VESTAL, N.Y. – For the second time in four seasons and third time overall, the Binghamton men's swimming & diving team has won the America East Championship. The Bearcats placed first out of six teams in the four-day meet, which concluded on Saturday night at the VMI Aquatic Center. On the women's side, meanwhile, Binghamton was fifth out of seven teams.

The Bearcats, who won their first America East championship back in 2003, have now won two of their championships with Jerry Cummiskey as the head coach. On Saturday night, Cummiskey, diving coach Heather Colby and assistant coach Mike Kline were named the America East Coaching Staff of the Year for the second time in four seasons.

The Bearcats men's team won three events on Saturday. Junior Elijah Lanfear captured the 100 free for the second year in a row with a time of 44.02. He ended the meet with two individual crowns, having also won the 50 free on Saturday.

It was the final two events of Saturday evening, however, that the Bearcats used to leave no doubt about the outcome of the meet. First, graduate student Marc Stern and senior Jake Vecchio took the top two places in the 200 fly, with times of 1:47.49 and 1:47.78 respectively. Then, the 400 free relay team of Lanfear, senior Liam Murphy, senior George Kipshidze and junior Liam Preston placed first with a time 2:57.42 – over a full second ahead of second-place NJIT (2:58.73).

"I am so proud of our team," Cummiskey said. "To not just hold on to win the title after leading the last three days – but to close the meet the way we did - was great. Everyone played a part in this championship and we couldn't be happier."

Team depth was a key strength for the Bearcats the entire meet – and Saturday was no exception. In the 1,650 free, freshman Harrison Lambert was second (15:55.03), followed by senior Liam Murphy in third place (15:47.32). Senior Xiaoyu Lin was third in the 200 breast (2:00.84) followed by fellow senior Eric Kroon in fourth place (2:01.16).

On the women's side, junior Lauren Kuzma won the 200 breast in a time of 2:16.25. It was her second medal of the meet, having also placed third in the 100 breast on Friday. Senior Courtney Moane, who won the 100 breast, was fifth in the 200 breast (2:18.33).

Sophomore Olivia Philbrick concluded an outstanding meet with a fourth-place finish in the 200 back (2:01.18). Earlier in the meet, she was on both the first-place 200 medley and 400 medley relay teams and was second in the 100 back.

Freshman Haley Nowak recorded her second top-8 finish of the championships, placing sixth in the 200 fly (2:06.14).

All-conference honors were awarded to the top three finishers in an individual event as well as all first-place relay teams. The Bearcat men posted a program-best 12 all-conference selections while the women's team has six honorees.

NOTES: Despite finishing in fifth place for the second year in a row, the Bearcat women finished the meet with 439 points - compared to 267.5 last year ... the Bearcat men's team becomes the fourth Binghamton program to win at least three America East championships, joining men's tennis (10, from 2003-14), baseball (five) and volleyball (three).

FINAL MEN'S TEAM SCORES
Binghamton 795.50, Bryant 709. 50, UMBC 518, NJIT 514.50, Maine 376.50, VMI 306

FINAL WOMEN'S TEAM SCORES
Vermont 683, New Hampshire 671, Bryant 635.50, UMBC 466, Binghamton 439, Maine 374.50, VMI 126

BINGHAMTON'S MEN'S ALL-CONFERENCE SELECTIONS (12)
Liam Murphy, Jake Vecchio, Henry Shemet, Liam Preston, Max Kaback, Eric Kroon, Elijah Lanfear, Dylan Norby, Marc Stern, Harrison Lambert, Xiaoyu Lin, George Kipshidze
 
BINGHAMTON'S WOMEN'S ALL-CONFERENCE SELECTIONS (5)
Courtney Moane, Lauren Kuzma, Olivia Philbrick, Haley Nowak, Maddie Hoover