The men’s and women’s swimming teams finished off their regular seasons with a losses at home at the hands of SUNY Geneseo.
The losses dropped the men’s and women’s records to 4-3 and 5-2 in dual-meets, respectively.
On the men’s side, the Hawks were defeated by a 151-106 margin. New Paltz won three individual events on the day. Fourth-year co-captain Will Koenig won both the 50 freestyle (22.00) and 100 freestyle (49.32), while second-year Barrett Celecki took home the gold in the 1,650 freestyle (17:29.66).
The Hawks also scored first-place points in the 400 individual medley and the 400 freestyle relay by virtue of Geneseo marking its entries as exhibition. First-year Joe Galante scored first-place points in the 400 individual medley (4:40.22). The 400 freestyle relay team of third-year Austin Kowalsky, second-year Caleb Treadwell, fourth-year co-captain Ethan Cooke and Koenig scored first-place points in the 400 freestyle relay (3:15.56).
Second place finishes for the Hawks include fourth-year co-captain Ryan Lindgren in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.54) and the 200 breaststroke (2:18.43), while third-year Rob Cahn finished second in the 500 freestyle (5:04.39). Second-year Nick Wills scored second-place points in the 400 individual medley (4:47.34) by virtue of Geneseo marking its entries as exhibition.
“We had some very good swims, including my senior captain Will Koenig winning the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle events,” Hawks Head Coach Scott Whitbeck said. “Our men’s 400 free relay had our best dual-meet swim to date (3:15.66) and should compete with Geneseo and Cortland for the conference title in that event. Celecki had a tremendous individual performance in winning the 1650 freestyle. Although we lost the meet, we put up a great effort.”
The men conclude their season with the same mark they posted last season. The Hawks went 1-3 at home, but an undefeated 3-0 on the road.
For the women, they lost by a score of 142-115. The Hawks took home the gold in five individual events. Fourth-year co-captain Cassidy Griger led the way by winning the 200 freestyle (1:56.78) and the 100 freestyle (54.37). Second-year Megan Joseph won the 100 breaststroke (1:11.81), first-year Katie Donlevy finished first in the 200 breaststroke (2:34.57) and first-year Jaimie Kaefer won the 400 individual medley (4:42.64). Kaefer’s time set a new pool-record.
New Paltz also scored first-place points in the 400 freestyle relay by virtue of Geneseo entering the event as exhibition. Donlevy, third-year Aimee Del Favero, first-year Kaleigh O’Halloran and Griger posted a time of 3:40.52.
Second-place finishes came from second-year Molly McCulloch in the 50 freestyle (25.56) and Griger in the 500 freestyle (5:17.18). Fourth-year co-captain Ella Graffin scored second-place points in the 400 individual medley (5:07.08) by virtue of Geneseo marking its entries in the event as exhibition.
Despite the loss, Griger was impressed with how her team competed against the top team in the conference.
“Geneseo is the toughest competition in the SUNYAC conference and one of the fastest teams we’ve swam against all year,” she said. “The meet was a good opportunity to get us ready for swimming fast at the SUNYAC Championships. We had a lot of close races and posted some fast times for this point in the season.”
The women finished their season with a 5-2 record, a slight drop off from their 6-1 record last season. The team went 3-1 at home and 2-1 on the road.
Both teams will next compete in the 2016 State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Championships from Thursday, Feb. 18 to Saturday, Feb. 20 at Erie Community College’s Burt Flickinger Aquatic Center in Buffalo, New York. Last season the men finished fourth out of nine teams, while the women finished third out of nine teams.
Whitbeck says the team could use some rest over the course of these next few weeks, but they will also continue to work out during the break.
“We are in the beginning stages of tapering,” he said. “This is the time of year where we progressively rest and recover from a long season of training. We are looking to sharpen up on little things and be ready to go in just over two weeks.”
Swimming three days in a row at the SUNYAC Championship will be challenging for the team, but Griger believes they are up to the task.
“SUNYACs is a preliminary finals style meet so we will be swimming two sessions a day for three days, which is very physically and mentally demanding,” she said. “However we’ve had practice with these type of meets earlier in the season, against NYU and at the MIT Invitational.”