Back from competition this past week in Florida, the State University of New York at New Paltz men's and women's swimming teams quickly get back on the road to face conference foe SUNY Cortland on Friday for a 4 p.m. match and then cap off their home meet's by hosting Ramapo College for Senior Day on Saturday at 1 p.m.
"We're really excited to get back to racing and doing some relays and facing people in our conference," Hawks coach Tom Eickelberg said.
Prior to the Ramapo meet the Hawks will honor seniors Barrett Celecki, Colin Duell, Marc Piliero, Chad Plante, Kevin Sales, Caleb Treadwell, Nick Wills Katherine Cavanaugh, Lindsay Feminella, Megan Joseph, Molly McCulloch and Bridget Roche.
"This senior class has been really instrumental in transforming this program into one of the best teams in the conference," Eickelberg said.
Before it heads back home, however, SUNY New Paltz must face the Red Dragons once again this season. The Hawks saw SUNY Cortland back on Oct. 21 when they began their season at the Cortland Relays. The Red Dragons finished first on both the men's and women's sides.
Treadwell, Plante, Sales and sophomore Cooper Knapp won the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1 minute, 38.79 seconds, while the trio of Joseph and juniors Jamie Kaefer and Katie Donlevy won the 3x100 medley relay by clocking in a time of 3:17.22. The Hawks also touched first in the 8x25 freestyle relay with a time of 1:40.11 thanks to Cavanaugh, junior Samantha Conforti and sophomores Chelsea Angulas and Sarah Crespo.
However, SUNY New Paltz has had success the past few seasons when facing Cortland in a standard dual-meet. The men have not lost to the Red Dragons since the 2014-15 season, while the women have won their last three meets against them.
Last season, the men were victorious by a score of 138-116, while the women won 140-116. Knapp notched a 51.12 mark in the 100-yard backstroke to set an Elting Pool and school record, and he also took home first place in the 200 backstroke with a reading of 2:01.10. In the 200-yard butterfly, sophomore Konstantin Lomeyko earned the top spot with a mark of 2:04.92.
For the women, Kaefer and Angulas were both double event winners. Kaefer touched first in the 200-yard freestyle (1:59.18) and 200 backstroke (2:10.75), while Angulas won the 100 backstroke (1:01.58) and 50 freestyle (26.14). Donlevy also had a top finish for the Hawks, touching first in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:36.45), while Joseph and junior Nicole Lee scooped up first-place finishes with Joseph in the 100 breaststroke (1:11.29) and Lee in the 100 freestyle (56.00).
"The way we get up and race at Cortland will be a really good reflection of where we are," Eickelberg said.
SUNY New Paltz will see the Red Dragons again at the end of the season, when both teams compete in the SUNYAC Championships from Feb.22-24.
Both teams last faced Ramapo during the 2015-16 season, when the Hawks' women came out on top by a score of 150-107, while the men fell by a 152.5-109.5 margin. Kaefer won the 500 freestyle with a 5:28.27 mark on the day, while Donlevy won the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:33.59.
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