Results
 
Buffalo, NY - The State University of New York at New Paltz men's and women's swimming teams wrapped up the 2018 SUNYAC Championships and their season on Saturday night, as the women finished second with 528 points and the men placed fourth with 442 points. Both teams earned second-place finishes the two years prior to this season. Hawks head coach Tom Eickelberg views the conclusion of the season with mixed feelings.
 
"On one side, today was a huge day for us," Eickelberg said. "We had more event winners this year than we have had in many years. Winning four events on the men's side and two on the women's side is unheard of in the history of New Paltz swimming. Those who won had the meets of their lives and they did an unbelievable job.
 
"But, there were some ups and down. Some of our swimmers weren't rested the right way by me. Our failures this weekend land solely and squarely on my shoulders. It was hard seeing some of my swimmers not succeed because I hadn't prepared them the way they needed to be prepared. That's going to weigh really heavily on my heart."

SUNY Geneseo finished first on both sides, as the men claimed its 19^th conference title in the last 20 seasons and the women won its 17^th in the past 20 years and 11^th straight overall.
 
Meanwhile, for the third consecutive day SUNY New Paltz sophomore Cooper Knapp won an individual event, placing first in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1 minute, 49.01 seconds and meeting NCAA B cut qualification. Hawks sophomore Konstantin Lomeyko finished sixth, clocking in at 2:00.06.
 
SUNY New Paltz senior Chad Plante also touched first in an individual event, notching a time of 2:08.17 in the 200-yard breaststroke, while seniors Colin Duell and Kevin Sales finished with times of 2:13.34 and 2:14.15 and placed seventh and eighth, respectively.
 
"Chad Plante had a huge comeback in the 200 breaststroke," Eickelberg said. "He dropped nine second from his swim last year. It was a monstrous swim from him and I'm really proud of how he has developed as an athlete. To watch someone put a whole bunch of hard work into a season and come out the way he did is really impressive."
 
Rounding out the individual events on the men's side were Hawks seniors Barrett Celecki, who notched an eighth-place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle (17:05.09), Marc Piliero, who placed ninth in the 200-yard backstroke (1:59.89), and Caleb Treadwell, who also finished ninth in the 100-yard freestyle (47.37).
 
On the women's side, SUNY New Paltz junior Jaimie Kaefer recorded a third-place finish in the 200 backstroke (2:07.66), while sophomores Chelsea Angulas (2:08.26) and Samantha Woll (2:11.48) placed fourth and sixth, respectively.
 
The Hawks also had three top-8 finishers in the 100 freestyle, as junior Katie Donlevy recorded a third-place finish with a 53.02 mark, junior Nicole Lee finished right behind her in fourth with a 53.39 reading and sophomore Sarah Crespo placed seventh with a time of 54.46.
 
In the final SUNYAC meet of her collegiate career, SUNY New Paltz senior Megan Joseph notched a seventh-place finish in the 200 breaststroke with a 2:30.75 mark, while Hawks freshman Lindsay Kranitz finished just behind her in eighth with a 2:33.18 reading.
 
SUNY New Paltz junior Degen Mariniello placed ninth in the 1650 freestyle, clocking in at 19:01.50, and Hawks freshman Natalia Giunta finished 10^th in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:21.08.
 
"Our distance swimmers held it down and did what they needed to do," Eickelberg said. "They put us in a great position to succeed; 2018 was a really great year for the New Paltz women's swimmers."
 
The women concluded the meet by setting a new program record in the 400-yard freestyle relay, as Donlevy, Crespo, Lee and Angulas notched a second-place finish with a time of 3:31.45.

The men's 400 freestyle relay squad also finished second, as Knapp, Sales, Treadwell and freshman Nolan West clocked in at 3:08.22. Knapp capped off an impressive weekend with the second-fastest time in school history (45.61) in the event and became the first Hawk to finish in under 46 seconds in 28 years, according to Eickelberg.