By Maggie Tifft, Contributor
The Canisius swimming and diving team competed against the Binghamton Bearcats this past Saturday, but they could not pull ahead as the men lost 207–87 and the women’s score ended 225–58 in favor of Binghamton.
For the men’s side, the Griffs saw individual successes from repeating athletes like freshman Marin De Villard and sophomore Sam Vidal. De Villard took home first in both the 100 and 200m back, while falling to second in the 200m individual medley. Vidal snagged first in the 200m breaststroke as well as second in the 100m breaststroke.
On the women’s side, Jordan O’Connor, Mandy Hill, Hannah Brainard and Andi Mackey combined for the 200 freestyle relay and placed second. From this relay, Jordan O’Connor and Mandy Hill earned individual successes, with O’Connor getting second place and third place finishes and Hill getting second place in the 50m free.
These individual successes are great for the team and have only made the team better as a whole. “Everyone is genuinely happy for their teammates and uses each other to lift one another up. They’re really buying into them as a group and supporting each other. Trying to do the best they can to support the team,” said head coach Scott Vanderzell.
The losses were not easy pills for either of the teams to swallow, but with no competition ahead of them this week, the athletes hope to recover and switch their mindsets before heading to their biggest meet yet.
“The focus this week is to get loose and dial into how Canisius swims. We need to focus on us, our game plan and our strategy,” said Vanderzell.
Having bigger meets allows for the team to prepare for conference play and the MAAC championship, where everything is happening all at once. Coach Vanderzell is hoping to use the meet to simulate for his athletes the feelings and nerves that surround conference meets and how to handle them without getting too calm or too excited.
The next meet for the Griffs is the Magnus Invite in Cleveland, Ohio, where they will face Cleveland State, Xavier University, Gannon University and bridge rival Niagara University. The meet is set to start Thursday, Nov. 16 and will go until Saturday, Nov. 18.