The RPI women finished in fifth place overall out of fourteen teams with a score of 694 points, breaking a five-year streak of coming in seventh, and falling short of fourth place by only one point. Ithaca College took first place, followed by Hartwick, Union College, and Nazareth, who beat RPI with a score of 695.

The RPI women fielded a number of very strong performances and also came home with two of the meet’s most important awards. Head Coach Shannon O’Brien won the Coach of the Year award and Freshman Meghan Hartman won the Swimmer of the Meet award. Hartman took first place in three individual events and two relays while qualifying for the NCAA national meet with an A-cut in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:09.57 minutes. Hartman had two additional individual first places which qualified as NCAA B-cuts in the 200-yard Breaststroke with a time of 2:25.18 and the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:37.41, which set a new NYSWCAA meet record. Hartman’s two first-place relays were the 200-yard medley relay made up of Sara Chadwick, Hartman, Julia Geer, and Allison Geer with a time of 1:52.76 and the 400-yard freestyle relay made up of Julia Geer, Maureen Desi, Hartman, and Allison Geer took first place and made an NCAA B-cut with a time of 3:37.95.

In addition to taking part in the two winning relays, Allison Geer won all three individual freestyle events and earned NCAA B-cuts in all three events. In the 50-yard freestyle she swam a 24.56, in the 100-yard freestyle she swam a 53.58, and in the 200-yard freestyle she swam a 1:55.43.

A number of RPI women placed in the top 24 in the state, thus scoring team points. Among them, Julia Geer placed third in two events —the 50-yard freestyle (25.35) and the 100-yard backstroke (1:00.73) and fourth in the 200-yard backstroke (2:13.01). Laurie Dubois took fifth in three-meter diving with a score of 316.60 and eighth in one-meter diving with a score of 280.20. Jess Hanley took fifteenth in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:38.99), and sixteenth in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:14.12). Chadwick took eleventh in the 200-yard backstroke (2:17.31), thirteenth in the 100-yard backstroke (1:03.74) and 22nd in the 200-yard individual medley (2:24.03). Kivy Weeks finished fifteenth in the 200-yard butterfly (2:32.87) and sixteenth in the 400-yard individual medley (5:18.32). Desi rounded out the individual scorers with a 22nd placing in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:42.77), and 23rd in the 200-yard individual medley (2:24.31).

A number of relay teams also made it into the top twenty-four in the state. The 200 free relay made up of Julia Geer, Desi, Hartman and Allison Geer finished second with a time of 1:40.64. Two 400-yard medley relay teams scored, the team made up of Julia Geer, Hanley, Hartman, and Allison Geer took fifth (4:10.95) and the team made up of Chadwick, Desi, Weeks, and Emily O’Connor took 23rd (4:30.52). The team made up of Janina Hill, Amy Kohler, Cater Ortolano and Weeks took eleventh in the 800-yard freestyle relay (9:03.27). Chadwick, Hanley, Hill, and O’Connor scored 22nd in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:58.37).

The RPI women came away from the meet extremely happy with their performance, having taken two awards, sending one swimmer to nationals, and provisionally sending an additional three swimmers to the nationals. By the end of the week, Allison Geer, Julia Geer, and Desi will be told by the NCAA whether their B-cuts will send them to nationals. In the meantime, all three women are training with Hartman in anticipation of being sent to the NCAA national meet.