The SUNY New Paltz men’s and women’s swimming team dove into their final meet of the season before SUNYACs, both placing third against their respective opponents.
In this 30 event invitational, the men took on the first event – the 200-yard medley. Coming in sixth place, first-year Zac Brown, second-year Akiva Garfield, second-year Luke Gamboli and first-year Alex Palmero Baluev finished with a finals time of 1:43.95. This gave the Hawks 28 points to start off the meet. Behind them in eighth place, first-year Owen Rowlands, third-year Graham Cono, first-year Alexander Castillo and fourth-year TJ Stecher finished with a time of 1:50.52, adding 24 points to the Hawks’ scorecard.
The Lady Hawks came into the meet during the second event; their own 200-yard medley. Fourth-year Chelsea Angulas, third-year Lindsay Kranitz, first-year Kelly Donlevy and fourth-year Sarah Crespo came in fourth for the event with a finals time of 1:54.49, giving the Lady Hawks 30 points.
For the women’s 200-yard freestyle, Angulas came in second with a time of 2:04.21, narrowingly missing first place by only 0.03 seconds. Behind her came first-year Kirsten Giovanniello in fifth place with a time of 2:06.19, earning 14 points. Kranitz followed suit, coming in at 2:07.83, a little over a second later, adding another 12 points.
The men’s 100-yard backstroke was next. Third-year Nolan West came in fourth for the Hawks at 58.46, earning 15 points. Brown came in right after in fifth place at 58.70 earning 14 points, while Gamboli came in sixth at 58.72, earning 13 points. For the Lady Hawks, fourth-year Samantha Woll came in fourth at 1:04.15, earning 15 points. Her teammates, however, were seconds behind her.
“I plan to be the best counter for our distance swimmers out of all the SUNYAC teams,” Nolan said. “Our meet this weekend was a perfect opportunity for me to practice counting with their equipment and bulkhead.”
The 100-yard breaststroke came next, with second-year Jared Finn coming in second at 1:03.26 with 17 points. The Lady Hawks added three place earners during their 100-yard breaststroke. First-year Delilah Griger came in fourth at 1:13.99, with first-year Kelly Donlevy following in fifth only .39 seconds later at 1:14.38. Giovanniello came in second for the women’s 200-yard butterfly, coming in at 2:21.91 and earning 17 points for the Lady Hawks.
The 15th event of a seemingly high-energy meet, was the men’s 400-yard individual medley. Rowlands came in third for the Hawks, hitting the wall at 4:35.79 and earning 16 points for his team.
Angulas brought the heat for the Hawks once again during the women’s 100-yard freestyle. Angulas landed in second place with a time of 55.92, earning 17 points for the Lady Hawks. Woll was behind her in fifth place at 56.66, earning 14 points.
“I feel that my last meet before SUNYACs went well,” Angulas said. “Getting to swim off-events in the championship pool not only gave me a feel for the water but it was fun as well.”
In the men’s 200-yard backstroke, West came in fifth for the Hawks at 2:15.21. In the women’s event, Delilah Griger came in third with Donlevy behind her in fourth, while Tessa Griger was in sixth, collectively earning 44 points. Notably in the 200-yard breaststroke, Rowlands placed third at 2:27.34, while Cono placed less than four seconds after in fifth.
Bonney placed an impressive second place during the men’s 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:02.96. For the ladies, Kranitz secured another top three placement at third with a finals time of 5:39.56.
Gamboli placed fourth in the men’s 100-yard butterfly, and Giovanniello placed fourth for the women’s team with a time of 1:03.45. Kranitz came in fourth in the women’s 200-yard individual medley.
The women’s team ultimately earned 437 points, landing them in third place against SUNY Geneseo, Nazareth College and Buffalo State College. The men’s team followed suit in third place with 428 points against SUNY Geneseo, Nazareth College, Buffalo State College, Monroe Community College and Erie County Community College.
“I am hoping the team can bring a positive attitude and a will to race,” Angulas said. “Our last meet helped settle our nerves so now we hope to bring a calm, championship mindset to SUNYACs and do what we always do and race.”
Both teams are back on Feb. 18 for the first meet of the SUNYAC Championships.
