Just as winter begins to wind down, the SUNY Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) for swimming and diving kicked off at the end of February. The championship ran from Feb. 21-24, where competitors met at the Burt Flickinger Aquatic Center, located at Erie Community College in Buffalo, NY. This meet included both the men’s and women’s teams, where the SUNYAC champion will be crowned for both categories, pushing teams to put their best foot (and hands, in terms of swimming) forward in the competition.
On Feb. 21, the SUNYACs began with two scoring relays, in medley and freestyle. The men’s team took second place with a time of 1:33.24 in the 200-yard medley, while the women’s team took sixth with a time of 1:57.08. In the 800-yard freestyle, the men took third with a time of 7:03.21, and the women claimed fourth place with a time of 8:14.08.
Following the first day of the conference, the championship kicked off its second day, Feb. 22, with preliminaries in the morning, followed by finals later that day. For the men’s prelims, Antonio Vavalle took fourth place in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:50.11, advancing him to finals. Alex Gorzula, Jack Wirth, Luke Hoyt and Mason Kennedy also qualified for finals with their performance in the 200-yard IM. For the women’s team, Abigail Dusseault claimed eighth place in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:31.00, advancing her to the finals. Alongside her in tenth place was Amanda O’Brien with a time of 5:38.59, also qualifying for finals. Come finals, Dusseault took seventh in the 500-yard freestyle for the women’s team and Vavalle finished sixth for the men’s team in the same competition.
The championship followed the same schedule on Feb. 23, beginning with prelims and ending with finals. For the men’s prelims, Gorzula finished third in the 400-yard IM alongside Xavier Calderon and Samuel Debbie. For the women’s prelims, O’Brien, alongside Candela Sandoval and Sage Vadney, all qualified for finals for their performance in the 400-yard IM. For the finals, Sandoval claimed tenth for the women’s team and Gorzula took third for the men’s in that same 400-yard IM.
Coach Nolan Graziano was content with the teams’ performances, stating that they “put up some really impressive times.”
On the final day of the competition on Feb. 24, the culminating events were prelims and finals for the 400-yard freestyle relay, 200-yard backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. In the finals, Dusseault claimed sixth place in the arduous 1650-yard freestyle final with a time of 18:55.24. O’Brien finished right after in ninth place, clocking in at 19:07.17. On the men’s side, Vavalle finished fourth in the same competition with a time of 16:40.16, with Brian LaRossa coming in 15 at 18:49.96.
Overall, SUNY New Paltz swimming surely showed out this year at the SUNYACs, cementing the teams’ talent at the championships. For further details on each athlete’s times for the relays, check out the New Paltz Hawks website at www.nphawks.com.