Both the men and women’s swimming and diving teams opened their season this past weekend with a pair of victories on the road. The men defeated Holy Cross (178-111) and Boston University (177-123), and the women beat Holy Cross (175-117) and Boston University (163-137) as well. Overall it was a great opening weekend for the teams. 

The Bison began the weekend on Friday in Worcester, Mass. against Holy Cross. Both the men and women dominated on their way to decisive victories via 11 individual victories and one relay win each. For the women, the 11 victories were by 11 different individuals. Alexandra Ritorto ’23 won the 100 breaststroke and Abby Doss ’24 won the 200 breaststroke. Sophia Donati ’23, Alexis Faria ’22, and Kayla Lichtner ’24 swept the freestyle competitions for the Bison winning the 50,100, and 200 meter races respectively. Gina Hinthorn ’25 won the 1-meter dive and Kendall Luecke ’25 won the 500 freestyle in their first collegiate competitions. Esme Hunter ’24 came in first in the 100 backstroke, Kate Gottwald ’24 won the 3-meter dive, and Sabrina Vumbacco ’23 won the 200 butterfly. Maddie Hartigan ’22 continued her impressive Bison career by setting the new Hart Center Pool record in the 1,000 freestyle. The relay team of Meghan Taner ’22, Catherine Craig ’23, Faria and Donati also set the pool record in the 200 medley. 

The men’s team set three pool records as well. Leo Kuyl ’23 finished in 21.31 seconds in the 50 freestyle, John Gehrig ’24 won the 100 butterfly in record time, and the 200 medley team of Chris Fabian ’24, Ryaan Hatoum ’23, Liam Pitt ’22, and Kuyl finished in 1:33.75. Will Cadwallder ’22 swept the diving events. Christian Stef ’23 and Garrett Kiesel ’23 won the 100 and 1,000 freestyle competitions. The Bison also won both the 100 and 200 meter backstroke competitions thanks to Sam Sweeney ’22 and Sean Quinn ’22.  Chris Kopac ’25 won the 200 freestyle and Justin DiSanto ’25 won the 100 breaststroke in their first competitions for the Orange and Blue.  

The Bison dominance continued over into Saturday as they traveled to Boston to take on Boston University. While the men did not set any more pool records, they still cruised to a victory on the back of eight individual victories and two medley wins. Kuyl won two competitions for the Bison, the 50 and 100 meter freestyles. Fabian, Pitt, Kopac, Kiesel and Gehrig won their second competitions in as many days winning the 100 backstroke, 100 butterfly, 500 freestyle, 200 backstroke, and 200 butterfly respectively. Andy Dorsel ’25 finished first in his first collegiate race by winning the 200 individual medley. The Bison also won the 200 medley with a team of Sweeney, Hatoum, Pitt and Kuyl and the 400 freestyle with a team of Kuyl, Fabian, Kopac and Gehrig. 

The women also beat Boston University on the back of nine individual victories and one relay win. Hartigan won both the 100 and 200 freestyles competitions to give her three individual victories on the young season. Vumbacco, 500 freestyle and 1,000 freestyle, and Faria, 100 butterfly and 200 butterfly, also won two competitions each. Doss came in first in the 200 individual medley and Craig won the 200 breaststroke. Liz Dokina ’25 won her first collegiate competition in the 100 breaststroke. The Bison also won the 400 freestyle relay with a team of Lichtner, Ritorto, Donati and Hartigan. 

Both teams will look to continue their undefeated ways as they have their first home meet of the season. They will take on Binghampton on Oct. 23 at 1 p.m. 

“It is our first home duel meet and one of only three meets we have at home this year,” stated Sam Miller ’22. “The home crowd will definitely provide an easy environment for us to bring the energy and enthusiasm to back up our training.”