Buyanov v. Westby: The Battle Continues

There have been many great rivalries through the years in college athletics. Think of greats such as Michigan versus Ohio State in football. Or Duke versus North Carolina in basketball. One great rivalry is going seemingly unnoticed thus far, however. Nelson Westby and Pavel Buyanov have been squaring off for over a year now, and there still seems to be no favorite when it comes to these two Division III swimming phenoms.

Buyanov, a sophomore out of CUNY-Staten Island, is seeded second in the men’s 200-yard breaststroke, and sitting just above him is Westby, a senior out of St. Olaf. This is the event in which, at last year’s Division III national meet, Buyanov beat Westby by just over one second, with Alexander Stoyel (Graduated, Kenyon) coming in second, .69 seconds behind Buyanov.

The 100-yard breaststroke also proved to be a battle between Westby and Buyanov in last year’s NCAA Championships. Buyanov managed to hold off Westby by .01 seconds, edging out a victory and new NCAA Division III record time of 54.49 seconds.

This year, Westby and Buyanov are seeded one-two in the 200-yard breaststroke, respectively. Westby is also seeded first in the 100-yard breaststroke, with MIT junior Ratislav Racz seeded second, and Buyanov rounding out the top three.

With national titles and Division III records on the line, only one swimmer can prevail victorious. Westby must be fired up; after all he almost broke Buyanov’s record earlier this year at the Carthage Invitational, swimming the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 54.66 seconds. Westby, in that same meet, came even closer to breaking the 200-yard breaststroke record mark with a time of 1:58.98, a mere .08 seconds off. But will Westby be able to hold off the 25-year-old Russian standout? We’ll find out this week as they square off on Friday and Saturday at the 2009 Division III National Championships.