Duquesne v. Buffalo

Both Mens and Womens teams opened the dual meet season this afternoon against the University of Buffalo. After 8 weeks of training both teams were excited to finally get up and race in a first class facility. Despite a timing system failure, the teams posted some very fast times on our watches.

The mens team won eight of the 11 swimming events, only giving up victories in the 200 fly, 200 back and 400 free relay. The 400 medley relay of Mitch Smith, Ian Walsh, Jim O'Hara and Ed LeBlanc opened up the meet recording an early fast season time of 3:25.50. Roman Becicka followed in the 1000 swimming an unofficial 9:43.35. Eddie Leblanc put up a great swim in the 200 free with an unofficial time of 1:40.29, Jim O'Hara followed up in the 50 with a winning time of 21.31, followed by Brendan Schilling with a time of 21.41. Roman Becicka wrapped up the first half of the meet winning the 200 IM in a time of 1:53.52. Following the break, Ed LeBlanc recorded a winning time of 45.94 in the 100 free. Roman Becicka followed suit in the 500 free with a winning time of 4:41.89 and Ian Walsh won the 200 breast with a time of 2:11.77. Despite heading into the meet with a 32 point diving deficit, the men's team only lost by a narrow margin of 114-123. Overall it was a great meet and a great learning experience for the upstart freshmen.

On the womens side the ladies opened up with a nice 3:59.53 400 medley relay. Hannah Kondrotas posted a solid time of 10:36.31 in the 1000 free as well as a winning time of 2:10.57 in the 200 fly. The women had solid 200 freestyles with Kristi Magee and Amanda McClelland swimming unofficial times of 1:57's. Morgan Claycomb and Briana Mangis both posted solid swims in the 200 backstroke registering times of 2:11.44 and 2:11.76, respectively. Freshmen Caitie Zajko and Hillary Hocson both posted solid 200 breaststroke times of 2:29.13 and 2:29.53, respectively. Despite loosing the meet, the women had some very solid performances, laying the groundwork for the rest of the season.

We'll be back in action next week as we travel to Bucknell for a 2 PM start time.

See you around the pool,
Dave