Hawks Swimmers Leave Impression at ECAC Championships

PITTSBURGH, PA — Kent Yeung (Flushing, NY), Jon Amoia (Williamsville, NY), Jeff Galaise (Torrington, CT), and Mark Otto (Sewell, NJ) scored a total of 41 points this past weekend at the ECAC Championships at the University of Pittsburgh. At first glance, this would look like a fairly mediocre performance. But it truly is a tremendous feat when you realize that at the meet, these four New Paltz Hawks were the only Division III athletes competing. Though, they swam against Division I and II athletes, they proved they could hang with the best, turning a lot of heads along the way.

Though swimming in multiple individual events, Yeung, Amoia, Galaise, and Otto perhaps, swam their best when they competed together in relays. In the 200-yard medley relay, the Hawks placed an amazing 6th (1:36.92), shaving off two places from their 8th place finish in the preliminaries. They also were 13th in the 400-yard medley relay (3:36.33), 15th in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:16.59), and 16th in the 800-yard freestyle relay (7:23.29)-all great finishes when you consider the caliber of the competition.

Junior Jon Amoia was the highest finisher in individual events placing 16th in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:00.49. Amoia also claimed 26th place in the 200- breaststroke.

Senior Mark Otto ended up 26th in the 100-freestyle (48.23), and 31st in the 200-freestyle (1:46.74).

Freshman Kent Yeung placed 24th in the 100-butterfly (53.36), 29th in the 200-individual medley (2:01.64), and 37th in the 100-freestyle (49.08).

Junior Jeff Galaise ended up 23rd in the 100-backstroke (56.71), 27th in the 200-individual medley (2:01.28), and 27th in the 200-backstroke (2:02.00).