Nov. 8, 2007

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. - After taking last week off the UMass swimming and diving teams return to action at Binghamton in their fourth consecutive dual meet of the season. The meet will take place Sunday, Nov. 11, in Binghamton, N.Y. at 11 a.m. Both the UMass men's and women's team are 1-0 all-time against Binghamton. The meet will serve as a tune-up to next weekend's three-day Boston University Terrier Invitational which will be the first invite-style meet of the season for both teams.

Binghamton's head coach, Sean Clark, will be up against his Alma Mater having graduated from UMass in 1994. Before Binghamton, Clark was the assistant coach for the UMass men's swimming and diving team from 2000-2003. During his time at UMass, the men's squad won four A-10 titles and also saw its first national qualifier.

Also coaching against her Alma Mater is Binghamton's Assistant Coach Aimee Bourassa, a 2006 graduate from UMass. After her final season Bourassa was ranked among the top-10 all-time swimmers in four different events.

This weekend the Minutemen will look for leadership from sophomore Juan Moliere (San Juan, Puerto Rico) as he remains undefeated in the 50 and 100 yard freestyle events. Currently, he holds the top 50 yard free time (21:19) this season in the Atlantic 10.

In women's action, junior Karen Upperco (Titusville, N.J.) has been outstanding on the diving board leading the women's A-10 conference in both the 3-meter dive (262.80) and the 1-meter dive (239.69).

Last season, both teams faced Binghamton in a tri-meet with Colgate.

The men's team defeated Binghamton 186-114 and Colgate 234-66 while the women's team defeated Binghamton 235-66 but fell to Colgate 183-117.

R.J Rappe followed his record breaking performance versus Boston College with two first place finishes to lead the men's team to a convincing victory in the tri meet. Karen Upperco finished first in the one-meter (263.25) and three-meter (280.70) diving competitions for the UMass women in the second place finish.

The Minutemen had an overall strong performance as they finished first in eight events. Of the eight victories seven different minutemen earned first place finishes. Jake Hogue won the 100 yard breaststroke while Juan Moliere won the 50 yard freestyle for the second consecutive meet. Evan Swisher continued with his strong season as he won the 200 yard backstroke.

The mens team took the first event of the day and went on to win four straight events to pull ahead of the pack.

On the women's side Samantha Demty and Liz Lovejoy finished first and second respectively in the 200 yard butterfly. Nicole LeBarge finished second in the 50 yard freestyle. The minutewomen dominated the two diving events as they finished in the top four spots in both the one-meter and 3-meter diving. Upperco's three-meter finish of 280.70 surpassed her previous season high point total and moved her into third place in UMass history.