BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Cortland women's swimming and diving team finished in third place out of nine schools at the 2017 State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Championships. The event ran for three days at the Burt Flickinger Center at Erie Community College.
 
Cortland finished with 516.5 points for its 11th top-three league finish in the last 14 years. Geneseo captured its 10th straight league title and 25th overall with 929 points, followed by New Paltz (567), Cortland (516.5), Oneonta (391) and Brockport (339) in the top five.
 
Senior Angelica Ford (Elk Grove Village, IL/Elk Grove) received the SUNYAC's Grace Mowatt Award following the meet. The award is given annually to a senior female swimmer based on career athletic and academic achievement. A fitness development major with a 3.22 cumulative grade point, Ford won the 200-yard and 400-yard IM races at this year's meet, both in school-record times, was the runner-up in the 400 IM last season, and was all-conference in both the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke as a freshman. Grace Mowatt earned her bachelor's degree from Cortland in 1959 and a master's degree from Cortland in 1963. She was the long-time women's swimming and diving coach at SUNY Oswego from 1963-93 and was a pioneer of women's swimming in the SUNYAC.
 
On Saturday, Ford finished fifth in the 200-yard backstroke in 2:10.05 (2:09.21 prelims). She also anchored the third-place 400-yard freestyle relay team (3:37.81), which started with junior Kalee Walden (Dryden), freshman Kelly Davey (Plattsburgh) and senior Emily McGurk (Monroe/Monroe-Woodbury).
 
McGurk finished third in the 200-yard butterfly (2:10.13), with freshman Erica Koumas (East Meadow) fifth (2:13.85) and sophomore Natalie Johnson (Canandaigua/Marcus Whitman) sixth (2:15.37). Freshman Rachel Noach (White Plains) placed sixth in the 1,650-yard freestyle (18:36.25), while freshman Alana Szewczyk (South Wales/Holland) and senior Kelly Lambkin (Monroe/Monroe-Woodbury) finishing seventh (2:34.30) and eighth (2:38.00; 2:34.67 prelims), respectively, in the 200-yard breaststroke.
 
Davey won the "B" final in the 100-yard freestyle (54.62) for a ninth-place finish, and freshman Caroline Tighe (East Meadow) finished atop the "B" flight in 1-meter diving (402.35 points) for a ninth-place showing.
 
Cortland earned 10 other scoring performances on the final day:
 
Jasmine Elmassry (Fr., Queens/Francis Lewis) – 10th place, 1,650 Free (19:07.59)
Vanessa Vegder (Fr., Dansville) – 11th place, 200 Breast (2:35.26)
Darby LaFlamme (Fr., Niskayuna) – 12th place, 200 Back (2:16.03; 2:14.13 prelims)
Kathleen Gallagher (Jr., Pearl River) – 12th place, 200 Fly (2:26.49) and 15th place, 200 Breast (2:38.54)
Becca Kanoza (Fr., Syracuse/West Genesee) – 13th place, 200 Back (2:16.11)
Lauren McBrinn (Fr., Suffern/Paramus Catholic (NJ)) – 14th place, 1,650 Free (19:17.60)
Jacqueline Lang (Jr., Middletown/Pine Bush) – 14th place, 1-meter diving (312.00 points)
Noach – tied for 15th place, 200 Back (2:18.56; 2:18.11 prelims)
Emma Gulbin (Fr., Wall Township, NJ/Wall) – 16th place, 200 Breast (2:38.64; 2:35.76 prelims)


UPDATE (2/22/17): The following Cortland athletes earned All-SUNYAC honors based on their finishes at the meet:

Angelica Ford, First Team (1st place, 200 IM and 400 IM; 3rd place, 800 free relay, 400 free relay)
Emily McGurk, Third Team (3rd place, 100 Fly, 200 Fly, 800 free relay, 400 free relay)
Rachel Noach, Third Team (3rd place, 800 free relay)
Kelly Davey, Third Team (3rd place, 800 free relay, 400 free relay)
Kalee Walden, Third Team (3rd place, 400 free relay)

 
2017 SUNYAC Women's Swimming and Diving Championships

Full Results
Championship Web Page

FINAL STANDINGS

1) Geneseo – 929
2) New Paltz – 567
3) Cortland – 516.5
4) Oneonta – 391
5) Brockport – 339
6) Oswego – 291
7) Potsdam – 234
8) Fredonia – 215.5
9) Buffalo St. - 65