MICHELLE HALE
Assistant Sports Editor
Fredonia’s men and women’s swimming and diving teams competed for the SUNYAC title this past week. The women’s swimming and diving team placed fourth overall, and the men placed fifth.
Although they did not clinch the title of champion, many Blue Devil swimmers placed first in their events.
Day one of the SUNYAC competition started strong with sophomore Meghan Bartlett carrying on the 10-year tradition of Fredonia winning the three-meter dive. Bartlett won the event with a score of 500.80, which put her in front of the 14 other competitors, two of them being her teammates. Senior Heather Colby and sophomore Samantha Kowalewski placed fourth and sixth place, respectively.
All three qualified for the regional meet, which will be held at SUNY Geneseo on Feb. 27 and 28.
On Thursday, day two, the women’s 200-yard freestyle relay record at Fredonia was broken by milliseconds. Fredonia’s team of senior Katie Donnelly, junior Sam Rokos, senior Ellie Brion and senior Rachel Morgano finished the relay in 1:38.66, with the previously-held record having been at 1:38.95. The relay team finished in fourth place at the meet.
The men’s 400-yard medley team, sophomore Troy Lubanski, freshman Jake Hewitt, sophomore Adam Clouthier and junior Will Baker finished in fourth place with a time of 3:32.17.
The men’s one-meter dive consisted of Fredonia finishing in second, third and fourth place. Sophomore Arron Carlson, junior Rafael Santiago and sophomore Jeff Matter all exceeded the NCAA provisional qualifying standard while performing Thursday.
Fifth year Larissa Dobson finished in fifth place in the 200-yard individual medley. At the end of Thursday’s events, the Blue Devils completed day two and left in third place.
On Friday, day three, Bartlett won the women’s 1-meter springboard diving title and also received the SUNYAC Women’s Diver of the Meet award; this marks the tenth straight year a Fredonia diver has received it.
The women’s 200-yard medley relay team with all seniors, Stephanie Rosa, Dobson, Morgano and Brion, broke another Fredonia record with a time of 1:49.11, which was .63 seconds faster than the previously held record.
Dobson also broke another school record in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:05.27. She held the previous record with a time of 1:06.57.
On Saturday, Dobson, yet again, broke another school record in the 200-yard breaststroke, which she previously held, as well.
Morgano, Rosa and senior Breonna Henningham all qualified for the 200-yard backstroke consolation finals. Donnelly and Rokos qualified for the 200-yard butterfly consolation finals, Brion for the 100-yard freestyle and sophomore Danielle Dembrow for the 200-yard breaststroke.
Hewitt broke the school record for the men’s 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:56.04, which broke his previous record. In the 200-yard breaststroke, Clouthier and senior Justin Hawes both earned a spot in the finals after qualifying early Saturday morning.
The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Morgano, Rokos, Donnelly and Brion placed third in the event after shattering another school record.
Dobson was the SUNYAC champion of the 200-yard breaststroke. The women’s swimming and diving team placed fourth out of nine teams in the SUNYAC Championships with a score of 430 points.
Fredonia’s diving coach Ryan Fuller was also named SUNYAC Diving Coach of the Year.
Clouthier won the SUNYAC championship title in the 200-yard breaststroke with another record setting time for the men’s swimming and diving team. Hewitt beat his own record in the 200-yard butterfly, which earned him a SUNYAC championship title in that event.
The men’s team had a second place and third place spot in the three-meter diving with Carlson and Santiago, respectively. Fredonia’s men’s team finished fifth out of nine teams total at the SUNYAC Championship.