For four years, Victor Paguia was Boston University diving. He was America East diving, winning four consecutive Most Outstanding Diver awards. When he graduated last spring, the void he left at BU could have easily resembled a bad dive – choppy, noisy.
Then Brian Lawler stepped in. Well, dove in. And the results, only a few weeks into the season, have more than filled the void, ripping off dives that have in turn lit up scoreboards more than Paguia ever did.
Lawler led the Boston University men’s swimming and diving team (1-1) to a 149-69 victory over the University of New Hampshire at BU’s Fitness and Recreation Center Saturday afternoon, breaking a pair of school records in the process.
The women’s team fell to 1-2 on the season, losing to the defending America East Conference champs, 142.5-98.5.
Lawler took first place in the one-meter dive with a score of 337.80 and the three-meter event with a 382.05, beating out only his own teammates due to UNH’s lack of male divers. Both scores set new Terriers records, as Lawler broke the one-meter record previously held by Greg Voloshin (324.60 in 2000) and the three-meter mark set by Mark Graham (352.35 in 1980).
With his first-place finishes, Lawler gained 18 points for the Terriers to secure the victory.
“I’m excited about breaking both records,” Lawler said. “It was a goal of mine coming into BU. However, I was not expecting to break both in the same meet. It’s great to be part of such a great team with an excellent diving coach, Agnes Miller. I’m looking forward to the rest of the year.”
“Brian did an excellent job of preparing himself for the competition against New Hampshire,” said first-year head coach Bill Smyth. “Brian has been an accomplished diver for many years now and has the mental tools to succeed at a consistently high level.”
Also leading the Terrier men were junior Michael Bear and sophomore Greg Dierksen. Bear won the 1,000-yard freestyle in 10:08.16 and followed the dominant performance with a 500-yard freestyle win at 4:56.87 – almost 20 seconds better than UNH’s Ian Ellis.
Dierksen finished first in the 200-yard free (1:49.33) and placed second in the 200-yard fly (2:05.14).
Other Terriers to win their events were Peter Nellius (200-yard fly with 2:04.87), Mike Kelly (50-yard free with 22.10) and Griffin Moodie (200-yard intermediate medley with 2:04.14).
For the women, junior Lidija Breznikar and freshmen Christina Ruggiero and Alex Crerar carried the team. Ruggiero placed second in both the 1,000-yard free (10:34.30) and the 200-yard free (1:57.03), while Crerar won the three-meter dive (314.5) and placed second in the one-meter dive (267.50).
Breznikar captured the 200-yard IM and the 200-yard fly in 2:09.43 and 2:08.98, respectively – despite being one of several Terriers competing at less than 100 percent.
Breznikar, as well as Mike McGrath and Natalie Boyd, competed Saturday while recovering from the flu.
“Lidija Breznikar stepped up big time during our meet against the defending conference champions,” Smyth said. “She showed that she is the kind of swimmer that her teammates can depend upon in tough situations.”
The teams have many challenging competitions left in the young season, and Smyth said that he expects his teams to work hard and show their toughness on meet day.
And the confidence of this young team grows stronger every day.
“We are far from the finished product that we hope to be at the end of our season,” Smyth said, “but with every single week we grow stronger and closer to our goal.
“This team still has its best swimming ahead of it.”
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