New Paltz, NY —The State University of New York at New Paltz swimming teams dominated SUNYAC rival, SUNY Oneonta at their final home meet Saturday in Elting Pool. The Hawks also recognized each of their graduating seniors as they raced in their home pool for the very last time.
The SUNY New Paltz women defeated Red Dragons with a 158-104-point performance, while the men also won,149-113. Both the men and the women put up some great times in the pool, winning 20 out of the 28 events.
The Hawks started off the meet with two victories in the 200-yard medley relays. For the men, the team of Myles Dower, Akiva Garfield, Korey Barber and Steven Macaluso out touched Oneonta by .09 with a time of 1 minute, 42.58 seconds. For the women, Delilah Griger, Alex Kassian, Kelly Donlevy and Julia Iaboni won with a time of 1:54.88.
Gallery: (2-5-2022) Swimming vs Oneonta
"Today was a great day for our seniors, and for the team as a whole. We brought fantastic energy for our last meet of the season and are really looking forward to carrying that success to the conference meet," said SUNY New Paltz coach Matt Distler. "I am really proud of the growth of our women's team and the fact that we were able to take two home pool wins against great teams."
The first individual event of the day was the 1,000-yard freestyle. The men went 1-2-3 with freshman Brandon Molina coming in first at 10:35.59, junior Owen Rowlands getting second at 10:45.60, and freshman Euan Barclay touching the wall at 10:54.05. Junior Kirsten Giovanniello came in first for the women with a time of 11:43.83 in the same event on the women's side. Giovanniello also took first in the second distance event of the meet, the 500-yard freestyle, coming in at 5:40.40. 
Continuing with their freestyle event victories, the Hawks took first in the 200. Barber and Griger each won their races with times of 1:49.92 and 2:06.20, respectively. The first individual stroke event of the meet was the 100-yard backstroke, where Dower edged out Oneonta's second-place finisher by .01. He finished with a time of 56.69.
Seniors Garfield and captain Leo Litovsky both swam the 50-yard breaststroke and the 100-yard breaststroke. The two were neck and neck until the final few yards where Garfield out touched Litovsky in the 100, and Litovsky out touched Garfield in the 50. Both went 2-3 in the events. Freshman Luke Hoyt won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:05.42.
Freshman Kassian won both of her individual events, starting with the 50-yard backstroke. She came in at an impressive 29.43. Senior captain Natalia Giunta placed third in that same event, clocking in at a 31.19. Kassian also placed first in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:19.57.
Junior Katie Kolar and Iaboni went 1-2 in the women's 100-yard freestyle, Kolar with a time of 59.03 and Iaboni with a 59.92. Senior Ethan Bonney secured first in his signature event, the 500-yard freestyle. He touched at 5:08.11. Barclay took second, clocking in at 5:16.78.
"Today's meet against Oneonta was a great closing chapter to my swim career," said SUNY New Paltz senior Victoria Bogdanski. "Everyone's attitudes were really great and we all swam really well."
The Red Dragons were no match against the Hawks. Both teams will be heading to Buffalo next week to face off once again at SUNYAC Championships running from Feb. 16 to 19.
RESULTS
Meet Highlights
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