Meet Results

BUFFALO – Junior Yuka Suzuka (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown) paced the State University of New York at New Paltz women's swimming team on day one of three at the 2012 State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Swimming & Diving Championships at Erie Community College's Burt Flickinger Aquatic Center in Buffalo, winning the 200 individual medley in NCAA-provisional-qualifying time. The Hawks finished day one ranked fourth out of nine teams with 147.5 points.

Suzuka slipped under the NCAA provisional time (2:08.67) in the 200 individual medley, clocking a 2:08.62 to win the event by more than two seconds. Her performance also bettered the event's program record of 2:09.49, which Marissa Morris set at last year's SUNYAC Championships.

Suzuka added to her impressive evening by clocking a solid NCAA provisional cut time in the 100 backstroke leading off the Hawks' second-place 400 medley relay, which went a 3:56.30. She swam the opening 100 in 56.49, which is just .20 seconds off the NCAA automatic cut. Juniors Anna Jakubek (Harriman, N.Y./Monroe-Woodbury) and Carly Marshall (Cornwall, N.Y./Cornwall Central) and senior Christine Rieth (Penfield, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) filled out the rest of the relay.

The session began with the 200 freestyle relay, and the Hawk foursome of junior Katina Lown (Bohemia, N.Y./Connetquot), senior Taylor Henshaw (Norwood, N.J./Northern Valley Old Tappan), Jakubek and sophomore Victoria Scalise (Rochester, N.Y./Brighton) covered the race in a third-place time of 1:38.75.

Sophomore Chelsea Allocco (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) placed second in the 500 freestyle for the second year in a row, as she was unable to catch Abby Max of SUNY Geneseo. She turned at 2:00.37 at the 200 mark to Max's 1:58.80, and Max extended her lead to claim first with a time of 5:01.70. Allocco nearly missed the NCAA provisional cut in the race, offering a runner-up performance of 5:04.55. In the consolation heat of the 500 freestyle, freshman Katherine Buyes (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./John Jay) and sophomore Niki Ghostlaw (New Windsor, N.Y./Newburgh Free Academy) placed 12th and 15th with times of 5:22.40 and 5:25.72, respectively.

Marshall joined Suzuka in the championship final in the 200 individual medley, and despite dropping a second off her preliminary swim, she touched fourth with a 2:11.58 performance.

In the 50 freestyle, Rieth was touched out by .12 seconds by Sarah Culmo of SUNY Cortland, as Rieth charted a second-place time of 23.96. Her morning swim of 23.88, however, dipped below the event's NCAA provisional cut time of 23.97. Lown finished 10th overall by virtue of a second-place finish (25.10) in the consolation final.

SUNY Fredonia leads after day one with 235 points, while SUNY Geneseo (214) and SUNY Cortland (193.5) are within striking distance of the Blue Devils. New Paltz (147.5), SUNY Oneonta (87), The College at Brockport (87), Buffalo State (63), SUNY Oswego (61) and SUNY Potsdam (40) round out the remainder of the field.

The meet continues tomorrow, with the preliminary heats starting at 10 a.m. and finals beginning at 6 p.m. Tomorrow's events include: the 200 medley relay, the 400 individual medley, the 100 butterfly, the 200 freestyle, the 100 breaststroke, the 100 backstroke, and the 800 freestyle relay.