Purchase, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz swimming team secured another win Wednesday against SUNY Purchase, adding a second win for the men out of five dual meets and a third for the women. The women won 52-48 while the men won 100-28.
 
"This meet was a great way to break up a long period of difficult training, and provided us with an opportunity to be flexible with the lineup, giving our swimmers a chance to swim off events," said Hawks assistant coach Matthew Dislter. "The nontraditional format helped to make today a lot of fun for our athletes as well. It is rare to find swimmers that don't enjoy racing the 100 IM or 50's of strokes.
 
SUNY New Paltz dominated every event. The meet went unofficial for the women after the sixth event - the 50-yard freestyle, in which senior Degen Mariniello touched the wall first with a time of 28.59, closely followed by junior Sarah Crespo (30.15). The men continued scoring points up until the 13th event; senior Barrett Celecki (51.69), junior Tim Stecher (54.51) and sophomore Tom Barnitkowski (56.35) finished consecutively for the top three spots in the 100-yard freestyle.
 
The meet was held in non-traditional format, complete with 50-yards of stroke rather than the standard 100-yard and 200-yard. The 100-yard individual medley was also present in the line-up. Many Hawks took advantage of the unusual format and swam events they don't usually compete in; senior Nicole Lee swam the 50-yard butterfly, winning the event for a time of 28.77 and freshman Akiva Garfield clocked in with a time of 2:09.07 in the 200-yard freestyle.
 
SUNY New Paltz filled up each event with multiple swimmers, while the Panthers had either one or two in each. Of the 20 events, six were comprised of only Hawks. SUNY New Paltz took the opportunity to race one another rather than a rival SUNY swimmers. One of such events was the men's 50-yard butterfly; freshman Luke Gamboli was first to the wall with a time of 25.92, followed by senior Joseph Galante (26.25), Barnitkowski (27.89) and junior Matthew Pero (27.98).
 
The meet opened up and finished with mixed gender relays with two women and two men in each. The Hawks posted three relays in the first, the 200-yard medley relay, against the Panthers one; SUNY New Paltz secured the first three places. Finishing in a similar fashion, the Hawks stole the top four finishes to the 200-yard freestyle relay, beating out SUNY Purchase's lone relay.
 
"We expect the team to continue to improve as we begin to shift our training with SUNYACS a month away," said Distler. "The key is to remain focused on the little details and continue to bring energy and positive attitudes to the pool everyday."
 
SUNY New Paltz will face SUNY Oneonta at home on Jan. 26, which will begin with a ceremony honoring the graduating senior swimmers.

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