By John Custodio

Oswego State men’s and women’s swim and dive have ended their seasons after a powerful finish at SUNYACs from Feb. 16 to Feb. 19. 

For over half of the team, this SUNYACs was their final time in the pool as the Lakers are losing 12 graduating seniors. From the men’s team, the Lakers are losing Eric Dzierzgowski, Nate Einstein, Pete Kovalovsky, Sebastian Lasher and Matthew Rolph, with Tomas Rodriguez graduating after the fall 2021 semester. For the women’s team, graduating seniors are Jess Azoulay, Laura Bornheimer, Keaton Maring, Vanessa Moss, Allegra Neglia, Grace Parente and Eva Potvin. 

After day one, the Lakers were in fifth place out of nine for the men with a score of 31 and sixth place out of nine for the women with a score of 26. The men’s 800 yard freestyle relay team of Erick Zizic, Matt Seyse, Einstein and Rolph secured a solid 28 points while Dzierzgowski scored the remaining three in the three meter dive. The women’s 800 yard freestyle relay team of Maring, Parente, Alexia Lemus and Twyla Nastasia secured the team’s 26 points in sixth place with a time of 8:14.12.

Day two had more events for both teams with the 50 yard freestyle, 500 yard freestyle, 200 yard IM, one meter diving, 200 yard freestyle relay and 400 yard medley relay. The women’s team clawed their way to fifth place with a score of 119 while the men leapt to third with a score of 146, led by the men’s 200 yard freestyle relay team of Zach Brown, Seyse, Rolph and Si J Daw scoring 24 points. Daw secured a further 16 points for the Lakers in the 50 yard freestyle. For the women’s team, the 400 yard medley relay brought home 32 points with Neglia, Potvin, Parente and Maring finishing with a time of 4:07.77 for the all-senior foursome. 

Day three saw the Laker women solidify their spot in fifth while the men slipped down to fourth, with a day of 200 yard freestyle, 100 yard backstroke, 100 yard breaststroke, 100 yard butterfly and 400 yard IM. In the women’s 100 yard butterfly, Parente slid just under the minute mark with a prelim time of 58.98 and a finals time of 59.16, scoring 14 points for the lady Lakers. Other solid swimmers were Neglia, scoring nine points in the 100 yard backstroke and Fion Hon scoring seven points in the 400 yard IM. For the men, Rolph scored 14 points in the 100 yard backstroke while the men’s 200 yard medley relay team of Ajani Isles, Brown, Ray Paull and Daw scored 32 points coming in third with a time of 1:35.91.

The end of day four had both the Laker men and women stay in their previous spots, with the men in fourth with 250 points and the women in fifth with 200 points. Brown came in second in the men’s 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 57.02 scoring 17 points, while the women’s 200 yard medley relay of Neglia, Potvin, Parente and Lemus scored 28 points in fifth place. 

On the final day, Feb. 19, the Lakers ended their SUNYAC tournament with the women in fifth place and a final score of 311, and the men in fourth place with 358 points. SUNY Geneseo topped both rankings, followed by SUNY Cortland in both as well. SUNY New Paltz came in third for the men, followed by the Lakers with SUNY Oneonta close behind. SUNY Potsdam came in sixth, followed by SUNY Brockport and Buffalo State College respectively with SUNY Fredonia bottoming out the men’s tourney. For the women,  SUNY Brockport came in third with 399 followed closely by SUNY New Paltz with 394. After the Lakers in fifth came SUNY Oneonta followed by SUNY Fredonia and Buffalo State College, and SUNY Potsdam in last. 

After SUNYACs and the end of the season, the Lakers may struggle to fill their roster in the fall semester after the 12 seniors graduate in May. 

Photos provided by Oswego State Athletics