Buffalo, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz men's and women's swimming teams broke a few records and had some strong performances in the first day of the SUNYAC Championships on Thursday evening.

"We started SUNYACs off really nicely today," Hawks head coach Tom Eickelberg said.

SUNY New Paltz sophomore Cooper Knapp broke the conference 200-yard individual medley record by clocking in at 1 minute, 50.46 seconds. He broke his own record which he set during last season's SUNYAC Championships.

Knapp was also part of the team's 400-yard medley relay squad, along with seniors Colin Duell, Caleb Treadwell and Barrett Celecki, that finished second with a 3:27.35 mark, the second-fastest time in program history.

The women's relay teams also swam well, as juniors Katie Donlevy and Nicole Lee and sophomores Sarah Crespo and Chelsea Angulas notched a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a 1:35.88 reading, setting a new program record in the event. The previous record was set in 2016 by Donlevy, senior Molly McCulloch, junior Kaleigh O'Halloran and Cassidy Griger ('16).

Lee also touched first in the 50-yard freestyle relay, falling just short of breaking the conference record with a 23.93 mark. The record is held by SUNY New Paltz's own Michelle Coombs ('08), who notched a 23.46 reading back in 2007. Last season, Lee finished third in the event with a 24.23 mark.

"It was really exciting to see how much she progressed since last year," Eickelberg said.

Hawks junior Jaimie Kaefer recorded a second-place finish in the 200 individual medley, clocking in at 2:09.29, while senior Megan Joseph placed seventh with a time of 2:12.40.

"We got a really nice swim from Jaimie Kaefer and Megan Joseph gave us a strong supporting swim," Eickelberg said.

SUNY New Paltz had a strong team performance in the B-final of the 500-yard freestyle, as juniors Whitney Knowlton-Wardle (5:27.79), Degen Mariniello (5:28.25) and Miranda Dunton (5:31.49) finished ninth, 10^th and 11^th, respectively.

Rounding out the individual events on the men's side were Celecki's sixth-place finish (4:48.60) in the 500 freestyle and Treadwell's eighth-place finish (21.56) in the 50 freestyle.

The men's 200 freestyle relay team also recorded a sixth-place finish, as seniors Kevin Sales and Marc Piliero, junior Joseph Galante and freshman Nolan West recorded a time of 1:27.41.

Following the preliminary rounds, the first event of tomorrow's competition will be the 200-yard medley relay.