Saturday Final Results

Saturday Prelim Results

SYRACUSE, NY (February 27, 2010) – With two top ten finishes and three new school records, the Vassar College men's swimming and diving team continued its strong performance on the second day of the Upper New York State Collegiate Swimming Association (UNYSCSA) Championships, finishing Saturday 10th out of 16 teams. Sunday will mark the final day of the UNYSCSA Championships, hosted by Le Moyne College at Nottingham High School.

Union College leads the meet with 801 points, followed by Stevens Institute of Technology (798 points) and Ithaca College (585 points). Vassar is in 10th with 239 points, attempting to catch up to ninth place Liberty League opponent St. Lawrence (335) and hold off 11th place league opponent Clarkson (231).

“To continue off of yesterday's success [the Brewers also broke three school records on Friday] with another tremendous day is so exciting,” said interim head coach Paul Kueterman. “We're in a tight battle with St. Lawrence and Clarkson and I'm eager to see what we can do on Sunday. We swam so well the last two days and now we just need to carry that momentum into tomorrow. They all know it's their last day to go out, swim fast, and leave it all out there. They believe in one another and everyone's so positive, confident and excited for our final day.”

After turning in a fifth place finish and setting a new school record in the 200 IM on Friday, sophomore Jack Smart topped that with a fourth place finish, breaking yet another school record in the 400 IM on Saturday. In the 400 IM finals, Smart dropped over four seconds off his preliminary time of 4:15.66 and moved from sixth to fourth with a time of 4:11.45, decisively breaking the record of 4:14.20 set by graduated senior John Alaimo in 2008.

“Jack looked so controlled,” said Kueterman. “He went out strong in the fly, kept building in the back, caught people in the breast, and finished off strong in the free. He's learning how to take control of his races and what's especially great to see is that he's been coming back and improving in the night sessions.”

Also earning a top-ten finish and breaking a school record was senior Jeremy Shiman. Shiman earned his first ever top-eight finish, placing eighth in the 100 Breast with a time of 1:01.04 and set a new school record in the 50 Back, leading off the 200 Medley relay in the preliminaries with a split of 25.59 breaking the record of 25.98 set by Drew Duncan in 2003. On Friday, Shiman also broke 100 Back record previously held by Duncan.

“I can't say enough about Jeremy's performance this weekend, stepping up in the final state meet of his career with two new school records,” said Kueterman. “The fact that he got his first career top eight finish in the breaststroke – an event that isn't even his strongest – just speaks so much to his willingness to do everything possible for this team.”

The Brewers set their third school record of the day and their sixth of the meet in the final event of the day, the 800 Free Relay. The team of Smart, freshman Nicholas Veazie, freshman Simon Whitelaw and Shiman placed 11th with a time of 7:20.03 breaking the 2004 record of 7:220.20 and dropping over 12 seconds off the team's previous best time of 7:32.87.

“They all swam with such heart,” said Kueterman of the 800 Free Relay. “It was fun to watch, and great to see a sophomore [Smart] and two freshman [Veazie and Whitelaw] leading off, with our senior [Shiman] anchoring it.”

The 200 Medley relay team of Veazie, Smart, freshman Mathue Duhaney, and Shiman started the evening with an 11th place finish, recording a time of 1:39.69. Veazie recorded his first career top-24 finish, placing 23rd in the 100 Back with a time of 56.06.