Winter sports at SUNY New Paltz are in full swing! Since the start of the season on Friday, Oct. 14, the men’s and women’s swim teams have competed against the United States Merchant Marine Academy, at the Cortland Pumpkin Relays and most recently at Adelphi University on Friday, Nov. 4. The women’s basketball team’s season started last week against Mount Saint Mary College on Tuesday, Nov. 8. The Hawks played consecutive games against Hartwick College on Friday, Nov. 11 and Misericordia University Saturday, Nov. 12 here at New Paltz’s Hawk Center.
Head coach and New Paltz graduate Nolan Graziano enters his first year at the helm of the Hawks men’s and women’s swimming program ahead of the 2022-23 season. Graziano spent his last two collegiate seasons swimming for the Hawks’ 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons, qualifying for SUNYAC finals in 2017 in the 200-yard breaststroke, individual medley (IM) and 400-yard IM. The New Paltz alum’s first season as coach would not start off in victory; the Hawks fell to the USMMA’s Mariners by a score of 128-77 on the women’s side and 139-62 on the men’s side. But all would not be bleak for the Hawks; first-year Alexandra Kassian won her first college contest in the women’s 200-yard IM with an impressive time of 2:18.25. Second-years Steven Macaluso and Korey Barber, first-year Antonio Vavalle and third-year Myles Dower excelled in the 400-yard freestyle relay, racking in first place in the contest with a time of 3:25.69. The women’s team also came out on top in the 400-yard medley relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay. Full results can be found on the nphawks.com website.
Eight days removed from their loss to the Mariners, the Hawks competed at the Pumpkin Relays hosted by SUNY Cortland, which also featured teams from Wells College and SUNY Brockport. Both teams representing SUNY New Paltz finished second out of four teams.
Notable victories came in the women’s 300-yard butterfly relay and the 200-yard free relay. Fourth-years Kelly Donlevy and Kirsten Giovanniello along with first-year Sierra DePry won in the 300-yard contest with a time of 3:11.34. The latter victory came from Giovanniello, Donlevy, third-year Julia Laboni and second-year Kaylee Gallagher with a time of 1:39.05
On Friday, Nov. 4, the Hawks hosted against Adelphi University at Elting Pool. The women’s team claimed first place while the men finished in second place for the dual meet. Notable moments for the Hawks included first-year Amanda O’Brien finishing first in the 1000-yard freestyle IM in a time of 11:34.47, Giovanniello completing the 200-yard butterfly in the heat’s fastest time of 2:18.04 and second-year Candela Sandoval clutching first place in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:08.54. The women’s team enters 1-1 and the men’s team goes in 0-2 when they return to competition this Friday, Nov. 18 when they host Vassar College in Elting Gym at 6:00 p.m.
Moving swiftly over to basketball, the women’s team started 2-0, first defeating Mount Saint Mary College on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 70-53, then over Hartwick College in a dominant 67-33 win.
The women basketball team’s winning streak would come to an end with a tight 65-60 loss last Saturday afternoon to Misericordia College. The Hawks were up 52-45 going into the fourth quarter, with third-years Brianna Fitzgerald and Abby Korzekwinski leading the teams in scoring, shooting 20 points and 13 points, respectively. A lackadaisical final quarter led to the team’s defeat; the Hawks scoring only eight points, to the Cougars’ 20. The Hawks’ next games are against Clarks Summit University women’s team on Friday, Nov. 18, Messiah University Falcons the following day. Both games will be held in Grantham, PA.
