Swimming and diving sweeps Canisius across the street

The Binghamton men's and women's swimming and diving teams continued their 2024-25 campaigns at Canisius this past weekend, setting winning records on both sides. The Bearcat men dominated their game against Canisius with a 198-98 win, while the women took a strong 191-108 win. There was a triple singles winner for BU on both sides, while four other Bearcat competitors earned double singles victories during the meet.

“I thought it was pretty good,” Binghamton head coach Jerry Cummiskey said. “I was thinking about where we are and how we are batting [Canisius] When we got on the bus to Buffalo last week, I thought we were keeping up well. We probably weren't at our best overall, but that's not the expectation at this time of year. I thought [we] I had a lot of fun racing and was able to win.”

For the third week in a row, the Bearcat men were led in the win column by senior Elijah Lanfear. Lanfear took gold in the 100 back, 100 fly and 100 free with times of 51.04, 49.82 and 45.88. Lanfear was also a key contributor to the men's 200 medley relay team alongside freshman Tyler Schultz, sophomore Cullin Cole and junior Max Kaback. The team took first place in the event with a time of 1:33.08.

“[Lanfear] is one of our top guys,” Cummiskey said. “He has the ability to be really consistently good, race well and swim a lot of different events for us. It’s nice that he can be the cornerstone for us that we can build week after week.”

Other standout performances for the men came from freshman Evan Peters. Peters earned one-two finishes by winning the 200-meter race with a time of 1:43.93 and the 500-meter race with a time of 4:43.69. Peters was also part of the winning 200-meter relay team, which included junior Liam Preston and freshmen Ryaan Alshami and William Deutmeyer. The Bearcat quartet achieved a time of 1:25.07.

“[Peters] He won two events for us and was great for us his first year,” Cummiskey said. “[Peters] works hard. He's still working on adapting the way we do things in and out of the water. He is very talented and raw in some areas. I find [Peters] will be one of our top people in the future.”

On the women's side, senior Lauren Kuzma and junior Maria Pignatelli led the Bearcats' victory with double wins in their respective games. Pignatelli took top honors with a time of 24.64 and the 100 free with a time of 53.92.

“[Pignetlli] is having her best year,” Cummiskey said. “Really going around the corner, similar to that [what] Kuzma did it last year.”

While Pignatelli secured one-two victories, Kuzma proved her senior year could be her best yet by claiming victories in both the 100m breaststroke and 200m breaststroke with times of 1:06.71 and 2nd respectively :24.05 got.

“[Kuzma] “She has persevered throughout her four years and shown real resilience,” Cummiskey said. “She continued to work hard and had a breakthrough last season. I’m excited to see what she’s accomplished in the last three months.”

BU will now return home to face Cornell on Friday, November 8th. The first race is scheduled for 5 p.m. at the Patricia A. Saunders Aquatic Center in Vestal, New York.