November 12, 2011

November 12, 2011 - On Saturday afternoon, the Howard University Bison welcomed the Loyola University Maryland Greyhounds to Burr Gymnasium for their first home meet of the 2011-2012 season.  Swimming their best meet of the fall season, the Bison men and women recorded 24 season best swims, 11 Top-10 swims in Howard's history and five team victories.

In the end, the Greyhounds used their depth to take down the Bison.  The men dropped their decision to Loyola 124-79 while the Lady Bison fell 138-67.

The men were paced with excellent all-around swims by all 12 contributing members.  Their charge was led by freshman Miles Hector.  Hector (Omaha, NE) won his fifth and sixth individual races of the season.  The freshman dominated his 1000 freestyle with a first place finish time of 10:07.79.  In the 500 freestyle, Hector fought tooth and nail with the Greyhounds and used his final 50 yards to create separation to finish in first with a time of 4:54.00.  Hector's winning time improved his HU top-10 mark, vaulting him into 2nd all-time.

Sophomore Darell Hungerford (Clinton, MD) provided fireworks for the men in the form of the 100 breaststroke.  Hungerford took down his fourth team in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:00.70.  His teammate, freshman Dexter Brown (Pearland, TX) was close behind in second place with a time of 1:00.96.  Brown also posted a season-best swim courtesy of his second place finish in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:50.37.

Junior Zadok Isaacs (Cantaro Village, Trinidad & Tobago) had a fantastic in his three events, as well.  Isaacs second place mark in the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:24.84 was a career-best in the event and sits as the second fastest in HU history.  Isaacs also captured second place in the 100 backstroke with a season-best posting of 55.68.

Isaacs anchoring leg of the 200 freestyle relay closed the meet for the men and was the fastest relay split of the season for the Bison.  Teaming with Brown and fellow freshmen Trent Popovich (Morro Bay, CA) and Ben Skelding (Palmdale, CA), Isaacs split of 21.28 helping the Bison grab second place with a season-best time of 1:30.27.

On the women's side, sophomore Ashley Douglas (Missouri City, TX) led the charge.  In her finest dual meet showing as a Lady Bison, Douglas powered her way to a first place swim in the 50 freestyle with a 25.23.  In the 100 freestyle, Douglas narrowly made it a pair of wins, but still fought her way to a season-best mark of 56.56 and a second place finish.

Douglas joined with fellow sophomore Janai Ederaine (Corona, CA,) junior E'lan Brewer (Lansing, MI) and freshman Briana Dillon (Katy, TX) for the Lady Bison's tremendous victory in the 200 freestyle relay.  Their time of 1:42.85 was their best showing of the fall season.

Ederaine and Dillon had remarkable meets, as well.  Ederaine not only posted a season-best mark in the 100 backstroke, but currently sits second all-time in HU history in the 400 individual medley thanks to her second place time of 4:53.27.  Dillon moved up in the school's history with her season-best mark in the 500 freestyle and swam a brilliant final 300 yards to snatch a second place showing in the 1000 freestyle.  Her time of 11:37.18 currently sits fifth all-time in the Bison record books.

The Lady Bison earned an additional second place mark thanks to freshman Caleah Gregoire.  Gregoire (Diego Martin, Trinidad & Tobago) had her finest 100 butterfly swim as a Lady Bison with a time of 1:04.46.

"Loyola is a great team and really brought the best out of us," said head coach Matt Salerno.  "We are tracking in the right direction and can use a lot of positive swims from this afternoon as springboards for our final few weeks of the fall semester."

The Bison will be traveling to Fairfax, Virginia this week.  Howard will be competing at the George Mason Invitational from November 17-19 along with American, George Washington, Seton Hall, Shippensburg, UMBC, UNCW and host George Mason.