For Immediate Release: May 22, 2008
Contact: Anthony G. Naglieri (sports@binghamton.edu)
Phone: 607-777-2956

BU swimming and diving announces 2008-09 schedule
Bearcats open season October 4 with Green/White Scrimmage

2008-09 Schedule (PDF)

VESTAL, N.Y. -- Three home dates at the Patricia A. Saunders '65 Aquatic Center highlight the Binghamton men's and women's swimming and diving schedule for the 2008-09 season, as announced by head coach Sean Clark Thursday.

The Bearcats open the season with the annual Green and White intrasquad scrimmage exhibition meet on October 4, before heading to Buffalo for a second straight year to compete at the Western NY Invitational October 11.

The Binghamton men's school-record seven dual meet winning streak will be immediately taken to task as the 2008-09 dual schedule opens with a pair of challenging tests.

The Bearcats head to Boston University on October 25 where the men will look to avenge a narrow, 123-120 defeat to the Terriers, and the women will compete in double-dual action against the Terriers and Vermont women. The Boston men and women each claimed runner-up honors at last year's conference meet.

Binghamton visits the defending America East champion UMBC men's and women's squads on November 1. The UMBC men's and women's swimming and diving teams became the first in the history of the conference to win back-to-back dual conference championships. The Retriever men have won five straight America East titles and 11 overall.

The following week, Binghamton hosts the first of three home dates when a strong UMass program makes its way to Vestal for a second straight season. The Minutemen won their seventh Atlantic-10 title in eight years in 2007-08 and have swept dual competitions in each of the team's meetings over the last two seasons.

The Bearcats will also entertain Cornell and Saint Bonaventure on December 6 and January 17, respectively, to round out the home schedule.

After hosting a record eight home meets last season, the Bearcats will be on the road for six of their nine dual competitions in 2008-09. In addition to the three America East meets, the Bearcats will travel to Buffalo (January 11), Drexel (January 18), and Colgate (January 24).

The 2009 America East Swimming and Diving Championships will be held at Boston University's Aquatic Center on February 19-22. The Bearcats will swim at the ECAC Open Championships at Harvard University's Blodgett Pool.

The Binghamton men's swimming and diving program once again made waves in 2007-08. After dropping each of its first four dual meet competitions this Fall, the Bearcat men ran off a Division-I record seven consecutive dual meet wins to close out the season with a fourth consecutive winning season (7-4).

Also for the fourth straight year, a Binghamton swimmer captured the conference's top individual honor as junior Brenno Varanda was named America East Most Outstanding Swimmer at February's league championship meet.

On the women's side, a young underclassmen-laden Bearcat program continued to make strides, delivering its highest scoring effort at the conference championship since 2004.