The Women’s swim team placed third out of four teams in the New York University (NYU) Invitational this weekend.
The two-day event was won by the host NYU with a total of 1,064 points. Stevens Institute of Technology took second with 836 points. New Paltz came in just after to take third with a total of 659 points, besting Arcadia University’s 277 points.
Third-year Cassidy Griger took second in the 200 freestyle (1:58.41) and fifth in the 100 freestyle, clocking in at 55.10. Fourth-year Samantha Granan was the Hawks’ top breaststroker of the day, finishing fifth in the 200 breaststroke (2:35.10) and sixth in the 100 breaststroke (1:10.22).
Third-year swimmer Casey O’Connor, who ranked eighth in the 200 backstroke (2:17.13) at the Invitational, said she was happy with her team’s performance.
“NYU and Stevens Institute are highly ranked Div. III teams with strong swimmers,” she said. “We stepped up and got some great times this weekend on both the women’s and men’s side.”
Head Coach Scott Whitbeck said he is also content with the results of the weekend.
“NYU and Stevens are two of the best teams in the country and have been for the last couple years,” he said. “And although they did beat us, I’m happy with how we did.”
O’Connor said she feels prepared for the team’s first dual meet against Oswego this weekend.
“We have a lot of depth on our team this year and I know we are all excited to see how we match up against teams in the SUNYAC conference,” she said.
Last year the Women’s swim team had two all-American swimmers graduate from New Paltz. Since then, the team has been focusing on getting faster to compete in more national level competitions, Whitbeck said.
“We have some top end swimmers but in order to compete at the highest levels we need to have everyone step up,” he said.
One of these competitions is the MIT Invitational, which is scheduled for early December. Whitbeck said he plans to prepare for this Invitational by attending dual meets like the one against SUNY Oswego this weekend.
“I expect the team to be able to handle Oswego this weekend,” he said. “We learned a lot this weekend and we are better because of it.”
The Hawks compete in their first dual meet of the season this Saturday, Nov. 15, hosted by SUNY Oswego at 1 p.m.