Empire 8 Swimming Championships: 5 Races You Won’t Want to Miss

Photo Courtesy: John Enquist

By James Sica, Swimming World Intern

The Empire 8 Conference meet will run concurrently with the UNYSCSA Championships, making it one of the largest conference meets in the NCAA with 14 total teams competing. The meet brings the top 24 swimmers back in each event for finals, and both A and B relays are scored.

Empire 8 scoring is completed separately based on a swimmer’s fastest time in each event. This should be a tight meet with many individuals looking to achieve times that will qualify them for NCAAs in a few weeks.

Read below for a look at five races you will not want to miss at the Empire 8 Swimming Championships.

Men’s 200 Freestyle

Photo Courtesy: John Enquist

This event finds the top two seeds, Hartwick College’s Miles Blaney and Ithaca College’s Adam Zelehowsky, separated by only .16 of a second (1:42.30 to 1:42.46). A. Zelehowsky, a junior, is the two-time defending champion in the event and current meet record holder with a 1:39.16. Blaney, a senior, is returning to competition after sitting out a year and will be looking to end his competitive career on a high note.

Both of these swimmers take the race out very aggressively, although Zelehowsky may have a bit more sprint speed than Blaney. Right behind them are two Stevens swimmers–James Bentz (FR) and Alex Xu (SR)–and Alfred senior Dave Coombes, who has been swimming lights-out this season. Expect this race to come to down to the touch and be one of the highlights of the competition.

Women’s 200 Butterfly

This event should be a fun one to watch, as the top three seeds are separated by about two tenths of a second. Stevens senior (and defending champion) Maria McClure (2:05.02), Vassar sophomore Julia Cunningham (2:05.06), and RPI freshman Shanny Lin (2:05.29) are all seeded under McClure’s winning time of 2:05.51 from last year’s meet.

Although McClure should be fairly ahead in terms of Empire 8 scoring (her closest conference competitor is teammate Elizabeth Heinbach seeded three seconds back), this event is too close to not mention. Expect these three to be way ahead of the field and all gunning for the conference championship record of 2:03.87 held by Alison Lesher from 2008.

Men’s 200 Backstroke

Stevens Institute of Technology junior Ravi Sun comes in as the top seed in this event with a 1:47.19, a lifetime best from the ECAC winter championships that is (at the time of this writing) ranks him third in all of Division III. The closest competitor will be fellow junior Daniel Burke from Nazareth who is seeded second with a 1:50.71; a fantastic time that is still three and a half seconds behind Sun. This event overall should be one of the fastest of the meet, with the top 4 seeds having already achieved an NCAA B cut this season. While Sun may be saving his big taper for NCAAs in a few weeks, this is still a race you won’t want to miss.

Women’s 200 Backstroke

Photo Courtesy: Jake Liftschultz

Last year the Lady Bombers put on a clinic in the 200 backstroke, placing first (sophomore Grace Ayer – 2:03.49), second (senior Kylie Bangs – 2:03.87), and fourth (senior Megan Buisman – 2:03.99) in the event last year. All three of these ladies will return to the event this year, and for Buisman and Bangs it could potentially be the last swim of their collegiate careers. All three of these women swim the race eerily similar, with Bangs tending to lead through the front half while Ayer and Buisman are a bit stronger in the second 100. The three Bombers are currently seeded first (Ayer – 2:06.24), second (Bangs – 2:07.15), and tenth (Buisman – 2:13.51), so expect all three to be next to each other in finals battling it out for the win.

Men’s Free Relays

The freestyle relays are always exciting at the conference meets, and year after year Stevens and Ithaca also go down to the wire on the relays. This year should be no different, as both teams are loaded with sprint talent. Stevens doesn’t have the depth they used to in the sprint events, but that hasn’t slowed down their relays- all three of their relays come in seeded first with times that are under the NCAA B cut.

With junior Tommy Walinski as the top seed in the 50 and 100 freestyles you should still expect the Stevens relays to pack a punch while being chased by Ithaca, who despite losing several key players to graduation should still be in the hunt. Standout Adam Zelehowsky (JR) with lead the charge as a member of the 200, 400, and 800 freestyle relays, while junior Addison Hebert should also return as a key player in the 400 and 800 free relays, and could also make an appearance on the 200 free relay (he was 20.81 on last years B relay).

Senior Logan Metzger will also help load the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, and with senior Clement Towner on the 800 freestyle relay that gives the Bombers three solid legs for all three relays. The key will be rounding out each relay from their deep group of freestylers, with possible additions being sophomore Connor Schroyer, senior Jon Wheeler, or senior Lucas Zelehowsky. A team to watch is also Alfred University, who under the leaderships of Dave Coombes, Zac Toth, and David Luke could come to challenge Ithaca and Stevens for all three free relay titles.

The Rest of the Meet…

Don’t expect the excitement to be limited to these few races. This is one of the deepest conferences in Division III, and anything could happen. Other swimmers to watch for include Alfred Senior David Luke in the sprint events, Stevens senior Brittany Geyer in the breaststrokes, Sarah Lawrence junior Cameron Martinez in the butterflies, and Stevens sophomore Danielle Caruso in the 200, 500 and 1650 freestyles. The battle for the team titles on the men and women’s sides should be tight between Steven’s Institute of Technology and Ithaca College. Last year, the Lady Bombers defeated the Stevens Ducks 874 to 756, while the meet was even closer on the men’s side, with Stevens winning narrowly 818 to Ithaca’s 810.

The Empire 8 Conference meet kicks off Wednesday, February 18^th and runs through Saturday February 21^st at the Webster Aquatic Center in Webster, NY. The Championship page is viewable here. Psych sheets for the meet are available to view here, and live results are available here.

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