Poughkeepsie, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz swimming programs participated in a rare nighttime dual meet at Vassar College Friday, falling to the Brewers' men's and women's teams 173-94 and 177-90, respectively, at the Kresge Pool.

Despite the tough losses, there were many positives on the night for both sides. After enduring two close losses in the 200-yard medley relays to start the day, SUNY New Paltz earned its first wins in both 1,000-yard freestyles. Taylor Pazderski (12:12.03) defeated Abigail Jenkins by three seconds to claim victory in the women's event, while Ethan Bonney (10:32.53) took the victory in the men's event — albeit teammates Brandon Molina (10:44.66) and Euan Barclay (10:51.58) were his only competition.

The day also included some historic performances from the women's team. Despite a third place finish in the 100-yard backstroke, Alexandra Kassian's 1:02.44 time was enough to break the top-20 all-time in program history for the women's event. She did claim victory in the 200-yard breaststroke with a 2:34.94 time, her fourth collegiate individual victory in the last two weeks after winning three events in the Hartwick/Oneonta Tri-Meet. Kelly Donlevy's narrow victory in the 100-yard butterfly event with a 1:00.58 result was a top-12 performance in the event in program history. 

Both Luke Hoyt (1:05.12) and Xavier Calderon (1:05.9) set personal bests in the 100-yard breaststroke event, the former shaving a full minute off his previous best, while Candela Sandoval (2:27.51) bested her previous time in the 200-yard butterfly by 1.1 seconds. 

Korey Barber (57.34) set a personal best by more than a second and came within eight tenths of a second from a victory for the men's side over the Brewers' Brandon Li in the men's 100-yard freestyle. On the women's side, Donlevy (55.73) finished just two tenths of a second behind winner Grace Myers for a second place finish.

The women's Hawks ended the day well, earning a dominant win in the 400-yard freestyle relay as the quartet of Donlevy, Julia Iaboni, Kathryn Kolar, and Kassian (3:49.98) set a season-best time in the event.

SUNY New Paltz will be off next week for the Thanksgiving weekend before it is back in the pool for The College of New Jersey Invitational, a three day weekend event from Dec. 3 to 5. It is the Hawks last scheduled meet of the year before the start of the new year. 

To view the full results from the meet, click here.

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