The 100-yard breaststroke came to a photo finish on March 8 at the Men's Swimming MAC Championships. Aviv Oren of Buffalo touched out John Bartlett from Eastern Michigan by one one-hundredth of a second (.01).
That is as close, and that race was as exciting, as swimming gets. UB swimmer Geoff Wells had won his heat and finished ninth in the same event just moments before, setting a lifetime best by over a second.
"Sometimes these races are won on a good decision coming into the wall. He made a great decision, he could have glided in on the last stroke, but he really powered into the wall. ... That's swimming at this level," said Buffalo coach Budd Termin.
Over the three-day, six-session meet, however, EMU dominated, finishing first with 938 points. Ball State pulled out a close race for second with 578 points over Toledo's 566. Miami was fourth with 546, Ohio was fifth with 368, and UB finished last with 275 points.
Though the team scores do not make it obvious, the Bulls put on a fine performance, posting 36 individual best times. UB was coming off of the East Coast Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championships where they had set 16 lifetime bests. According to Termin, the Bulls have logged 92 lifetime bests this year, some just hours after their previous best had been broken.
Oren's 100-yard breaststroke time shattered a 7-year-old school record by six-tenths of a second. Oren's record is only the sixth Buffalo school record broken since entering the MAC. Oren was honored by being named to the first team all-MAC squad, and he was also first team all academic in the MAC.
"If you break a school record on our board, it has been good for fourth place or better in the MAC, so we have some pretty fast school records," said Budd.
Four Alumni Arena pool records fell over the weekend. Lorant Divald from the Toledo Rockets won the 500 and 200 freestyles, setting a pool record in the 500, and making NCAA provisional cuts in both. He was later named MAC Swimmer of the Year. Eastern Michigan's 400 Medley Relay broke the pool record by 4.5 seconds.
EMU's Kevin Doak lowered UB's pool record in the 100-yard backstroke while also setting an NCAA provisional cut and setting the MAC record. His swim was the 32nd fastest time clocked in the country this year. Justin Lawerence from the Rockets also broke an Alumni Arena pool record in the 200-yard backstroke.
UB had five top-eight performances, two coming from freshman diver Pat Lee. Lee scored high enough to move on to the NCAA qualifying Zone meet, which was held at Alumni Arena on Mar. 14 and 15. Oren also scored top-eight points twice, getting first in the 100-yard breaststroke and fifth in the 200 breaststroke.
Freshman Mark Sy placed sixth in the 400 IM in a lifetime best accomplishment of 4:04.40. Sixteen other races were good for team points for the Bulls by being top-16 in their respective events.
"I think the highlight of the meet was how consistently the whole team swam from top to bottom," said Termin after the meet.
UB will not graduate anyone for the next year. Termin said that is a plus, especially if he can keep the time drops coming. Time drops are an achievement, but how does a team that is improving move up in the conference standings?
"I think all of the teams at UB need to make a bigger commitment to training year-round," said Termin. "That is true for my team, and I think it is true for all of the teams."
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
