BY CSTV.com

The coaches of both teams are well acquainted with their counterparts. Binghamton men's coach Sean Clark is a UMass alumnus and a former athlete of UMass men's coach Russ Yarworth. Binghamton assistant coach Aimee Bourassa graduated from UMass in 2006, after completing a four-year career swimming for current women's coach Bob Newcomb.

Bourassa brings credible experience to the Bearcats, ranking in the top 10 all-time for UMass in multiple events.

However this is by no means an established rivalry. UMass has only faced the Bearcats on one other occasion.

The meet will start at 11 a.m. in order to get the swimmers ready to perform early in the morning at their very best. They will need to get acclimated to morning meets because that is the time that preliminary races for the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships begin.

While not experiencing any competitive swimming in the past two weeks, both teams had very good workouts in that time period.

In Newcomb's mind, no specific group of swimmers in particular need any more work than another. He believes that they need to progress as a team.

"Every group needs work," said Newcomb. "Every group has really performed [in training] and we've done a lot of work these last couple of weeks. So I'm excited to see them swim again."

Last year in the tri-meet at Colgate, both UMass teams swept the Bearcats in both swimming and diving. The women's team dominated Binghamton, 235-66.

Last year as a junior, captain Samantha Demty paced the Minutewomen with a first-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly event.

Junior Karen Upperco currently leads the conference in both the one-meter dive (239.69) and the three-meter dive (262.80). Upperco swept both events last year at the tri-meet as well.

Senior co-captain Colleen McCann does not discount the skill of the Binghamton team, but knows that the team is more focused on its second chance against Boston University next weekend at the Terrier Invitational in Boston. The Terriers spoiled the Maroon and White's first home meet this season, sweeping both the men's and women's teams."Going into this weekend, we're more prepared for Boston University," McCann said. "We're just trying to get through this week and race hard against Binghamton and then get to BU."

Yarworth knows the strengths of the Minutemen and he also knows that his team has worked hard to get ready for the Bearcats and shake off the loss against Army in its last meet.

"We went into a two-week hard-training cycle and we're still in that," Yarworth said. "The kids have really risen to the challenge and I think we're ready to rip it up a little bit."

In last year's tri-meet against Colgate and Binghamton, the Maroon and White beat the Bearcats, 186-114.

The freestyle events will be crucial for a victory for the Minutemen. Sophomore Juan Moliere is undefeated in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle events this season and his 50-yard freestyle time (21:19) leads the A-10 Conference. Moliere won the 50-yard freestyle against the Bearcats last year. Senior captain R.J. Rappe was also a key contributor in last year's meet against Binghamton. The Minnesota native swept both the one and three-meter dives. Rappe leads the conference in the three-meter dive this season (306.97).

Senior co-captain A.J. Vozella believes that the meet will have an added flare, given that it is a student meets teacher scenario in terms of the coaches.

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