Empire Eight Championships: Day Three

SYRACUSE, New York, February 28. THE Alfred University men's swimming and diving team wrapped up its third straight Upper New York State Collegiate Swimming Association (UNYSCSA) championship Saturday. The Saxons scored 1,149 points to outdistance runner-up Ithaca (1,063 points) and third-place RPI (1,035).

The Saxons earned their fourth state title in Brian Striker's seven-year head coaching tenure. The UNYSCSA meet also serves as the Empire 8 Conference championships; Alfred's E8 title was the team's fifth in the last seven years.

AU had no individual victories in Saturday's final day of competition at Nottingham High School in Syracuse, but several Saxons turned in solid performances. Senior Brian Agro (Gray, ME/Cheverus) placed second in the 200-yard breaststroke with an NCAA "B" cut qualifying time of 2:06.96. Senior Matt Baker (Weedsport, NY/Weedsport) also earned an NCAA "B" cut in the 200-yard backstroke after placing second in a time of 1:52.54. Junior Andrew Brisson (Greenwich, CT/Greenwich) took second and earned a "B" cut in the 100-yard freestyle with his time of 46.15 seconds.

Baker has already automatically qualified to swim in the 100-yard backstroke at the NCAA championships March 19-21 in Minneapolis, MN. Baker ("B" cuts in the 200 back and 200 individual medley), Agro ("B" cuts in the 100-yard and 200-yard breast and 200-yard IM) and Brisson ("B" cuts in the 100-yard and 200-yard free) will learn next week if they've qualified to compete in the events for which they earned provisional cut times.

AU also earned "B" cuts in three relays: the 200-yard medley relay (Matt Baker, Agro, sophomore Zach Mix (Mt. Morris, NY/Mt. Morris) and senior Mark Baker (Weedsport, NY/Weedsport)) and 400-yard medley relay (Matt Baker, Agro, Mix and sophomore Tyler Olsen (Saratoga Springs, NY/Saratoga)), and the 400-yard freestyle relay (Matt Baker, Mark Baker, Olsen and Brisson). The Saxons won the 400-yard free relay Saturday (3:05.22) and for the championships won four of the five relays contested.

Other top performers for AU Saturday included sophomore Matt Lobban (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Mendon), sixth in the 1,650-yard freestyle (16:47.48) and 16th in the 200-yard back (2:06.86); Olsen, fifth in the 100-yard free (46.91 seconds); Mark Baker and sophomore Dan Steere (Hornell, NY/Alfred-Almond), ninth (47.56 seconds) and 12th (48.21 seconds), respectively, in the 100-yard free; Mix, second in the 200-yard butterfly (1:54.81); senior Scott Sarkissian (Oswego, NY/Oswego), 10th in the 200-yard fly (1:59.16); and junior Kameron Chambliss (Alfred Station, NY/Alfred-Almond), second in 3-meter diving.

Special thanks to Alfred University for contributing this report.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x