New Paltz, NY – It was a special night for State University of New York at New Paltz coach Tom Eickelberg Friday. He not only got the chance to coach against his younger sister, who stood in as the head coach for the visiting SUNY Purchase Panthers, but also witnessed two of his swimmers break pool records in his team's home opener.

"I was really happy with the way the team came out and defended our home turf a little bit," Eickelberg said. "My sister was actually the active head coach for Purchase today, so it was pretty cool to coach against her. She is certainly a role model in a lot of ways in my life even though she's my younger sister and it is really cool watching them get instilled with her competitive spirit."

It was back-to-back record-breaking performances by the Hawks early in the meet. Up first was sophomore Cooper Knapp, the reigning SUNYAC Rookie of the Year, who went into the race eyeing a spot in SUNY New Paltz's record books in the 200-yard individual medley.

Knapp clocked in at 1 minute, 52.96 seconds in the event to break not only an Elting Pool record but a school record as well. Kevin Sales followed in second for the Hawks with a time of 2:13.19, while Joseph Galante (2:13.45) finished third.

"We take our pool records very seriously. We swim our home races really seriously and we're really proud of writing our name in the history of the program and that's what they went out to do," Eickelberg said. "Cooper breaking a school and a pool record especially, he's easily the number one time in the conference right now and certainly up there in DIII, so it will be interesting to look at the college swimming list and check that out."

Jaimie Kaefer was next to make history for SUNY New Paltz. The junior set a new pool record in the women's 200 IM, clocking in with a time of 2:09.59. Samantha Woll (2:24.99) followed in second for the Hawks, while teammate Bridget Roche (2:46.58) placed third.

With their times Friday, Knapp currently sits second nationally in the 200 IM, while Kaefer's time ranks eighth in NCAA Division III. 

"It is always cool to break two school records," Eickelberg added. "Cooper and Jaimie are certainly a force to be reckoned with in those IM's."

SUNY New Paltz won virtually every event and cruised to two victories with the men beating the Panthers, 79-51 and the women rolling to a 90-75 victory.

"Going into today's meet, we were just trying to do what we've been doing in practice all the time," said Hawks junior Katie Donlevy. "We were pretty confident that we would win most of our events, but we wanted to see what we were capable of after two hard weeks of intense practices."

Caleb Treadwell and Nicole Lee placed first in the men's and women's 200 freestyle with times of 1:53.72 and 2:08.90, respectively. Matt Pero (23.60) and Sarah Crespo (25.96) earned first in the men's and women's 50 freestyle. Kostantin Lomeyko won the 100 butterfly with a time of 54.95, while Megan Joseph came first in the same event on the women's side after clocking in at 1:05.65.

Nolan West won the 100 freestyle for the Hawks with a time of 52.12, while Joseph Galante placed first in the men's 500 freestyle (5:15.90).

Donlevy then concluded the night in the women's 400 freestyle relay, as she anchored her team, which also featured Megan Joseph, Kaleigh O'Halloran and Nicole Lee, to a first place finish after catching teammate Molly McCulloch in the final lap.

"The last relay is always the most intense and the most fun, because we are just so close to just ending it all," Donlevy said. "It was just a lot of fun to race each other, just like we do in practice. We are really good motivators for one another."

The Hawks are back in action next weekend, as they head to Vassar College on Nov. 17 at 5 p.m. and then are back home Nov. 18 to take on Hamilton College at 1 p.m.

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