The Boston University men’s swimming team saved its best for when it counted most and won its first America East championship in eight years Sunday in Orono, Maine.
Almost every BU swimmer beat his season’s best time and the team racked up a total of 733 points, 120 ahead of second-place State University of New York at Binghamton. The Terriers claimed first place in 11 events.
“We had quite a time,” coach Reagh Wetmore said. “We never let up. We kept slamming them day after day.”
The Terriers led for the duration of the three-day tournament, though Binghamton started closing in on BU during the second day.
“Binghamton gained 25 points on us on the second day and I was a bit concerned,” Wetmore said. “But no way our guys were going to let that happen again.”
The Terriers went on to outscore Binghamton by 82 points, separating themselves on the final day and taking the title.
Eighty of the Terriers’ points were scored by senior David Rozado, who was named Outstanding Swimmer of the tournament. He took first place in the 1,650-yard freestyle (16:22.26), the 500-yard freestyle (4:38.68) and the 200-yard freestyle (1:41.40).
“Those times were phenomenal,” Wetmore said.
Rozado had just one of the many impressive individual efforts for the Terriers. Freshman Chris Collins and sophomore Jay Toutant finished 1-2, respectively, in both the 100- and 200-yard backstroke events. The two swam in adjacent lanes and were separated by just eight-tenths of a second in the 100 and about a second in the 200.
“I felt right at home having him right there,” Toutant said. “It was real exciting.”
Toutant also posted a time of 22.05 in the 50-yard freestyle and finished third in that event.
Another key player in the Terriers’ win was senior Jeff Graves, who won the 100-yard butterfly (51.23) and finished second in the 200-yard butterfly (1:53.39). He also had superb run in the 500-yard freestyle (4:47.44) and finished fifth in that event.
“He made a major contribution,” Wetmore said. “He had the very best time of his life in the 500 fly.”
Though he finished in 13th place, sophomore Scott Hendrickson was exemplary of the way the BU swimmers stepped up their performance for the championship. Hendrickson’s time in the 200-yard backstroke was 10 seconds better than any time he had posted all year.
It wasn’t just great individual performances that put the Terriers on top, however. Wetmore believes BU’s dominance in the freestyle team relay events played a key factor in the outcome of the tournament.
“The thing that discouraged the other teams was our relays,” Wetmore said. “[The BU swimmers] just showed, ‘Look here, we really are the better team.'”
Both the 400- and 800-yard relay teams won decisively, thanks in large part to Rozado, who was the anchor in both relays. He was accompanied in the 400 by freshman David Brown, Graves and Toutant and in the 800 by Brown, junior Mark Doug and Graves.
“Rozado held those races very well,” Wetmore said.
As for the diving competition, it wasn’t much of a competition at all. Freshman sensation Victor Paguia was in a different league than fellow divers, and was named Outstanding Diver of the tournament. He won the 1-meter dive by an 88-point margin and the 3-meter dive by an astounding 134 points.
“He put on quite a display of high degree of difficulty dives,” Wetmore said. “It was an outstanding exhibition, which he usually gives every time he dives.”
Not to be discounted is the role Wetmore himself played in BU’s championship weekend. He was awarded Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year at the event. Wetmore was able to get his best swimmers into their best events without fatiguing them.
“There’s a lot of planning involved,” he said. “I spent three weeks on this lineup. It’s complicated, but we came out with the right decisions.”
Wetmore said the award was nice, but it’s not everything.
“I’m not here to be coach of the year,” he said. “I get a kick out of seeing these kids improving.”
Also being honored on Sunday was BU’s Agnes Miller, who received Diving Coach of the Year.
The Terriers’ women’s swimming squad also competed for its conference championship on Sunday and finished in fourth place. Injuries to five scholarship swimmers seriously hindered the team’s performance.
“I had a hard time just filling up the events,” Wetmore said. “[The swimmers] that were there did the best they could, but they didn’t have much help.”
There were some bright spots for the women’s squad, however. Sophomore diver Stacey Gallacher finished second in both diving events and freshman Lauren Foster won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:59.89.
“She swam an incredible race,” Wetmore said. “She had three competitors fighting her the whole way, all within a foot of each other.”
Other notables on the women’s side included junior Karissa Lopez’s second-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley and junior Ingrid Salazar’s runner-up performance in the 1,650-yard freestyle.
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