FULL RESULTS
Bronx, N.Y. – The final day of the 2022 CUNYAC/Healthfirst Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship concluded on Sunday at the APEX at Lehman College with Hunter College Hawks cementing its place as a conference champion for the second year-in-a-row and twelfth title in program history.
Due to the heavy snowstorm that hit New York City and Southern New York on Saturday, sessions two and three took place Sunday afternoon.
The Hawks put on a stellar display over the two-day meet, amassing an astounding 298 points. The Baruch Bearcats finished as the runner-up with 184 points. John Jay finished third with 117 and rounding out the top-five are Lehman College and Brooklyn College.
“We had some great momentum on day one, we have such a young team, a lot of freshmen, everyone stepped up to the plate and raced no matter what score they got. It all contributed to the end,” Hunter head coach
Frederique Lefebvre said. “It’s been a challenging year, the girls I had were able to stay the whole season even if they couldn’t compete because of exposure or someone else being exposed but now being able to all come together here in the end and compete this weekend was amazing.”
Hunter freshman
Germayne Chau earned six golds and one silver over the weekend event, including first place finishes in the 100-yard backstroke and in the 200-yard individual medley. Her efforts earned her Most Valuable Performer recognition.
“I can’t put it into words, I’m so thankful for everyone and my coaches for pushing me and my teammates. Everyone in general was so supportive,” Chau said. “It was amazing for us to come together and work hard for this. We were all able to do very well today and that we were able to overcome such obstacles.”
In the 200-yard medley relay, the Hawks team of freshman Chau,
Vanesa Betancur, Che-Rel Haywood, Nancy Leal took gold with a time of 1:57.74. They were followed by Baruch’s team of
Amanda Lee, and
Katherine Lee,
Joyce Wong and
Aanya Shukul with a time of 2:01.34. Closing the top three were the Bloodhounds’ quartet of
Maireeen Coronado,
Ankika Amdahl,
Camelia Achury, and
Kelly Lennon, who took home bronze.
In the 800-yard freestyle relay, Hunter’s squad of
Sarah Decker, Leal,
Ava Maffucci, and
Andrea Rodriguez took gold with a team swim of 9:03.02. The Bearcats followed up with silver with a team swim of 9:19.86 and wrapping up the top three was the Hawks team ‘B’ with a time of 10:58.99.
In the 100-yard butterfly, Hunter’s
Che Rel Haywood took home gold with a time of 1:03.75, two seconds ahead of John Jay's Achury (1:05.47). Lee rounded up the top three taking home bronze. Hunter’s Decker and Dupljack took gold and bronze respectively in the 400-yard individual medley, while the Bearcats’ Wong took home silver.
In the 100-yard breaststroke, Haywood earned gold, finishing four seconds ahead of her teammate Betancur, and grabbing bronze was Wong from Baruch.
In the 100-yard backstroke, the tandem of Chau and Decker took gold and silver, respectively, while Amanda Lee from Baruch took bronze.
The weekend event continued with the 1,000-yard freestyle. Shukul from the Bearcats took gold with a time of 11:54.62, followed by Hunter’s
Inga Kulma for silver and taking bronze was
Jillian Quin from Baruch.
In the 200-yard backstroke, the Hawks’ Chau and Decker took gold and silver respectively while Amanda Lee from Baruch took bronze.
Lennon came just short in setting the all-time CUNYAC record in the 100-yard freestyle with a first-place effort of 55.32. She was followed by Shukul of Baruch and Hunter’s Maffucci.
The final event of the evening was the women’s 400-yard freestyle relay. The team of Shukul, Wong, Katherine Lee and Amanda Lee taking gold for the Bearcats, followed by Hunter with silver and the John Jay with bronze.
Written by Eldridg Chavez