BUFFALO, N.Y. – It was 366 days since their last competition but the Binghamton swimming & diving teams made a triumphant return to action in a tri-meet against Canisius and Niagara on Saturday afternoon. The Bearcat women's team beat the host Golden Griffs 154-145 and topped Niagara  216.50-77.5. The men's squad beat Canisius 192-108 and Niagara 232-63.

Depth was a key to Binghamton's success. The Bearcats posted a combined total of 14 individual victories and one first-place relay performance. More importantly, however, was the abundance of top-three finishes across the board on both the men's and women's side.

"It was great to return today," head coach Jerry Cummiskey said. "We had some good wins today but we really had great depth. We definitely made improvements from our Green-White Meet last weekend."

The Bearcats posted three double event winners in the women's meet. Sophomore Audrey Pesek captured the 100 back (58.29) and 100 fly (59.21) while freshman Courtney Moane took top honors in the 100 breast (1:07.95) and 200 breast (2:28.95). Senior diver Sophia Howard swept both the one and three-meter events with scores of 210.80 and 217.60 respectively.

Elsewhere on the women's side, senior Kaitlyn Smolar was first in the 500 free (5:19.44) and freshman Kandice Chandra won the 200 back (2:12.97).

Binghamton had six individual winners on the men's side and won the 200 medley relay. The first-place relay quartet of senior Shane Morris, junior Ryan Board, freshman Travis Phillips and junior Benjamin Beldner clocked a time of 1:34.85.

In the diving events, senior David Walters and sophomore Ryan Cohn took the top two places in both events. Walters won the one-meter event with a score of 237.40 while Cohn was triumphant in the three-meter competition with 221.65 points.

Other winners in the men's meet included sophomore Jackson Homan in the 200 fly (1:56.85), fellow sophomore Justin Meyn in the 100 free (47.68), freshman Henry Shemet in the 100 IM (53.45) and junior Brian Harding in the 200 back (1:57.85).

Binghamton returns home next Sunday for a pair of meets. The men's team faces NJIT at 11 a.m. followed by the women against Stony Brook at 3 p.m.