The New Paltz men’s and women’s swimming teams continued their hot start to the season on Saturday, Nov. 10 when they squared off against National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II opponent Adelphi University in their first home meet of the year.
The Hawks bested Adelphi, coming out victorious on the men’s side, 120-99, and women’s side, 133-107.
“The victory against Adelphi felt awesome,” said fourth-year Katie Donlevy. “Although they are Division II, our men had more numbers and our women had more depth. The conference level difference sounded unsettling at first, but I think we all knew we really weren’t underdogs and were capable of winning.”
On the women’s side, the Hawks started the meet off with a first place finish in the 600-yard medley relay, consisting of second-year’s Tessa Griger and Lindsay Kranitz, third-year Chelsea Angulas and fourth-year Jaimie Kaefer.
Individually, the lady Hawks took home eight first place finishes, including a pair by Kranitz in the 50-yard and 100-yard backstroke. Donlevy added three first place finishes of her own in the 100-yard butterfly, 100-yard freestyle and 50-yard butterfly. Victories by fourth-years Degen Mariniello, Nicole Lee and Angulas in the 500-yard freestyle, 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke respectively rounded up the women’s side.
Angulas, Lee and first-year Victoria Bogdanski placed second, third and fourth, respectively, in a thrilling 50-yard backstroke.
“It was a great confidence boost to beat Adelphi,” Angulas said. “Swimming against a DII school tests not only our capability as athletes, but it tests each swimmer’s mindset and who wants to win more in the moment. In that moment, we wanted to win more.”
The men tacked on four first place finishes in the 50-yard, 100-yard, 200-yard and 500-yard freestyles. First-year Jared Finn secured two of these victories, edging out Panthers swimmers by less than half a second in the 100-yard and 200-yard freestyles.
First-year Ethan Bonney and second-year Nolan West closed out the victories on the men’s side with first place finishes in the 500 and 50-yard freestyles, respectively.
“I hope to see our intensity and positivity stay high, if not increase, moving forward,” Donlevy said. “Our success from this weekend should be a reminder that we are a strong and cohesive team who performs best when we’re all in the right headspace.”
The Hawks will look to keep their momentum going when Vassar College visits New Paltz on Friday, Nov. 16.
“This week allowed us to work on some race strategy, and we all put up some fast times while doing it,” Finn said. “Going forward and coming up on our big mid-season meet at TCNJ, I think we’re going to see some really eye-opening swims, to show everyone what we’re made of going into the second half of the season.”