OLEAN, N.Y. – The Niagara swimming and diving teams finished the 2014-15 regular season with an away meet against the St. Bonaventure Bonnies at the Oxy Aquatic Center on Saturday afternoon.
The men's teams fell to the Bonnies by a 168-74 score, while the women dropped a 160-77 decision.
Shane Baxter earned one of the top times of the afternoon for the men, swimming the 100 backstroke in 51.16 for first place.
Other notable finishes included
Edgar Melchor's second-place time in the 100 breaststroke (1:01.02) and 200 medley (2:02.96).
Shawn Warner's 51.97 swim in the 100 butterfly was also good for second.
Tore Hansen and
James Crumm also gave NU some points as they both took third in their events. Hansen finished with a time of 5:10.48 in the 500 freestyle while Crumm finished with 49.27 on the clock in the 100 freestyle.
For the women, the Purple Eagles earned several second-place finishes throughout the meet.
Meredith Ricks secured second in the 100 backstroke (1:03.86), and
Emily York touched the wall at 57.04 in the 100 freestyle for second.
Emily Altier place third in the 500 freestyle (5:31.45) while
Margaret Byrne took third in the 100 breaststroke touching the wall at 1:12.62.
In relay action, the men's 200 freestyle team earned first place. The combination of Baxter,
Eric Ebert, Crumm and Warner finished with a time of 1:27.58. The women's 200 freestyle relay team took second as
Annie Eckhardt,
Julia Casolo, York and Ricks finished with a time of 1:43.66.
On the board, the women secured first place finishes in both the 1-meter and 3-meter dive.
Cara Mergner finished the afternoon with a score of 173.39 in the 1-meter event while
Emily Deck finished 172.27 in the 3-meter event.
The Purple Eagles will now prepare for the 2015 Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Championships. For the fifth consecutive year they will take place at the Burt Flickinger Center at Erie Community College in Buffalo, N.Y. with Canisius College and Niagara co-hosting the four-day event from Feb. 11-14.
