The UB swimming and diving team dominated a tri-meet in Ohio, defeating Mid-American Conference (MAC) opponents Bowling Green and Toledo on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. The Bulls secured victories in 13 events, sweeping the podium with first through third-place finishes in three of them.
UB started day one off strong, claiming six of the top eight finishes in three-meter diving. Senior diver Marialis Kwak, who has won every individual diving event this season, extended her streak with a first-place finish in the 3-meter event, with a score of 314.80. Senior diver Kaylee Donovan followed in second with a score of 297.35, while sophomore diver Sophie Meuwissen placed third with a score of 278.90.
The Bulls went on to win four more events that day. Graduate swimmer Mia Naccarella, won the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:59.24. Freshman swimmer Isabella Forsman took first out of 12 swimmers in the 200-yard butterfly and in the 200-yard Individual Medley. The team of Naccarella, freshman swimmer Grace Rider, junior swimmer Nicole Aguilar, and sophomore Jillian Strine finished first in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:43.48.
On Saturday, UB won eight of the nine events, starting with the 400-yard medley relay team of Naccarella, Rider, Aguilar, and Strine finishing with a time of 3:44.23 to take first place. The Bulls then claimed the top three spots in the 500-yard freestyle, with junior swimmer Ava Cunningham, freshman swimmer Isabella Forsman and junior swimmer Elise McCaul all placing.
Rider won the 100-yard breaststroke and Naccarella won two more events: the 100-yard backstroke and the 200-yard freestyle with times of 53.93 and 1:49.64, respectively. Aguilar continued the strong showing with a win in the 100-yard butterfly. Forsman finished off the individual events with her third win of the meet in the 400-yard Individual Medley with a time of 4:20.66, just shy of her personal best, which ranks seventh in program history.
To close out the two-day meet, the Bulls’ divers secured their second podium sweep, this time in the one meter diving event. Kwak won her 15th individual event of the season with a score of 294.45. Freshman diver Daphne Fox secured second place with a personal best score of 273.90, just missing the program's all-time top ten by just 4.95 points (278.85). Junior diver Mallory Hanna finished in third place with a score of 267.35.
The final records of the two-day meet had Buffalo defeating Bowling Green 225-128 and Toledo 206-147. The swimming and diving team looks to carry their momentum into the MAC Championships, set for Feb. 26 through March 1 at the UB Natatorium.
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