VESTAL, N.Y. – The Binghamton swimming & diving teams are set to begin their 2022-23 seasons. The Bearcat men's team, which won the America East title in 2021, settled for second place last year. The women's squad, meanwhile, took fourth place for the third straight season. This year, the Bearcats have four home meets. The conference championships, which will be held at WPI for the second straight season, is slated for Feb 22-25.

MEN'S OUTLOOK

The Binghamton men's team returns a pair of defending champions as well as six all-conference honorees.

Junior Liam Murphy won the 500 free for the second year in a row and was the runner up in the 1650 free. Fellow junior Henry Shemet, meanwhile, broke the conference meet record in the 400 IM. Both Murphy and Shemet return from last year's first-place 800 free relay team – which also included sophomore Elijah Lanfear and junior Jake Vecchio. Lanfear was also third in both the 50 free and 100 fly at the America East Meet.

Senior diver Ryan Cohn was second to since-graduated teammate Chris Egan in both events (one-meter and three-meter) at the 2022 America East meet. Also in the diving events, sophomore William Maurer was a finalist last year, having placed fourth in the three-meter and seventh in the one-meter. They will be joined by freshman David Marshall.

The freestyle events feature significant depth for the Bearcats. In addition to Murphy, who was also second in the 1650 free at the America East Championships last year, senior Justin Meyn was the runner up in the 100 free. Senior Ryan Maierle was a finalist in the 50 free, 100 free and 200 free while junior Zachary Ciriaco was a top-eight finisher in the 500 free and 1650 free. The other returning finalists are junior George Kipshidze (200 free), junior Christopher Ghim (1650 free) and senior Matthew Palguta (1650 free). Freshman Liam Preston is the top newcomer in the freestyle events.

Meyn and Shemet also earned all-conference honors in the breaststroke events last year. Meyn was third in the 100 breast while Shemet was third in the 200 breast. Junior Xiaoyu Lin was fourth in both breaststroke events while junior Eric Kroon, meanwhile, was fifth in the 100 breast.

In the fly events, Lanfear is joined by Vecchio, junior Travis Phillps and senior Jackson Homan. Vecchio was the 2021 America East champion in the 100 fly.

A pair of freshmen – David Ponce and Max Kaback – should make an immediate impact in the backstroke events. The top returners in those events include Kipshidze, Vecchio and Ghim.

Besides Shemet, returning finalists in the IM events include Meyn and Ghim.

WOMEN'S TEAM OUTLOOK

The Bearcat women's team returns an all-conference performer and four finalists from last year's squad. Junior Maddie Hoover was third in the 200 free at the America East Championships and placed seventh in both the 100 back and 100 free. Junior Courtney Moane was fourth in the 200 breast and took sixth place in the 100 breast. Sophomore Lauren Kuzma was seventh in the 100 breast while junior Lindsey Weissman was fifth in the one-meter diving event last year after earning all-conference honors in 2021.

In addition to Weissman, senior Chloe Peterson and sophomore Miranda Rogers are the top returning women's divers this year. They will be joined by freshman Elizabeth Tirado.

Three other standouts returning this year for the Bearcat women's team include juniors Marley Zimmerman, Molly Greeley and Mel Carousso.

Greeley, who was the America East Swimmer of the Week last Nov. 16, won six individual events during the regular-season and was on five first-place relay teams. She competes in the freestyle and IM events.

Zimmerman won 10 individual events during the regular season, including three against St. Bonaventure on Jan. 22. She competes in the freestyle events.

Carousso, meanwhile, swam in the distance events. She won the 1000 free at the Rhode Island Invitational last Nov. 21.

Binghamton brings in a strong women's freshman class this year. It includes distance swimmers Rachel Bostian and Julia Snow. Olivia Philbrick, Celia Webster will excel in the backstroke events, as will Maria Pignatelli in the freestyle events. Saige Kazlauskas is the top newcomer in the fly events. Webster, Pignatelli and Truong will also add depth to the IM events.