BC Eagles Break 3 School and 15 Pool Records as They Sweep BU in a Battle of Comm Ave

Boston College vs. Boston University

• Saturday, January 21, 2023
• Margot Connell Rec Center – Boston, MA
• 25 Yards (SCY)
• Full Results
• Final Scores
  • Women: BC Eagles – 235 vs. BU Terriers – 63
  • Men: BC Eagles – 198.5 vs. BU Terries – 98.5

The battle of Commonwealth Avenue went for a swim this weekend, as Boston College and Boston University faced each other in a rivalry meet.

The Eagles entered the new year with a ton of momentum from last season, where they set multiple school records and where Zachary Szmania place 15th in the mile, which is the second-highest ACC finish in program history. Despite naming Joe Brinkman as the new head coach just before the start of the season, when Mike Stephens took the job at Hawaii, that momentum has not slowed.

The last time these teams faced each other was at BU’s midseason Terrier Invitational, where the Eagles dominated, setting 11 school records and six pool records en route to the win. It was a similar story at this meet as BC easily took the win on both the women’s and the men’s side, setting three school records and 15 pool records in the process. They won 27 out of the combined 32 events, including 13 events where they went 1-2-3.

School Records

Megan Kramer got things started in the first individual event of the meet, setting BC school and pool records in the 1000 freestyle. The sophomore swam 9:52.98, breaking her own program record that she set from her 1000 split in the 1650 free at ACCs last season in 9:56.84. That’s a 3.86-second drop for Kramer in less than a year, emphasizing the improvements she’s made this season. At midseason, she lowered her 1650 free record from 16:36.30 to 16:29.99, which would have put her top 10 at the 2022 ACCs.

Later, Samantha Smith took down the 200 fly school record, posting 2:00.80 and undercutting the previous record by .37 seconds. It’s a big best time for Smith as well, whose lifetime best at the start of the meet was 2:02.33.

The third school record breaker was diver Dale Nickerson, who totaled 388.88 points on the 3-meter board. That score also qualifies him for NCAA Zone A Diving Championships.

Women’s Pool Records

Adair Sand led the way, each setting three individual records and factoring on the record-breaking 400 freestyle relay team. She led off that relay in 50.89, a pool record for the individual 100 free, before Kelly Scott (52.06), Gigi Baldacci (51.70), and Sofia Zinis (52.23) brought the relay home in 3:26.88.

Individually, Sand also set pool records in the 200 freestyle (1:48.00) and 200 backstroke (1:57.44). The junior broke the pool record in the 200 free by 1.55 seconds, and came within .58 seconds of the school record, which she owns at 1:47.42.

Her 200 backstroke time brought the pool record under the two-minute mark for the first time, as it had stood at 2:00.92 since Alyssa Marsh swam it in November 2019.

In addition to the 400 free relay, Baldacci also split 27.78 swimming breaststroke on the record-setting 200 medley relay, joining Lauren Sielicki (25.84 back), Zinis (23.94 fly), and Scott (23.37 free) to post 1:40.93. Later in the meet, Baldacci swept the breaststrokes in record fashion, clocking 1:02.06 in the 100 breast and 2:15.10 in the 200 breast. The junior owns the school record in both events, and was less than a second away from those marks in both of her swims.

Rounding out the record breakers on the women’s side was freshman Julienne Saliou in the 200 IM, who swam 2:04.73 to break the pool record by .05 seconds. Her season best is 2:03.14, only .12 seconds from the school record of 2:03.02.

Men’s Pool Records

There was a flurry of pool records on the men’s side as well. Like the Eagle women, the men took down both the 200 medley and 400 free relay records.

In the medley, Michael Horkan (23.01 back), Christian Perez-Mari (24.49), Matt Szekely (21.20 fly), and Darien Betances (20.22 free) combined for a 1:28.92, shattering the record by more than twos econds.

In the final race of the meet, Szekely (45.07) teamed with Bryce Henkel (46.21), Charlie Clark (45.25), and Andres Wong (45.70) to take down the record in 3:02.23.

The two individual pool records for the Eagle men came from Szmania and Jack Doyle. Szmania went a season-best 9:17.83 in the 1000 free to take down the old record of 9:19.64, set by Duke’s Brendan Driscoll in 2019. For his part, Doyle broke the 200 IM record, swimming 1:49.02, bringing the record under the 1:50 mark for the first time.

The highlight of the meet for the BU Terriers was the three pool records the men’s team set. Senior Kyle Falkstrom swept the breaststroke events in record fashion, clocking 55.31 in the 100 and 2:00.73 in the 200. Both of the previous records were held by Army’s Evan Zhang.

Then, freshman Tony Ponomarev swam the 200 backstroke in 1:47.08, shattering the pool record of 1:49.30 by over two seconds. He was also less than a second off of his personal best of 1:46.19, which he set at the midseason Terrier Invite.

Though they finished second to the BC team, the Terrier quartet of Justin Lee, Ben Cho, Jackson Olin, and Ethan Thomas also got under the old pool record in the 400 free relay, touching in 3:03.69.

Up Next

BU is back in action on January 27th, for Senior Day action against Bryant University. BC has wrapped up their dual meet campaign, but looks to continue their dominance of Commonwealth Ave when they head back to BU for the Winter Open February 3-4.