Sunday Final Results

Sunday Prelim Results

SYRACUSE, NY (February 28, 2010) – On the final day of the Upper New York State Collegiate Swimming Association (UNYSCSA) Championships on Sunday, the Vassar College men's swimming and diving team continued doing what it had all weekend: breaking records and racking up top-20 finishes en route to a 10th place finish out 16 teams.

The Brewers amassed seven top twenty finishes, broke three school records, and recorded an NCAA “B” provisional qualifying time on Sunday. Vassar set a total of nine school records over the course of the weekend, three each day.

“I don't think I could have dreamed of a better way to end the season,” said interim head coach Paul Kueterman. “To end up with nine school records and a B cut is remarkable. There were so many season bests and lifetime bests this weekend and the men really culminated the season in the right way. All the hard work paid off and it was a fun weekend seeing them accomplish all their goals.”

Sophomore Jack Smart capped an incredible weekend with his best finish ever at the states, placing second in the 200 Breast with a time of 2:07.61, in the process breaking a school record and recording his first career NCAA “B” provisional qualifying time. Smart was swimming at such a high level on Sunday that he easily set a new school record with his preliminary time of 2:09.54 in the morning, breaking the 2003 record of 2:13.19 set by Ben Chung, and then managed to lower even that time with his 2:07.61 finish in the finals. Smart recorded top-five finishes and broke school records in all three individual events he competed in at the states with better finishes each day, placing fifth in the 200 IM on Friday (1:56.70), fourth in the 400 IM on Saturday (4:11.45) and finishing it off with his second place 200 Breast performance on Sunday.

“What was incredible with Jack this weekend was that he got better every session, swimming stronger in the evening and then stronger each day, finally capping it off with a “B” cut,” said Kueterman. “He had the meet of his life and it's from the work he's put in all year. Every time he got up to swim he knew how to approach each race and he swam with confidence.”

Sophomore diver Greg Sullivan, who owns all of Vassar's diving records, broke his own 3-meter record of 421.50 with a score of 453.60 in the preliminaries. In the finals, Sullivan turned in another strong score, 437.85, good for a 4th place finish.

“Greg had a great day and was really happy with his score,” said Kueterman. “He's been able to shine in these big moments, stepping up to help the team. He's been great all year.”

Freshman Nicholas Veazie got his name into the record book as well on Sunday, breaking a 16-year old record in the 200 Back. Veazie recorded a time of 1:59.84 in the preliminaries to break Charles Cortes' 1994 record of 2:00.68. Veazie turned in a strong 11th place finish in the finals, moving up a spot from his prelim finish, with a time of 2:00.21. The freshman added a 16th place finish in the 200 Fly, with a time of 2:03.22

“To break a record that old is phenomenal, and it's amazing that he actually broke it in both the morning and evening,” said Kueterman of Veazie's 200 Back performance.

Senior Jeremy Shiman concluded both an impressive weekend and career with two top-20 finishes on Sunday, giving the Brewers two scorers in both races. Shiman joined Veazie in the finals of the 200 Back, and finished 15th with a time of 2:04.60 and complemented Smart's second place finish in the 200 Breast, placing 17th in 2:14.65.

“Jeremy's had a great career at Vassar and he had a huge three days for us,” said Kueterman of Shiman, who broke records in the 50 Back and 100 Back over the weekend. “He did everything that was asked for him and stepped up tremendously.”

Vassar narrowly missed closing out the weekend with a tenth school record, as the 400 Free Relay team of freshman Mathue Duhaney, Veazie, junior Alistair Hall, and sophomore Dustine Molina finished 13th with a time of 3:16.76, just .27 seconds off the 3:16.49 mark set in 1996.

Stevens Institute of Technology (1,157 points) surpassed Union College (1,146) on the final day to narrowly claim the title, while Ithaca College (876.50) rounded out the top three, beating out fourth place finisher Alfred University by just .50 points. Vassar placed 10th with 371 points, holding off 11th place Liberty League finisher Clarkson University (326), and finishing behind ninth place host Le Moyne College (507). The championships were held at Nottingham High School and hosted by Le Moyne.