Sports

Swimming & Diving
Senior Day unfit for swimming and diving
By Greg Parks
STAFF Writer

It was a tough weekend for the Brockport men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams.

Both teams dropped meets to SUNY Oneonta Friday, with the women falling 143.5 to 94.5 and the men coming out on the short end of a 131-104 decision.

The Golden Eagles had the same fate on Saturday, which happened to be Senior Day, when they fell to Buffalo State. The women lost 124-103 while the men fell 121-109. 

Individually, both the men (4-5) and the women (3-6) took victories in the 50-yard freestyles on Friday. Freshman Kayla Painter and senior Dale Pearce both won two events each for the Golden Eagles, who also swept the 100-yard breastsroke. 

Pearce came out on top in two events on Saturday as well, with victories in the 200-yard backstroke and participated in the 400-yard freestyle relay, which Brockport won. 

Pearce performed well in his final home meet, as did senior Andy Wincenciak.  He won the 3-meter diving event for the men. 

Pearce was happy with his performance on Senior Day.  “Winning meant a lot,” Pearce said. “I wanted to go out on top at home, which was nice, and get my teammates pumped up.”

Wincenciak was also proud of his Senior Day.  “It was a huge accomplishment for me to win an event in my last home meet,” he said.  “It was something I had wanted to do the whole year, win at least one of the diving events in my last meet.” 

Other winners on Saturday included  Painter (50-yard freestyle), Adam Dewey (50-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle), Kristen Jensen (3-meter diving), Chris Russell (3-meter diving and 1-meter diving), and Jennifer Conklin (200-yard breaststroke).

After two back-to-back meets, the team doesn’t have another competition for more than a week.  That could be an advantage for the squad. 

“I feel that we seem to do better with more rest,” said Jensen.  “We have been practicing very hard for the past few weeks and have been improving, but we do get tired, especially with three meets in one week.  We’ll hopefully be rested up for the SUNYAC’s.” 

The men and women take the pool for the SUNYAC Championship, which will be held at Erie Community College Feb. 7 to Feb. 10.  Both teams will look to end the season strong. 

“This season has had its ups and downs,” Pearce said. “But with only two weeks left until championships, we all have to pull together as a team.  I feel we can feed off each other to have a successful SUNYAC meet.”