Men's Swimming

Binghamton lands transfer from Utah

The men’s swimming & diving team has announced that Magnus Lofgren (Umea, Sweden) will transfer to Binghamton from the University of Utah for the upcoming season. He will be a senior this academic year.

Lofgren has already posted times below the winning marks at last season’s America East Conference Championships. His top time of 4:34.19 in the 500 freestyle eclipses the winning conference time of 4:38.68. In the 1650 freestyle, Lofgren’s top time of 15:59.36 ranks well ahead of last season’s conference-winning time of 16:22.26.

Utah is a member of the Mountain West Conference and at last season’s conference championships, Lofgren was eighth in the 500 freestyle (4:37.21). In 2001, he was fourth in the 1650 freestyle and seventh in the 500 freestyle.

In his native Sweden, Lofgren has been one of the top distance swimmers. At the 2000 Swedish National Championships, he placed sixth in the 400 and 10th in the 1500 freestyle. Lofgren also performed impressively at the 2000 Swedish Short Course National Championships, finishing seventh in the 400 freestyle and sixth in the 1500 freestyle.

“Magnus really adds a lot of diversity to our team,” head coach Benji DeMotte said. “We expect him to contend for the conference titles in the distance events. We have been strong in the short and middle distance events the past two years but Magnus will be the missing link we need this season in the longer events.”

Binghamton, which opens its season at home against Niagara on Oct. 19, finished second out of six teams at last season’s America East Conference Championships.