BROOKE ATKINS
Social Media Manager
Saying “goodbye” is never easy, especially when it comes to collegiate sports. The men and women of the swimming and diving teams packed up their bags and headed to Buffalo last week to compete in the SUNYACs, their final meet of the season, where the women placed fifth among nine teams and the men finished third.
Day one showed off what Fredonia divers are made of as junior Arron Carlson set a new SUNYAC record in the 3-meter dive. That allowed Carlson to win the team’s first title of the meet with a score of 588.30. The previous conference record was 576.35, which was set in 2008.
Carlson’s score also set his second school record. His first was set earlier this month as Trinity University with the 1-meter. Come Friday, Carlson was named men’s diver of the meet.
Placing fourth in the event was senior Rafael Santiago with a score of 513.75. Finishing seventh at 445.65 was sophomore Phil Tubbs, and junior Jacob Storms was ninth at 424.40.
“Before the season started, my coach and I spoke about my goals for the end of the season, and that seemed very far into the future. Now I am standing here today and everything we spoke about comes down to this,” freshman Caroline Bilotti said when discussing SUNYAC’s.
On day two of SUNYACs the team of junior Troy Lubanski, senior Will Baker, sophomore Bill Bradley and freshman Jake Favret broke Fredonia’s school record in the 400-yard medley relay. The new mark was set at 3:30.01. The previous record was set in 2014.
In the 50-yard freestyle, Baker placed 11th at 21.62.
As for the 500-yard, freestyle sophomore Ben Chatley was 16th with 4:57.78
Taking eighth place in the men’s and women’s 200-yard individual medley events were junior Adam Clouthier and senior Sam Rokos, respectively. While Clouthier closed at 1:59.27, Rokos finished at 2:13.74.
Lubanski finished 10th place in the consolation finals at 1:57.57.
Switching over to diving, junior Meghan Bartlett finished second in the 1-meter dive at 452.25.
Junior Sam Kowalewski took fourth at 431.75 and right behind her was freshman Julie Coomer in fifth at 412.15.
Coming out strong in his first event on the third day, Baker broke his mark from the previous year in the 200-yard freestyle at 1:42.92 to finish fourth.
The 200-yard medley relay team of Baker, Lubanski, Bradley and Favret broke another school record with a time of 1:34.96. The previous record was set in 2014 at 1:35.32.
Taking second in the 1-meter dive with a score of 567.15 was Carlson, after a 516.10 in the preliminaries.
Coming in third with 511.85 was Santiago and finishing eighth as Tubbs at 433.25.
Favret, who placed third in the 100-yard breaststroke at 57.58, finished just .02 seconds ahead of Clouthier, who finished in 57.60.
Coming out strong for the women, junior Danielle Dembrow took fifth in the women’s 100-yard breaststroke in 1:09.15, just ahead of senior Lauren Goeing who finished eighth at 1:11.02.
In the 100-yard backstroke finals, Lubanski took eighth at 54.78 and behind him was sophomore Nathan Link in 11th at 56.52.
As the third night began to wrap up, the last event was the men’s 800-yard freestyle relay. Chatley, Link, sophomore Graham Jones, and junior Liam Jones took third place with a time of 7:10.43.
Other successful finishes came from Rokos finishing 10th in the 200-yard freestyle, Bradley in the 100-yard butterfly in ninth, and in the 200-yard freestyle: Graham Jones in eighth place and Chatley in 13th.
All too quickly, Friday, the final day of SUNYACs and the two team’s seasons, had arrived.
Holding onto her conference championship title for the second year in a row, Bartlett won the 3-meter dive with a score of 489.30.
Kowalewski was close behind in third place with 465.85, followed by Coomer in seventh at 376.00.
Dembrow was the top finisher for the swimmers, taking second in the 200-yard breaststroke with 2:29.22.
Clothier was third in the men’s breaststroke at 2:07.53 and Favret in sixth at 2:12.42.
Other swimmers in the finals were Baker who placed fourth in the 100-yard freestyle, Lubanski taking sixth in the 200-yard backstroke and Bradley in eighth in the 200-yard butterfly.
Swimming in the consolations finals were Link, L. Jones, Goeing, Rokos and Bilotti.
Being a freshman on a team can be difficult, but by the end of the season it can be incredibly rewarding.
“When I left in December for break it [hit me] that the swim season was three-quarters finished with,” said Bilotti. “At the beginning I didn’t know if I could survive the workouts and win the respect of the senior swimmers, but looking back I wouldn’t change a thing about this season.
“I love this team … I have met some of my best friends, [and] they are all my family,” Bilotti continued.
And just like that another season comes to a close. All the morning practices, meets and laughs have become fond memories.
In an attempt to earn a spot at the NCAA Nationals, Santiago, Carlson, Tubbs, Kowalewski, Bartlett and Coomer will compete at the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Regionals this Friday and Saturday in Cortland.