Cortland, NY — Both men's and women's swimming teams at the State University of New York at New Paltz lost to conference foe SUNY Cortland Friday evening in their first SUNYAC meet of the season. The men fell by a score of 166.5-127.5, while the women lost by a 162-126 margin.
"We knew they were going to score diving against us and that we needed to win the meet on the swimming events by 35 points and we lost the meet on the swimming side by five points," Hawks head coach Tom Eickelberg said. "So, we were mathematically out of it even before the diving was scored into it. If we're going to be one of the better teams in this conference, we have to show up and put down on every event."
It marks the women's first loss to Cortland since the 2013-14 season, and the men's first defeat since the 2014-15 campaign. Both teams previously saw the Red Dragons at the Cortland Relays back on Oct. 21 and placed third, while host Cortland finished first. The Hawks will have a chance for revenge when they see the Red Dragons again at the SUNYAC Championships from Feb. 22-24.
"We're not leaving SUNY Cortland with a great feeling," Eickelberg said. "We lost the relay meet there earlier in the season and now we lost this meet. There's definitely something to be proven between now and our conference championships."
The Hawks began the meet on a high note, as both teams won the 200-yard medley relay. Neither team has lost the event all season outside of relay meets. Seniors Chad Plante, Caleb Treadwell and Kevin Sales and sophomore Cooper Knapp led the men to a 1 minute, 39.30 seconds finish, while senior Molly McCulloch, juniors Katie Donlevy and Nicole Lee and sophomore Chelsea Angulas registered a 1:54.45 mark.
But the biggest bright spot on the evening was Knapp's 53.21 performance in the 100-yard backstroke that earned him first place and broke the Harriet Holsten Pool record. Knapp also touched first in the 200 back and 500-yard freestyle with times of 1:58.30 and 4:58.01, respectively.
Senior Barrett Celecki won back-to-back events in the 1000 free (10:45.79) and 200 free (1:49.91), with Sales placing second (1:52.84) in the latter.
"Barrett Celecki is finally back in shape, which is huge," Eickelberg said. "Not many people can win back-to-back events."
Plante also touched first in two individual events: the 100-yard breaststroke (1:03.03) and 200 breaststroke (2:18.75). Treadwell contributed by winning the 100-yard butterfly (56.04).
On the women's side, the Hawks took the top three spots in the 200 back as Angulas won with a 2:18.55 mark and sophomore Samantha Woll and freshman Tessa Griger finished second and third with times of 2:18.99 and 2:21.30, respectively. Angulas also touched first in the 100 back, clocking in at 1:01.85.
Donlevy won two of her three individual events, winning the 100 breaststroke (1:10.76) and 200 breaststroke (2:35.43) and placing second in the 100 fly (1:02.21).
Lee also had a strong performance, touching first in the 100 free with a time of 55.63 and the 50 free with a 25.88 mark. Angulas finished just behind her, clocking in at 25.96.
The Hawks look to bounce back Saturday when they host Ramapo College at 1 p.m. at Elting Pool. It will be both teams' Senior Day, as Celecki, Plante, Sales, Treadwell, McCulloch and seniors Colin Duell, Marc Piliero, Nick Wills, Katherine Cavanaugh, Lindsay Feminella, Megan Joseph and Bridget Roche will be honored prior to the start of the meet.
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