BUFFALO, N.Y. – Junior Dan Evans (Hamburg) set school and championship records with his winning time in the 100-yard freestyle and led off Cortland's school-record 400-yard freestyle relay that finished in second place during the final day of competition at the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Men's Swimming and Diving Championships.

Cortland finished second in the final team standings for the fourth straight year. Geneseo won the nine-team meet with 967 points. Cortland scored 609 points, followed by New Paltz (505), Oswego (388) and Fredonia (367) in the top five.

Evans won his third individual league title and set his third individual school record during the tournament with his performance in the 100-yard freestyle. His preliminary time of 45.73 seconds is an NCAA “B cut” and breaks Ryan Kendrick's record of 45.85 seconds set in 1994. It also breaks the SUNYAC Championship Meet record of 46.03 seconds set by Oswego's Greg Doyle last season.

Evans proceeded to win the event with a time of 45.90 seconds in the finals. Evans finished the three-day meet with wins in the 50-yard, 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle races. On all three occasions, he broke former Cortland head coach Kendrick's school records.

Evans combined with junior Caleb VanSickle (Stanley/Marcus Whitman), sophomore Matt Young (Richmondville/Schoharie Central) and senior Drew Hilker (Ithaca) to finish second in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Their time of 3:06.92 is an NCAA “B cut” and breaks the old school mark of 3:08.24 set by current head coach Brian Tobin, Eric Manale, Kendrick and Matt Mitchell in 1992.

Senior David Dow (Port St. Lucie, FL/Glastonbury (CT)) also wrote his name in the school record book during the 1,650-yard freestyle race. He finished third in the event in 16:29.55, and in the process set the school record for the 1,000-yard freestyle with his split time of 9:51.06. Current Red Dragon assistant coach Corey Ryon set the previous 1,000-yard freestyle record with a 9:52.72 effort in 1997, also as part of a 1,650-yard freestyle race.

Cortland earned seven other top-eight finishes on the final day. Hilker was fourth in the 100-yard freestyle (47.20) and VanSickle placed fifth in the 1,650-yard freestyle (16:41.68). Freshman Dan Drew (Victor) was sixth in the 200-yard backstroke in 1:57.97, missing the school record by 0.59 seconds.

Senior Brett Poffenbarger (Owego/Owego Free Academy) finished sixth in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:16.07, 2:15.97 in prelims), freshman Dylan Scheemaker (Fairport) was sixth in the 200-yard butterfly (2:03.52, 2:03.34 in prelims), senior Jimmy Roeser (Suffern) touched the wall seventh in the 200-yard butterfly (2:05.15, 2:03.77 in prelims) and Young finished eighth in the 100-yard freestyle (48.40, 47.97 in prelims).

2009 SUNYAC MEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS

1) Geneseo – 967
2) Cortland – 609
3) New Paltz – 505
4) Oswego – 388
5) Fredonia – 367
6) Brockport – 189
7) Oneonta – 182
8) Potsdam – 177
9) Buffalo St. - 175

Complete Results