The men's and women's swim team played the role of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde perfectly over the weekend.
The Bulls first traveled to Eastern Michigan to battle the Eagles, who proved to be too much for them.
The men's team (1-2, 1-1 Mid-American Conference) was defeated 180-116 while the women (3-2, 2-2 MAC) came up short, 165-129.
Senior Zach Ruske was outstanding for Buffalo, winning two events. He swam the 200 backstroke in 1:52:73 and the 200 individual medley in 1:55:30.
Eastern Michigan senior Ryan Fulkerson stole the show, starting with a victory as part of the 400 medley relay team with freshman Alan Duski and seniors Don Ellison and Derrick Roe. Fulkerson then went on to win two more events, capping off the day with a first place finish in the 100 fly.
Freshman Brynn Marecki and junior Meili Carpenter led the women's team against the Eagles.
Marecki finished first in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:04:26, which was followed with a win in the 200 breaststroke in 2:19:76.
Carpenter won both diving events after posting 281.68 points on the one-meter board and 262.35 points on the three-meter board.
Buffalo head coach Andy Bashor has been impressed with the adjustments freshmen like Marecki have made to college competition.
"They're starting to get used to college life and what we ask of them in training," he said. "They're able to come back and swim in meets while they're tired. They're getting used to the level of the competition."
Saturday was a different day for both the men and women, as they were able to dispose of Ball State. The women's team dominated the Cardinals, winning 160-137, while the men downed Ball State, 130-109.
The men were able to win nine of the 13 events during the day. Ruske continued to impress, winning two more events, winning the 200 freestyle in 1:45:81 and the 100 freestyle in 47:69.
Freshman Jake Sangren won two races as well, finishing with a 1:59:58 in the individual medley and a 1:55:24 in the 200 backstroke.
Junior Michael McDowell controlled the competition en route to his sweep of the diving events. He took the one-meter board with a score of 310.35 and demolished the field in the three-meter event, which saw the second closest competitor finishing more than 100 points behind him.
The women rolled to victory, taking 13 of 16 events on the day.
Marecki, senior Rachel Sorg, and sophomores Jordan Deren and Jessie Koltz all captured two wins. Sorg swam the backstroke events, winning the 100 with a 59:94 and the 200 with a 2:10:14. Marecki continued her success from the previous day, swimming a 2:25:03 in the 200-yard breaststroke and a 1:07:10 in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Deren took the 1000 freestyle event with a time of 10:27:81 and then the 500 freestyle in 5:09:34. Koltz won three races taking the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle and the 100 butterfly.
The Bulls victory over Ball State salvaged a tough weekend road trip, which included a lot of traveling. They overcame the tiring schedule and took complete control of the meet against Ball State.
"I was proud how they traveled. We spent six hours going to Eastern Michigan and after that meet we got on the bus and traveled another four hours to Ball State and we got in around 1 o'clock Saturday morning," Bashor said. "They bounced back really well and competed well. After the first couple of events, we knew we had the meet."
The Bulls have about a month until their next meet at Akron. Bashor hopes his team works hard and takes advantage of this time between meets.
"We have about a month to get in some solid work before Akron," he said. "We need to get into training now because after Akron we have final exams, so we need to get to work now to ensure that we have a good January and February."
The Bulls are done until after Thanksgiving, when they travel to Ohio for the Akron Invitational.
