Mahwah, NJ -- The State University of New York at New Paltz women's swimming team was victorious against Ramapo College, 142-116, but the men fell short, 156-101.
 
The meet is the last of the year for the Hawks, following their mid-season invitational at The College of New Jersey the previous week.
 
"After a long midseason meet, and our toughest week of practice we knew that our athlete's were going to be in a state of fatigue heading into today's contest," said SUNY New Paltz assistant coach Matthew Distler. "As coaches, we emphasized that the difference between success and failure lay not in our ability to win the meet, but in our ability to get up and put our best effort out, regardless of where we stood physically and mentally. These are the moments in sport that transfer best to 'off the field' events when we need to be at our best for our families, careers, etc, even when the chips are down."
 
The women placed first in 10 out of 14 events. SUNY New Paltz scored well enough ahead of the Roadrunners that they stopped scoring the last two events, the 200-yard individual medley and the 200-yard freestyle relay, both of which the Hawks would have placed first in.
 
Standout performances included freshman Grace Rocks' 1,000-yard freestyle. Rocks pulled ahead from fifth place during the last two laps of the 40 lap race to finish third with a time of 11 minutes, 57.78 seconds. Senior Whitney Knowlton-Wardle finished ahead of Rocks for second (11:51.11). Junior Chelsea Anguals and sophomore Tessa Griger touched the wall consecutively for first and second place in the 100-yard backstroke for times of 1:02.21 and 1:03.64, respectively, and came back to score similarly in the 200-yard backstroke for times of 2:16.94 and 2:17.82.
 
Senior Nicole Lee scored first place in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyles for times of 25.51 and 57.32, respectively. Junior Sarah Crespo followed closely behind in both races for second place with times of 26.85 and 59.08.
 
The men began the meet with an exciting 1,000-yard freestyle where they claimed the top three spots. Freshman Ethan Bonney placed first (10:33.85), followed by senior Barrett Celecki for second (10:49.86) and junior Tim Stecher for third (11:00.83). Sophomore Nolan West, senior Yaya Toure and senior Matthew Kessler finished the 100-yard backstroke with consecutive finishes for second, third and fourth.
 
Senior Joe Galante claimed the first place finish in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:09.98, followed by freshman Luke Gamboli for second (2:16.59) and sophomore Graham Cono (2:17.97).
"We were able to put forth solid efforts, and the team showed great mental toughness today," said Distler. "This was an excellent week of training leading up to the meet, and we are happy with the way they responded to the challenges."
 
SUNY New Paltz will compete against SUNY Cortland January 11 at home at 4 p.m.
 

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