The Hawks saw a promising opening meet with coach Matt Distler's young program owning two first place finishes on the day to place second on both the men's and women's side against the hosting Red Dragons and Wells College.
"It was a blast to be back on deck, and it is always nice to start the season off with the Pumpkin Relays," Distler said. "It is especially nice to be able to take home two pumpkins for winning transitional 8x25 relay."
SUNY New Paltz's women's 300-yard breaststroke placed first with a time of 3 minutes, 45.15 seconds. The team of Delilah Griger, Alexandra Kassian and Kathryn Kolar bested the Red Dragons second-place team by more than a second to claim the team's first, first-place pumpkin of the day.
The Hawks women's 300-yard butterfly touched more than six seconds ahead of Cortland's second-place team, as Kelly Donlevy Angelina Somma and Candela Sandoval finished in a winning time of 3:14.96. SUNY New Paltz also placed third in the event, as the trio of Taylor Pazderski, Kirsten Giovanniello and Julia Iaboni came in with a time of 3:23.04.
"Our goals coming into the meet were to enjoy it first and foremost," Distler said. "After over a year without competition, I felt it was very important for us to remember why we swim. Outside of that we were focused on bringing energy and excitement on each race and getting some benchmarks to improve upon throughout the season."
On the men's side the Hawks came in second in the 650-yard freestyle, as the team of Leo Litovsky, Owen Rowlands and Brandon Molina clocked in with a time of 6:16.07. SUNY New Paltz placed second in the same event for the women, as Sandoval, Donlevy, Iaboni and Giovanniello touched in 7:02.94 behind Cortland's winning time of 6:46.33.
Mason Kennedy, Venn Engstrom and Xaiver Calderon placed second in the men's 300-yard breaststroke with a time of 3:18.98, about six seconds behind the Red Dragons. SUNY New Paltz had another pair of second place finishes in the 800-yard freestyle, with Steven Macaluso, Ethan Bonney, Engstrom and Molina leading the men's side with a time of 7:56.10, and Kassian, Giovanniello, Sandoval and Kolar pacing the women, touching in 8:47.62.
Overall, the Hawks scored 282 and 287 for the men and women, respectively, just behind the Red Dragons who scored a meet leading 315 and 310, respectively. Regardless of the final points, though, the first meet of the year was promising for Distler's group.
"I was very impressed by our freshmen and sophomores across the board. They handled their first college meet exceptionally well and brought the energy we needed as a team," Distler said. "The team was definitely amped up for the meet and kept that energy going throughout the day. After five weeks of intense practice the meet was a great reward and change of pace."
SUNY New Paltz is back in the pool Nov. 6 for its first dual meet of the year, taking on Western Connecticut State in Danbury, CT.
No comments:
Post a Comment