SUNY New Paltz Swimming Teams Sweep Oneonta

ONEONTA, NY — The SUNY New Paltz swimming teams swept this afternoon’s men’s and women’s swimming meet against Oneonta. The women improved to 2-0 with a 118-83 defeat of the Red Dragons, while the men evened their record at 1-1 with a 121-81 victory.

The SUNY New Paltz women swam to eight first-place finishes earning their second straight victory to open the 2005-2006 season. The pinnacle of the evening came when sophomore Liz Ruggiero (Congers, NY) swam a 2:15.43 to win the 200-yard butterfly, which set a new pool and SUNY New Paltz Women’s Varsity Swim record. Ruggiero helped set a pool record earlier in the evening when she combined with junior Katie Rapp (Liverpool, NY), sophomore Laura Lipp (St. James, NY), and senior Joanna Masterson (Canandaigua, NY) to grab first place in the 400-yard medley relay (4:16.61). Masterson brought the Hawks first place finishes in both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle (25.67 and 57.08 respectively) and freshman Christina Corrigan (Buffalo, NY) grabbed a victory in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:56.80. Junior Liz Delia (Oswego, NY) won the 200-yard backstroke (2:17.13) and 200-yard freestyle (2:02.31) and freshman Nicole Moss (Williamsville, NY) took the 500-yard freestyle in 5:40.50.

Freshman Chad Santa Maria (Rexford, NY) led the men’s team to their first victory of the 2005-2006 season. Santa Maria paced the Hawks to first place finishes in the 200-yard freestyle (1:54.77), the 500-yard freestyle (5:18.07), and helped sophomore Brendan Lown (Bohemia, NY), freshmen Kevin Kent (Beacon Falls, CT), and Chris Smith (Suffern, NY) in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:34.48). Lown also swam to victory in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24:03. In addition, sophomore John Fleckenstien (Port Jefferson, NY) and freshman Mark Chipman (Oswego, NY) grabbed first place finishes in the 200-yard individual medley (2:11.45) and the 200-yard butterfly (2:27.02), respectively.

The SUNY New Paltz men’s and women’s swimming teams will host Coast Guard in their next dual meet on Wednesday, November 9 at 5:00 pm.