Cortland, NY - The Battle of the Red Dragons in swimming and diving took place on the campus of SUNY Cortland yesterday.  For the first time in Head Coach Chris Schuler's career Oneonta emerged victorious against Cortland as they beat their rival in very impressive fashion 143-98.

One of the many highlights of the afternoon was the performance of senior diver Kara Garbarino (Latham/Shaker) who earned qualifying scores for the NCAA championships, as she set school records in the 1 meter, six dives scoring 255.40 and 1-meter, 11 dives with a score of 444.60. She then set the 3 meter, six dives record later in the meet scoring 292.65.  This performance followed the previous weekend's performance where Garbarino set a record at the Ithaca Diving Invitational in the 3 meter, 11 dives event with a score of 376.85.  Garbarino only needs to reach qualifying scores in each event one more time to earn a spot in the NCAA Region 3 Diving qualifier for an opportunity to qualify for the NCAA Division III championships in late March.

Other highlights for Oneonta included the 400 yard medley relay where seniors Carly Cahill (Troy/Troy), Hillary Chocko (Queensbury/Queensbury), junior Lauren Zentko (Glenville/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) and freshman Kylie Loforte (Farmington/Canandaigua Academy ) teamed together to win the event with a time of 4:10.24.  In the very next women's event Zentko was victorious in the 1000 yard freestyle with an impressive time of 11:06.52 that was more than 15 seconds ahead of the runner up from Cortland.  Zentko also continued her successful day when she took first place in the 500 yard freestyle.

Loforte found a win when she clocked first with a time of 25.75 in the 50 yard freestyle followed by victory in the 100 yard freestyle.

Chocko would not be outdone by her teammates when she was also triumphant in the 200 yard individual medley and in the 200 yard breaststroke. 

Junior Taylor Waldrop (Fairport/Fairport) also was a winner in the 200 yard backstroke just ahead of runner up and teammate Cahill.  Later on Oneonta wrapped up an amazingly successful day as junior Kristen Higgins, sophomore Sarah Greco (Merrick/Sanford H. Calhoun), senior Kelly Ruf (Poughkeepsie/Roy C. Ketcham)f and Waldrop took the winners position in the 400 yard freestyle relay only .03 ahead of their Cortland rival.
 
The SUNY Oneonta women will have three weeks to rest and prepare for the SUNYAC Championships which begin on Thursday, February 19th at Erie Community College.