Meet Results

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The State University of New York at New Paltz women's swimming team finished third out of eight teams following the third and final day of the MIT Invitational hosted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Zeisiger Center on Sunday, tallying 672 points throughout the course of the meet.
 
Host MIT captured the team title with 1,535 points, while Wellesley College just edged out the Hawks for second with 703 points. Keene State College (fourth, 627), Tufts University (fifth, 588.5), Harvard University (sixth, 556), Wheaton (Mass.) College (seventh, 350.5) and Bowdoin College (eighth, 285) rounded out the remainder of the field.
 
New Paltz has nearly a month off from competition before swimming at the University of Tampa Invitational during its annual training trip on Saturday, Jan. 3, at 1 p.m. in Tampa, Fla.
 
The evening session began with the Hawks' "A" 200 medley relay quartet of junior Casey O'Connor (New Fairfield, Conn./New Fairfield), senior Samantha Granan (Hyde Park, N.Y./Franklin D. Roosevelt), freshman Molly McCulloch (Rome, N.Y./Holland Patent) and junior Cassidy Griger (Cooperstown, N.Y./Cooperstown Central) charting a fifth-place time of 1:50.29.
 
Senior Kat Buyes (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./John Jay-East Fishkill) continued to display her impressive skill in distance freestyle, as she placed seventh in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:17.11. Sophomore Ann Fici (Hauppauge, N.Y./Hauppauge) came in 12th (5:25.99), while sophomore Kyrstin Gallagher (Walden, N.Y./Valley Central) finished 18th (5:35.46).
 
O'Connor made the "A" final in the 200 backstroke and ended up taking seventh (2:14.52), while freshman Lindsay Feminella (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph by-the-Sea) won the "B" final with an 11th-place standard of 2:14.92.
 
McCulloch was a half second off the program record in the 100 butterfly, as she posted a sixth-place time of 58.74. Juniors Maggie Heaton (New Milford, Conn./New Milford) and Kim Kallansrude (Muttontown, N.Y./Jericho) each competed in the "B" final and finished 12th (1:00.40) and 15th (1:01.41), respectively.
 
Granan slid under the 2:30 barrier in the 200 breaststroke, as she touched sixth at 2:29.77. Junior Krista VerMeersch (Newark, N.Y./Newark) came in 12th place (2:32.57) in the event, while senior Colleen Stewart (Shelton, Conn./Shelton) placed 14th (2:34.33).
 
Griger's swim of 53.81 in the 100 freestyle was good for eighth, while junior Mary Ansman (Holtsville, N.Y./Sachem East) and Gallagher represented the Hawks in the "B" final, taking 18th (57.08) and 20th (57.76), respectively.
 
Freshman Megan Joseph (Hauppauge, N.Y./Hauppauge) registered a solid time of 2:11.12 in the 200 individual medley to rank sixth in the event. Junior Ella Graffin (Ithaca, N.Y./Ithaca) and Granan each competed in the "B" final and ranked 13th (2:16.91) and 15th (2:17.51), respectively.
 
Finally, in the 400 freestyle relay, the Hawks' "A" foursome of Joseph, Buyes, McCulloch and Griger finished fifth with a time of 3:40.59.