Today marked the first full day of competition in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Championships. After the dust cleared at the end of the final relay, Geneseo sits on top the team scores on both the men’s and women’s sides.
To begin the evening, the men’s 200 freestyle relay got off to a quick start. Fredonia’s team of John Estanislau, Andrew Case, Dave Adamczak, and Adrian Van Hall posted a 1:23.40 to claim victory. Adamczak’s 20.44 was the fastest split in finals. In second place was Geneseo’s team with a 1:25.05. Coming in third was the Red Dragons of Cortland with a 1:25.47.
Blue Wave defending champion John Nasky returned to claim his title again in the men’s 500 freestyle. Nasky finished in a 4:37.98 last year; this year he bettered that by over two seconds, taking the lead position in the 500 with a 4:35.09 in NCAA B cut time. Mark Hanifin of Cortland was in second place with a 4:41.86. Third went to Jack Spader of New Paltz (4:41.88). Last year Hanifin finished third and Spader, fourth.
In the 200 IM, Kenny Athans who finished runner up last year, claimed the win for Geneseo this year in an NCAA B cut time of 1:53.36. Athans’ teammate Kristian Tialios was the defending champion, who finished runner up this year, taking Blue Wave to a 1-2 finish in 1:55.62. Lucas Santiago finished in third for Oneonta in 1:58.13. This is a step up for Santiago who finished in tenth at last year’s meet. In the B final, Austin Moyer of Brockport dropped over four seconds to win the consolation heat with a 1:57.19 – a time that would have earned him third place in the A final.
Estanislau finished the 50 freestyle in the only sub 21 effort seen across the board at the Championship. He posted a 20.89 in the morning, and finished up the finals with a 20.98 to win the victory for Fredonia. Estanislau’s morning swim was only .01 off the B cut time for the NCAA. The runner up was from Potsdam: Ty Zapisek who was fourth last year, finished with a 21.27 to secure his second place spot. Geneseo’s Tyler Roth came in third with a 21.42, which is a huge jump from the 21st place finish he had in this event last year.
Men’s one meter diving went the way of Buffalo State’s Alec Fleet. Fleet posted a score of 501.05 to claim the victory, and was the only one to break the 500 point mark. In second was Fredonia freshmen Jeff Matter (499.65 points). Rounding out the top three was Oneonta’s Jermaine Miller who was second on one meter the past year. Miller scored 499.60 this year. After adding almost 70 points to his prelims score, Fredonia’s Arron Carlson came out on top of the B final with 458.20 points – a score that would have landed him in fifth in the A final.
To close up the first evening session, the men competed in the 400 medley relay. Geneseo’s quartet of Tialios, Athans, Yonghoon Jun and Roth finished first with a 3:25.77. The race for the top was very tight from the beginning. Tialios got off to a good start with his 52.30 split on the backstroke leg, but Oneonta’s Colton Roe posted a 51.31 to get them the early lead. After the breaststroke leg, the 56.29 put up by Cortland’s Jack Jakubek had set them into the lead. It was on the butterfly leg where Geneseo cinched the win, courtesy of a 49.70 from Jun. Cortland touched second in 3:26.57. Oneonta faded to third at 3:30.11.
Men’s team scores through event 11:
Geneseo (226), Fredonia (195), Cortland (143), Oneonta (127), Oswego (102), Potsdam (94), New Paltz (90), Brockport (88), Buffalo State (45)
For the women’s meet, Geneseo got started with a bang, grabbing the victory in the 200 freestyle relay right at the start, and setting up a three event long winning streak. The team of Julie Holloway, Stephanie Wilcoxen, Kala Wilkins and Abigail Max came out victorious in the relay with a winning time of 1:35.71. Max posted the fastest time on that relay – a 23.13, made all the more interesting by the fact that the next time she was on the blocks was for the 500 freestyle. Tied for second in the relay was Cortland and Brockport at 1:37.01.
Defending 500 champion Max returned to the blocks right after the relay for her victory in the 500. Her time of 4:57.07 was one of two for women under the five minute barrier, and was under both the NCAA B cut (5:03.17) and the 2013 NCAA invited time (4:58.92). She was joined in her B cut by New Paltz’ Chelsea Allocco who finished runner up last year as well. Allocco touched in at 4:58.01 to also clear both time standards. Cortland’s Krista Caputo was third with a 5:08.47. In the B final, Cortland’s Chelsey Simon dropped almost six seconds to win the B heat with a 5:14.13.
Lauren Boyce finished third in the 200 IM last year, but this year, the Geneseo senior was all about taking home the gold. She finished with a 2:07.84, almost two seconds ahead of the next closest competitor, and under the NCAA B cut time of 2:08.00. Brockport’s Melanie Melewski was second with a 2:09.57. In third was Lily Powell, also of Geneseo (2:10.83) who finished ninth in this event in 2013.
Sarah Culmo successfully defended her title as the 50 freestyle champion of the SUNYAC conference this evening, dropping down under 24 to post a 23.82 for the victory. Her time is just under the 23.89 NCAA B cut standard for 2014. In second place for Brockport was Taylor Schaffert (24.03), and Holloway from Geneseo followed in third (24.26). Schaffert was fifth last year, and Holloway 13th.
Women’s diving tonight was the three meter event, which was swept first through fourth by Fredonia. Ashley Keller posted a 486.85 to claim the win. She was joined by teammates Katelyn Haley (470.90) and Heather Colby (443.10) in the top three.
To finish out the night, Geneseo won the women’s 400 medley relay by over three seconds. Boyce, Emily Jaworski, Powell and Max combined for a 3:54.23 effort. With the exception of Jaworski’s 1:07.3 split on breaststroke, all the Blue Wave women had the fastest splits for their strokes. Occupying the runner up position was Cortland with a 3:57.98. Third place fell to Oneonta at 3:59.69.
Final team scores through event 12:
Geneseo (270), Cortland (190), New Paltz (138), Fredonia (136), Oneonta (119), Brockport (108), Buffalo State (58), Oswego (54), Potsdam (52)