Meet ResultsBUFFALO – The State University of New York at New Paltz women's swimming team is in the thick of a five-team race for places two through six in the team standings, as the Hawks finished day one at the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Swimming & Diving Championships in fifth place out of nine teams with 118 points on Thursday at Erie Community College's Burt Flickinger Aquatic Center.
Outside of SUNY Geneseo, which is already doubling up the field with 314 points, The College at Brockport (second, 156), SUNY Fredonia (third, 146), SUNY Cortland (fourth, 142), New Paltz (fifth, 118) and SUNY Oneonta (sixth, 103) are all battling for positioning in the upper half of the team standings. SUNY Oswego (seventh, 52), SUNY Potsdam (eighth, 49) and Buffalo State (ninth, 45) round out the remainder of the field.
Action continues at the meet tomorrow, with prelims commencing at 10 a.m. and finals starting at 6 p.m.
New Paltz's evening session began with a fifth-place result in the 200 freestyle relay, as the squad of freshmen
Molly McCulloch (Rome, N.Y./Holland Patent) and
Megan Joseph (Hauppauge, N.Y./Hauppauge) and juniors
Maggie Heaton (New Milford, Conn./New Milford) and
Krista VerMeersch (Newark, N.Y./Newark) charted a time of 1:38.84.
The 500 freestyle saw four Hawks competing in the consolation final, with senior
Kat Buyes (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./John Jay-East Fishkill) winning the heat with a time of 5:15.86. Buyes, whose performance would have placed fifth in the championship final heat, registered ninth-place points for her efforts Thursday evening. Sophomores
Ann Fici (Hauppauge, N.Y./Hauppauge) and
Kyrstin Gallagher (Walden, N.Y./Valley Central) and freshman
Lindsay Feminella (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph by-the-Sea) finished 12th (5:24.54), 13th (5:30.55) and 15th (5:34.20), respectively.
Senior
Samantha Granan (Hyde Park, N.Y./Franklin D. Roosevelt) qualified for the championship final heat in the 200 individual medley and placed eighth (2:15.29), while Joseph, junior
Ella Graffin (Ithaca, N.Y./Ithaca) and Heaton finished ninth (2:14.15), 13th (2:16.48) and 16th (2:20.69), respectively.
McCulloch touched the wall fourth in the 50 freestyle, finishing with a standard of 24.60 in the two-lap sprint.
Finally, the 400 medley relay contingent of junior
Casey O'Connor (New Fairfield, Conn./New Fairfield), Granan, McCulloch and Buyes capped off the Hawks' day-one outing with a fourth-place time of 4:01.33.
