The start of the 2019-20 Oswego State men’s and women’s swimming and diving season is a mirror image to the way the two teams started off in 2018-19, a meet against Rochester Institute of Technology and SUNY Oneonta. The hope for Oswego State is the end of this season mirrors the end of last season as well, with the men taking home second place and the women taking home third place at the SUNYAC Championships last February in Buffalo when the four day meet concluded.
The women’s team is already off to a faster start this season than last, with a 58-point turn-around in just one year against SUNY Oneonta. The team won 133-106, compared to a 105-136 loss last season. That major turn-around was anchored by the performance of freshman Keaton Maring, who dominated a pair of freestyle events, winning both the 100-yard and 200-yard. She also led off the winning 200-yard freestyle relay team. The team of Maring, Allegra Neglia, Kelsey Oliverio and Kayla Merrill beat the top-ranked SUNY Oneonta team by two seconds. Diver Meghan Maquet was the only women’s diver at the event to get over 200-points in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events, as she beat out her teammate Laura Bornheimer in each. Kelsey Oliverio was fast off the blocks to earn the win in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 27.15 seconds.
Oliverio won the sprint but it was senior Emily Ross who won the marathon this past Saturday, as she took home the first event win for the women in the 1,000-yard freestyle. Her time of 11:53:68 outpaced her teammate Madeleine Crean by three seconds. The women’s team is going to be aided by outstanding depth all season and the instant impact already felt by Maring. Ross believes that another third-place finish at SUNYACs is the expectation and goal of this campaign.
“I’d be really happy with third [place at SUNYACs],” Ross said. “That was a very big goal for us and against Geneseo, nobody beats them. So, getting second would be really cool too but third I’d be very excited for.”
SUNY Geneseo is the University of Alabama football team of SUNYAC swimming for both men and women, so it seems that the battle for second place this year in the SUNYAC will be the most entertaining. It was last February in Buffalo as it was the Laker’s men’s team inching out SUNY Cortland by a mere point over the course of four days. An utterly outrageous 526 to 525.
The men’s team is looking forward to holding that razor thin edge over SUNY Cortland this season. The meet against SUNY Oneonta was a promising start, as its path to a 9-1 regular season again seems underway.
The battle this past Saturday seemed to be between which Oswego State swimmer would get the most wins at the event. It turned out it was a five-way tie between seniors Ryan Kreuser, Alex Davie and Nick Weber, junior Walker Snowden and freshmen Zachary Brown at three wins for the day. Weber was the marathon man in the 500-yard and 1000-yard freestyles, while Kreuser was able to get it done in the 200-yard free and 100-yard backstroke. Each had a relay win also.
Adding to Oswego State winning all 13 events offered on Saturday was diver Cameron Ellis, who won both the 1-meter and 3-meter event. He is trying to repeat an appearance in the NCAA diving regional this season. He placed 10th in the 3-meter event last season, where the top eight advance. His motivation will be that this season.
Oswego State is ready for a long and successful season, who knew the race for second place could be so exciting.
Photo by Nicole Hube | The Oswegonian
