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Binghamton University Athletics

AESD Day Four

Peters, Preston and Iwanow Earn Major AE Swimming Awards

| By: David O’Brian (dobrian@binghamton.edu)

Bearcat men finish second at conference meet, women place fifth

LEXINGTON, Va. – Sophomore Evan Peters, freshman Julia Iwanow and senior Liam Preston were all major award winners, highlighting Binghamton's final day at the America East Swimming & Diving Championships on Saturday at the VMI Aquatic Complex. The Bearcat men finished the four-day meet a close second (out of six teams) to UMBC while the women were fifth out of seven squads.

Iwanow, who was named the Most Outstanding Female Rookie of the Meet, was also the Bearcats' top performer on Saturday. She captured the 200 breast with a time of 2:15.57, which was .20 seconds ahead of the field. Iwanow, who was also fourth in the 100 breast on Friday, is the first Binghamton athlete ever to be named the Most Outstanding Female Rookie.

Peters was named the Male Co-Swimmer of the Meet along with Joey Stauss of Maine. On Saturday, he was second in the 200 back (1:46.28). During the weekend, Peters recorded wins in both the 200 free and 500 free. He is the Bearcats' fifth Most Outstanding Swimmer recipient and the first since David Holmes in 2007.

Preston, meanwhile, earned the meet's David Alexander Award for career accomplishments. He earned all-conference honors for the fourth year in row with a third-place finish in the 200 free on Friday. This is the third major award that Preston has earned during his career. He was the Men's Outstanding Rookie in 2023 and the America East Elite 18 award winner last year. Preston is the Bearcats' fifth Dave Alexander Award honoree and the first since Nolan Slesnick in 2012.

The Bearcats' other silver medalist on Saturday was junior Harrison Lambert in the 1,650 free (15:33.16). He led a strong contingent of Bearcats in that event, which also included sophomore Finnegan McFarland in fourth place (15:37.74) and fellow sophomore Logan Shriver in sixth place (15:50.80).

Binghamton was even deeper in the men's 200 breast, led by sophomore Amir Sadykov's bronze medal performance (1:59.17). Sophomore Cameron Stetzer was fourth (1:59.62), followed by sophomore Jackson Kennard in sixth place (2:03.37) and sophomore Tyler Schultz in seventh place. Sadykov has now medaled in the 200 breast two straight seasons.

Senior Maria Pignatelli closed out her Binghamton career with a fourth-place finish in the 100 free (50.61). In the process, she broke one of the oldest Binghamton program records - Huijue Cai's 2003 mark of 50.77. In her final conference meet, Pignatelli was also fourth in the 50 free on Thursday and earned a bronze medal on Friday in the 100 breast.

Freshman Lauren Maierle concluded the conference meet by racking up her third Binghamton freshman record during the weekend. She recorded a 100 free time of 51.40 in leading off the Bearcats' 400 free relay. That eclipsed Pignatelli's 2023 mark of 52.20. Earlier in the meet, Maierle broke the Binghamton freshman records in both the 200 free and 50 free. Also on Saturday, she was eighth in the 200 fly (2:06.75).

Other finalists for the Bearcats on Saturday included freshman Evan Creter, who was fourth in the 200 back (1:47.31), sophomore Jonah Kirschbaum, who was seventh in the 200 fly (1:51.46) and senior Patrick Lang, who was eighth in the 200 fly (1:53.05).

America East All-Conference honors were awarded to the top three individual finishers in each event plus all first place relay teams. There were eight Binghamton men and three women who earned that distinction.

UMBC, which lost a close meet to the Bearcat men last year, turned the tables by scoring 805.5 points this season. Binghamton, by contrast, finished with 748 points as its two-year reign as America East champions came to an end.

On the women's side, Bryant won their first-ever America East swimming & diving championship.

BINGHAMTON MEN'S ALL-CONFERENCE SELECTIONS (8)
Evan Peters, Cameron Stetzer, Harrison Lambert, Samuel Pikofsky-Christiansen, Amir Sadykov, Liam Preston, Jackson Kennard, Isaih Francis

BINGHAMTON'S WOMEN'S ALL-CONFERENCE SELECTIONS (3)
Julia Iwanow, Maria Pignatelli, Eva Smith

FINAL MEN'S TEAM STANDINGS
UMBC 805.5, Binghamton 748, Bryant 572,5, VMI 423, NJIT 353, Maine 347

FINAL WOMEN'S TEAM STANDINGS
Bryant 775, New Hampshire 660, Vermont 613, UMBC 446, Binghamton 403, Maine 314, VMI 159




 
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