Swimming and diving teams win another SUNYAC title

The women’s swimming and diving team claimed their 31st SUNYAC title in program history and their 16th consecutive championship on Saturday, Feb. 24 (Photo courtesy of geneseoknights.com).

Starting on Wednesday, Feb. 21, both SUNY Geneseo’s men's and women's swimming and diving teams competed in a four-day SUNYAC tournament where the men's team brought home their 10th-straight SUNYAC title and the women’s team claimed their 16th consecutive, as well. 

On day one, the women’s swimming and diving squad competed in the 200-yard medley relay and the 800-yard freestyle relay. In the 200-yard, senior Mackenzie Fischer, junior Alise Hale, and freshmen Alex Sotek and Courtney Sorbello finished in first place while setting a conference record with an impressive time of 1:42.82. In the 800-yard freestyle relay, the Blue Wave took the top spot again as senior Amaya DiGiovanni, and sophomores Madison Sargent, Abby Funk, and Hannah Brockman finished their heat at 7:41.06. 

On the same day, the men’s team won, as well, in the 200-yard relay as junior Griffin Merkling, sophomore Jake Nielsen, graduate student Ben Ludlow, and senior Jordan Nielsen swam into first place with a time of 1:29.36. Senior Christopher Weber, junior Charlie Wangelin, and freshmen Casey Connors and Gannon Moore also touched the wall first in the 800-yard free relay with a time of 6:50.77. 

For the women’s team on day two, they took the top five spots in the 500-yard freestyle with Funk, Brockman, Sargent, junior Karly Bray, and sophomore Emily McGord shooting through the water with ease. Later in the day, during the 200-yard individual medley, Fischer and sophomore Mallory Upcraft took the top two spots on the leaderboard finishing at 2:10.93 and 2:11.07, respectively. 

In the 50-yard freestyle, Sotek finished first overall with a time of 23.13 while also setting a conference record. DiGiovanni took second, finishing with a time of 23.84—putting Geneseo at the top of the standings yet again. Sotek, DiGiovanni, Sargent, and Fischer placed first with a time of 1:34.35 in the 200-yard freestyle relay, as well. These wins capped off day two of the SUNYAC Championships with impressive performances from Geneseo all-around.

For the men’s team, Wangelin took first place in the 500-meter freestyle with a time of 4:36.38. In the 200-yard individual medley, Ludlow came in first, Merkling touched the wall .02 second after, and freshman Alex Palmer followed closely in third. Nielsen, then, finished first in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 20.18, and tied his conference record from the previous year. Right behind him was his brother, senior Jordan Nielsen, who, ultimately, took second place.

On day three, The women’s top spot was once again claimed by Geneseo with Sargent competing in the 200-yard freestyle and claiming first place with a time of 1:53.15. Moving forward in the day, the top three spots in the 100-yard backstroke were earned by Geneseo with Sorbello taking first and sophomore Maya Marcyan finishing third. 

The 100-yard breaststroke saw an astounding finish with the top three spots taken by Fischer, freshman Emily Thomas, and senior Jessica Gordon. Shortly after, Hale earned a first-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 55.58. To finish off day three, the team of Sorbello, Thomas, Hale, and Sotek took first place with a time of 3:50.53 in the 400-yard medley relay. 

In the 200-yard freestyle, Wangelin finished first while Merkling earned the top spot in the 100-yard backstroke to start day three for the men’s team. In the 100-yard butterfly, Weber hit the wall first while Ludlow finished in the same spot in the 400-yard individual medley. In the 400-yard medley, Merkling, Palmer, Ludlow, and Nielsen took first place and closed out the event. 

The final day continued to consist of first-place finishes for the Knights. The wins began with Brockman finishing first in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 12:29.12. The top four spots of the 200-yard backstroke belonged to Geneseo with freshman Sinead Devaney touching the wall first at 2:09.03. Hale finished first with a time of 2:05.39 in the 200-yard butterfly, which marked a meet and conference record, and the squad of Sotek, DiGiovanni, Sargent, and Fischer earned the top position in the 400-yard free relay to finish up the SUNYAC Championship with a total score of 1090.4 to earn the women’s 31st title overall and 16th consecutive.