The State University of New York at New Paltz swimming team will travel to Mahwah, New Jersey Saturday for the last meet of the semester against Ramapo College.
The Hawks enter the meet a week after their three day mid-season invitational, which was highlighted by personal best times and multiple top 16 finishes. The women placed third of seven teams with a total score of 560.5, following The College of New Jersey and Swarthmore College. The men gathered 323.5 points at the end of the meet, finishing ahead of West Chester University.
"TCNJ went really well. We all did personal bests and season bests and some of us beat our SUNYAC (State University of New York Athletic Conference) times from last year," said SUNY New Paltz sophomore Lindsay Kranitz. 
Despite standout performances at the invitational, the Hawks noticed details that need to be improved upon, which could make the difference between a first and second place finish. Faster turns, stronger starts and finishing hard are among the details SUNY New Paltz spent the week focusing on in preparation to swim against the Roadrunners. The intensity of practices also increased, especially after taking a three-day taper drop the previous week.
During the 2017-2018 season, the women were victorious against Ramapo (143-118). The Hawks are projected to win by 50 points Saturday, but are hoping to make the gap larger. Because of the projection, many of the women will participate in events they don't normally swim in order to receive a mental break from the repetition. The Roadrunners have participated in four dual meets this season, to which they all have suffered losses.
The Ramapo men's team has had more success than their women, winning one of their four dual meets. The Roadrunners defeated SUNY New Paltz last season, 116-146, so the Hawks will step up to the meet with their best line-up.
"It's going to be a close meet on the guys' side, but I really think that we could come out and win and do a lot of good times," said freshman Luke Gamboli.
The competition is the last meet before SUNY New Paltz heads down to Florida for its annual training trip. The meet against Ramapo College also marks the beginning of the increased intensity in training until the Hawks arrive at SUNYACs in February.
SUNY New Paltz will compete against the Roadrunners Saturday at 2 p.m.
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