In its final tune-up before the 2014 State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Swimming & Diving Championships, the State University of New York at New Paltz women’s swimming team won the six-team Skidmore Sprint Invitational on Saturday, scoring 580 points throughout the meet.
Vassar came in second with 384 points, while William Smith College placed third with 314 points. Skidmore College (fourth, 200), SUNY Cobleskill (fifth, 79) and Sarah Lawrence College (sixth, 32) rounded out the remainder of the field.
New Paltz won nine of the 14 swimming events, including both relays. Vassar’s Julia Cunningham accounted for three of the five non-New Paltz wins, as she captured the 400 individual medley (4:40.84), the 100 individual medley (1:03.32) and the 100 breaststroke.
The Hawks return to competition from Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 20-22, for the 2014 SUNYAC Swimming & Diving Championships hosted at Erie Community College’s Burt Flickinger Athletic Center. The preliminary heats are set for 10 a.m.each day, with the championship final sessions set for 6 p.m.
Sophomore Cassidy Griger (Cooperstown, N.Y./Cooperstown Central) led the way individually for the Hawks, winning the 500 freestyle (5:26.08) and the 100 freestyle (55.17) in addition to placing second in the 50 freestyle (25.77). Senior Victoria Scalise (Rochester, N.Y./Brighton) also was a double-event winner, taking the 50 freestyle (25.66) and the 200 freestyle (2:04.82).
Sophomore Maggie Heaton (New Milford, Conn./New Milford) won the 100 butterfly and added third-place finishes in the 100 individual medley (1:05.25) and the 100 breaststroke (1:14.19), while junior Samantha Granan (Hyde Park, N.Y./Franklin D. Roosevelt) placed first in the 50 breaststroke (32.51), second in the 100 individual medley (1:04.02) and third in the 400 individual medley (4:58.17). Sophomore Ella Graffin (Ithaca, N.Y./Ithaca) rounded out New Paltz’s individual event winners with a first-place result in the 50 butterfly (28.02).
The New Paltz 200 medley relay foursome of sophomore Casey O’Connor (New Fairfield, Conn./New Fairfield), Granan, Heaton and Graffin combined for a winning time of 1:54.94, while the 200 freestyle relay squad of Griger, sophomore Krista VerMeersch (Newark, N.Y./Newark), junior Kat Buyes (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./John Jay) and Scalise went a first-place time of 1:43.81.
Additional second-place finishes came from senior Chelsea Allocco (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) in the 400 individual medley (4:55.39), Buyes in the 200 freestyle (2:05.17) and VerMeersch in the 100 breaststroke (1:13.45), and additional third-place finishes came from Buyes in the 500 freestyle (5:29.99), O’Connor in the 100 backstroke (1:05.52), VerMeersch in the 50 breaststroke (33.42) and Allocco in the 200 freestyle (2:05.38).
This release was provided to SwimSwam courtesy of New Paltz Swimming and Diving.
