Rochester, NY-Freshman Sydnie Wells captured the state championship in the 200 butterfly and all five of Union's relay teams finished in the top eight as the Dutchwomen finished fourth in the New York State Women's Collegiate Athletic Association Swimming and Diving championships at Webster College.
The Dutchwomen scored 768 points to finish fourth in the event. Ithaca successfully defended its title with 1,460 points followed by Hartwick (851) and LeMoyne (776.50).
“We accomplished our goal of improving our sixth-place finish of last year,” said head coach Scott Felix. “We had some excellent individual performances and all of our relay teams came in seventh or better. It was a solid performance from a very young team.”
Besides winning her state title, Wells finished second in the 400 individual medley and fifth in the 200 IM. She was also a member of four of the relay teams, including the 100 freestyle quartet that finished fourth. Wells, who went into the meet with B cut qualifying times for the 200 butterfly (with a 2:09.39) and the 400 IM (4:40.43), improved both of those times with state meet efforts of 2:09.08 and 4:37.16, respectively. Her championship time of 2:09.08 in the 200 butterfly is also an NCAA B cut qualifying time.
Senior Seana Phillips also had a solid meet with top-eight performances in the 50 (second), 100 (fourth) and 200 freestyle (eighth), respectively. Freshman Brianne Phillips (no relation) was second in the 100 breaststroke and third in the 200 breast while freshman Heather Bernstein finished sixth in the 1650 freestyle race.