BUFFALO, N.Y. – Senior Dan Evans (Hamburg) broke a 16-year-old conference record in the 100-yard freestyle and led off the winning 400-yard freestyle relay team that set a school record during Cortland's final day of competition at the SUNYAC Men's Swimming and Diving Championships.

Cortland finished second out of nine teams in the final standings with 685 points. Geneseo won its 12th straight title with 829 points, followed by Cortland, New Paltz (555), Fredonia (328) and Oswego (310) in the top five. Cortland has earned league runner-up honors each of the last five seasons.

Evans set the SUNYAC 100-yard freestyle record with his preliminary time of 45.22 seconds – an NCAA “B” cut. The previous league mark was 45.44 seconds by New Paltz's Louis Petto in 1994, and Evans held both the Cortland and SUNYAC Championship records with his time of 45.73 seconds last year. Evans then proceeded to win the event with a time of 45.85 seconds in the finals. Evans swept the SUNYAC titles in the 50-yard, 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle events for the second straight year.

Evans was named the SUNYAC Most Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet for the second straight year. In addition, he received the SUNYAC's James Fulton Award, which is presented annually to a conference senior male swimmer or diver for athletic achievement, improvement throughout his college career and academic achievement. The award is named after the former 25-year Brockport head coach who passed away in 2003.

Cortland eighth-year head coach Brian Tobin was selected as the SUNYAC Men's Swimming and Diving Coach of the Year. He won the award for the second time (the first was in 2006), and he was also named the Women's Coach of the Year for the first time.

The combination of Evans, senior Caleb VanSickle (Stanley/Marcus Whitman), freshman Ben Strickland(Stanfordville/home schooled) and senior Matt Young (Schoharie) won the 400-yard freestyle relay crown in an NCAA “B” cut time of 3:06.40. They broke the previous school record of 3:06.92 set last year by Evans, VanSickle, Young and Drew Hilker, and missed the conference record by less than a tenth of a second.

Freshman Justin Nelson (Jamestown/Frewsburg) erased a 29-year-old Cortland record in the 200-yard backstroke with his third-place time of 1:55.95. Ed Walrath held the record with a 1:57.38 effort in 1981. Sophomore Dan Drew (Farmington/Victor) also swam faster than Walrath's old record with a fifth-place time of 1:56.52.

Young finished second in the 100-yard freestyle (46.76) and VanSickle placed third in the 1,650-yard freestyle (16:52.88). Sophomore Daniel Salvatore (Clarence) was fifth in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:12.61, 2:12.00 prelims), senior Jeff Moessinger (Elma/Iroquois) finished fifth in the 200-yard butterfly (1:59.84) and sophomore Travis Burke (Massapequa) placed fifth in three-meter diving (425.60 points).

Cortland turned in two seventh-place finishes – Nelson in the 1,650-yard freestyle (17:06.35) and sophomore Dylan Scheemaker (Fairport) in the 200-yard butterfly (2:01.13). In addition, two Red Dragons won “B” final races to place ninth overall – Strickland in the 200-yard backstroke (1:58.59) and senior Tim Harroun (Tonawanda) in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:12.63).

FINAL STANDINGS

1) Geneseo – 829
2) Cortland – 685
3) New Paltz – 555
4) Fredonia – 328
5) Oswego –310
6) Potsdam - 258
7) Oneonta - 236
8) Buffalo St. - 212
9) Brockport – 182

Tournament Results Page