SUNY New Paltz Swim Competes against Skidmore College

Neither women’s nor men’s swimming triumphed against the teams at Skidmore College on Nov. 16. The Hawks suffered a tough loss at the dual meet against the private college in Saratoga Springs. The men’s team finished with 60 total points against Skidmore’s 145, which resulted in a loss margin of 85 points. The women’s team endured a harsher defeat and ended the meet with 46 points compared to Skidmore’s 159 — a loss margin of 113 points.

The dual meet occurred after the cancellation of a Nov. 15 meet against Vassar. While it may be a loss on paper, fourth-year flyer and individual medley swimmer Candela Sandoval explained she does not see it that way. 

“I don’t really like to think about it as a loss. I think about it more of how we did overall, and our times ourselves. When we swim, we compete against the clock, although we might have lost, our team overall did phenomenal,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if we lost at the end of day, because our times were dropping throughout the season.” 

“We knew it was going to be a challenging meet, but we went in with a positive attitude.”

Although the teams’ final points did not pull ahead of Skidmore’s, two Hawks came in first during individual events. 

First-year Brianna Law, who swims sprint and breaststroke, placed first in the women’s 100-yard breaststroke, touching in a lightning speed of 1:14.79 — finishing ahead of the third-year Skidmore swimmer she raced against. Sandoval shouted out the rookie, who was the only women’s swimmer to place first at the meet. “She’s been very fast in the water. She’s been coming in first,” Sandoval said. “She’s been racking up the points.”

Third-year distance freestyle swimmer Antonio Vavalle also carved out the first place spot for his race in the men’s 1000-yard freestyle. He pulled out the win in a close call of 10:29.72, with Skidmore’s swimmer touching in at nearly .20 second behind him.

Like Law, Vavalle helps the swim team rack up their points, according to Sandoval. “He’s very good,” she said. 

Skidmore swimmers came in the two top spots for most events, with New Paltz swimmers taking third or fourth place in most events — but not all. Second-year distance freestyle swimmer Abigail Dusseault came in second in the women 500-yard freestyle, helping carve out a strong performance for the New Paltz swimmers in the meet’s distance events. 

While the Hawks struggled against the Thoroughbreds, the swimmers managed to put up a good fight against them in certain events despite being the underdogs in the pool.  Second-year breaststroke and individual medley swimmer Alex Gorzula sprinted to second place in the men’s 100 yard breaststroke. In another sprinting event, second-year backstroke and individual medley swimmer Jack Wirth came in second at 56:27 seconds in the men 100-yard backstroke. In the final event against Skidmore, four Hawks took second place in the men’s 400-yard freestyle. Vavalle, fourth-year sprint freestyle and breaststroke swimmer Venn Engstrom, second-year sprint freestyle and butterfly swimmer Jack Samko and fourth-year sprint freestyle and butterfly swimmer Steven Macaluso gave it their all, touching in four seconds behind Skidmore’s winning time.  

Loud cheers echoed across the natatorium as the swimmers dived, pushed their bodies to their limits in the water and prioritized uplifting one another. 

“On deck, we bring out the energy. We prioritize being loud on deck as well and cheering each other on,” Sandoval said. “It’s really nice knowing that you have your whole team cheering you on before you get on the block. It hypes you up, and you go fast.” 

Sandoval herself started and ended the meet by swimming in both the freestyle and medley relays for the women. In her individual race, Sandoval performed the best out of the New Paltz swimmers and came in third place behind the Skidmore swimmers in the women 200-yard individual medley race. She also competed as the third swimmer in the women’s 400-yard medley relay, which completed at a time of 4:34.98 to take fourth place.

The fourth-year swimmer from Oakland Gardens has been on the team her entire collegiate career and explained it’s her teammates that keep her diving into the pool. “I love that they push me, they keep me motivated,” Sandoval said. “My teammates create an environment where we just hold each other accountable, and they make it fun.” 

Following the Skidmore meet, the Hawks competed in their annual mid-season meet in New Jersey, where they competed for three days straight on Nov. 22 – Nov. 24. The men placed fifth out of sixth, and the women’s team placed fifth out of seventh. The swim season will continue until Feb. 1, with the Hawks scheduled to swim in one last meet against Oneonta.