Ewing, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz men's and women's swim teams completed day one of their three day competition Friday at the College of New Jersey Invitational, with the women finishing second overall on the day and the men third. 

Both squads came into the meet with 1-1 records, as both finished second in the Cortland Relays. The men defeated Western Connecticut State 161-46 and lost to Vassar 173-94, while the women defeated Western Connecticut State 166-42 and fell to Vassar 117-90. 

Friday at the Lions' invitational, the prelims took place at 1 p.m. and the finals at 7 p.m. 

TCNJ took the first three spots in the women's 500 yard freestyle, with Faith Cortright, Allison Lowry, and Sarah Burton finishing first, second, and third, respectively. Cortright finished with a time of 5:19.22, and Lowry and Burton timed 5:42.83 and 5:46.82. As for the Hawks, they took sixth, ninth, 13th, 14th, and 16th place. Kirsten Giovanniello finished with a time of 5:34.97 and Delilah Griger finished with a time of 5:41.64. Angelina Somma timed 5:43.58 for 13th place, Victoria Bogdanski timed 5:44.71 for 14th place, and Taylor Pazderski timed 5:50.08 for 16th.  

In the men's 500 yard freestyle, the Lions took the first seven spots, with James McChesney finishing first with a time of 4:35.63. SUNY New Paltz freshman Brandon Molina finished 11th with a time of 4:58.49 and Ethan Bonney finished right behind him at 4:58.59. Euan Barclay was the only other Hawk swimmer on the men's side to finish in the top 27, finishing 21st with a time of 5:17.87. 

In the women's 200 yard individual medley, the top two spots belonged to TCNJ, as Zoe Chan finished with a time of 2:10.52 and Jamie O'Bowne finished at 2:12.59. SUNY New Paltz had eight swimmers finish in the top 23. Kelly Donlevy was third with a time of 2:13.44 and Alex Kassian finished right behind her with a time of 2:17.15. Kathryn Kolar, Julia Iaboni, Natalia Giunta, and Candela Sandoval finished 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th with times of 2:23.42, 2:23.88, 2:25.87, and 2:26.08. 

In the men's 200, the Lions took the top eight spots, while Hawk swimmers Myles Dower, Owen Rowlands, Mason Kennedy, Luke Hoyt, Korey Barber, Zac Brown, Xavier Calderon, Nicholas Brown, and Samuel Debbie took 13th, 16th, 19th, 20th, 22nd, 24th, 25th, 26th, and 27th place. Dower timed 2:01.78, Rowlands 2:03.17, Kennedy 2:05.56, Hoyt 2:06.01, Barber 2:06.93, Brown 2:08.91, Calderon 2:12.37, Nicolas Brown 2:12.38, and Samuel Debbie 2:14.16. 

Donlevy finished third in the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 25.19, Iaboni took 16th at 27.07, Shannon Corr timed 28.13 for 20th place, and Ginny Frazee, Naomi Levey, Kaylee Gallagher, and Nicki Robibero finished 22nd, 23rd, 25th, and 28th. Frazee timed 28.31, Levey 28.66, Gallagher 28.78, and Robibero 29.87. TCNJ took the top two spots. 

On the men's side in the 50 yard prelims, Steven Macaluso finished highest in 11th place with a time of 22.23. Venn Engstrom and Paul Castner finished 20th and 21st, Leo Litovsky finished 25th, Ryan LaDue finished 30th, and Brian Larossa finished 32nd. Engstrom timed 22.99, Castner timed 23.04, Litovsky 23.77, LaDue 26.09, and Larossa 29.27. The Lions once again were impressive, taking six of the top 10 spots, including first and second. 

In Friday finals, the women's 200 yard relay team of Donlevy, Kolar, Kassian and Iaboni finished second, with a time of 1:42.90, 5.73 seconds behind TCNJ's first place. Corr, Frazee, Pazderski, and Sandoval placed ninth in the event, with a time of 1:49.65. The team of Gallagher, Chloe Jeffares, Abigail Keiser and Naomi Levey finished 11th with a time of 1:51.41, while Hannah Fisher, Giunta, Robibero, and Caroline Bilich were 14th with a time of 1:57.37. 

The men saw finishes of fourth, eighth, and 10th in the event. Engstrom, Barber, Macaluso and Litovsky finished in the fourth slot with a time of 1:30.09, Rowlands, Kennedy, Hoyt, and Dower placed eighth at 1:32.82, and Caster, LaDue, Debbie, and Nicholas Brown placed 10th with a time of 1:36.83. The Lions placed first once again, with a time of 1:21.78. 

In the final of the 500 yard women's freestyle, TCNJ's Cortright took home first place, while the Hawks' Giovanniello was the lone SUNY New Paltz swimmer to finish in the top eight, coming in at sixth place with a time of 5:34.40. Bogdanski finished 10th (5:40.39), Somma 13th (5:43.24), and Pazderski 15th (5:47.88). 

The Hawks saw back-to-back finishes (Bonney, 4:57.44, 10th, Molina, 4:58.28, 11th) in the men's 500 yard freestyle, as well as third (Kassian, 2:13.93), fourth (Donlevy, 2:14.47), 12th (Kolar, 2:21.53), 13th (Iaboni, 2:21.77), and 16th (Giunta, 2:24.88) place finishes in the women's 200 yard individual medley. In the medley on the men's side, the Lions took home the first eight spots, while SUNY New Paltz secured 14th (Dower, 2:02.50) and 15th (Rowlands, 2:02.83). 

The women's and men's 50-yard freestyles saw the Hawks take third (Donlevy, 25.48), and 12th place (Iaboni, 26.70) finishes, while the men's Macaluso was 14th fastest with a time of 22.61.    

In the final event of day one, the 400 yard medley relay, the SUNY New Paltz women placed second, sixth, and ninth, while the men had finishes of eighth, ninth, and 12th. 4:06.34 was the time for Griger, Kassian, Donlevy, and Kolar, while Bogdanski, Levey, Giovnniello, and Iaboni timed 4:22.17. Frazee, Robibero, Sandoval, and Pazderski finished with a time of 4:29.99. The team placing eighth for the men was Dower, Hoyt, Barber, and Engstrom (3:43.60), and right behind them were Zac Brown, Kennedy, Macaluso, and Litovsky (3:44.99). Finishing 12th were Castner, Debbie, Nicholas Brown, and Rowlands with a time of 3:55.93. 

Through the twelve events on day one, the SUNY New Paltz women finished in second place overall (208.5) to TCNJ's 369 points. The men finished third, with 131 points, behind Merchant Marine (240), and the Lions, whose 467 points by the men clinched first overall in both the men's and women's standings on the first day.  

Saturday's festivities get going with 11 a.m. prelims and then the finals at 6 p.m.

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