(RESULTS) Buffalo, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz swim team had some strong opening day swims at the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Championships Thursday.
 
The Hawks had a solid morning session and sent several swimmers to finals on the night of day one. During finals, they had swimmers step up and move up some spots from their prelim races.
 
They placed third overall in the men's 800-yard freestyle relay, finishing with the second fastest time in school history. Sophomore Mitch Chappell went out a 1:43.71 in the opening leg of the relay, sophomore Jared Finn went a 1:43.06 on the second leg, sophomore Ethan Bonney went a 1:47.14 on the third leg and senior Tim Stecher anchored, swimming a 1:46.45, as they finished with a time of 7:00.36 to earn a spot on the podium. 
 
"My favorite part of the race was seeing the teams energy on the side of the pool," Chappell said. "We were definitely the loudest team in the building."  
Bonney moved up four places from the morning session, as he finished with a time of 4:50.12 in the men's 500-yard freestyle. Freshman Owen Rowlands moved up from eighth to seventh place in men's 200 individual medley in a blazing time of 1:58.86. The men's 400 medley relay finished out the night session in a time of 3:31.84, good enough for third place overall after jumping up three places from their original seed of sixth place. 
 
Several of SUNY New Paltz's swimmers on the women's side had big performances on day one. Freshman Kirsten Giovanniello placed ninth overall in the women's 500 freestyle, coming in with a time of 5:25.23. The women's 200 individual medley was the strongest event of the night for the Hawks, as the women finalled three swimmers. Senior Samantha Woll paced 16th with a time of 2:19.37, while freshman Delilah Griger came in at 14th with a 2:17.60 and freshman Kelly Donlevy finished in fourth place with a time of 2:11.58.
 
Seniors Sarah Crespo and Chelsea Angulas both finalled in the 50 freestyle, as Crespo placed 16th after touching in 25.75 seconds, while Anguals finished 10th with a 24.95.
 
The Women's 400 medley relay had a five second drop from their seed time to also land on the podium after placing third overall.

The Hawks are back in the pool Friday at 10 a.m. for the second day of the SUNYAC Championships. The men are currently in seventh place in team scores, while the women are in fourth. 

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