On Sunday night, the one-meter prize was guaranteed to Lynch, who scored 284 points in the finals. He also posted the highest point total in the preliminary rounds with 286.75.
The men's swimming team finished the meet with many lifetime and season bests. However, none were good enough for any titles. As a team, the Bulls placed eighth of 19 scoring schools. The finish is the ninth time in 10 years Buffalo has placed in the top 10. Last year, the team placed 12th.
The meet was meant to place the swimmers in the events that would showcase their strengths, not necessarily give them the highest total points in team scoring, according to head coach Budd Termin.
"It's important for us to swim well, but not leave the meet tired," Termin said in an e-mail. "We don't score as many team points as we might be capable of scoring, but we always feel like we are a strong enough team to be in the top 10 teams even with these limitations."
Junior Luke Adams improved his time in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:39.47 in the preliminaries and finishing fifth in the finals at 4:39.65.
Adams, however, didn't see victory in his premier race for the 200-yard backstroke. Adams failed to make the championship race, although he did swim his fastest time of the year in the preliminaries with a time of 1:53.75, and made a fifth-place showing in the consolation final, where he finished 1:55.70.
"Titles are nice, but when it comes down to it, the most important thing is to put your best effort into a race and improve on it," Adams said.
Adams will compete in the same events at the Mid-American Conference Championships, with the addition of the individual 100-yard backstroke.
The remaining swimmers fared well in the consolation finals. Sophomore Mike Hurst was second in both the 200-yard freestyle and the 400-yard individual medley consolations, finishing 10th overall in each event.
Seniors Kurt Bessel and Kevin Gatley each recorded season and lifetime bests in their respective events. Bessel notched a fourth-place consolation finish in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 53.06 seconds. Gatley placed 16th overall in the 200-yard freestyle, securing his best time in the prelims in 1:44.50.
Buffalo's relay teams acquired top-10 finishes in four races.
The 800-yard freestyle relay team of senior Jeff Hurst, freshman Kevin Schuster, Gatley and Adams shaved three seconds off their previous best performance at December's SummaCare Invitational. The foursome raced to fifth place in 6:56.21.
Adams, Schuster and Gatley teamed up with sophomore Mike Hurst, sophomore Leandro Souza, and Bessel for three more relays. In those races, the Bulls placed eighth in the 200-yard medley, and managed two seventh-place finishes in both the 400-yard medley and freestyle relays, all in season-best times.
"Relays never hinder my swimming. If anything, they help give me more motivation to swim faster," Adams said. "I always look at relays as another opportunity to swim a personal best."
The MAC swimming and diving championships will be held Thursday through Saturday in Athens, Ohio.
