Oneonta, NY  -  The SUNY Oneonta Red Dragon's men's swimming and diving team had to settle for a close loss to their conference rival SUNY Cortland 153-147 today in its final home meet of the season.

The meet did get off on a winning note when in the 200 yard medley relay freshman Shane Mills (Highland Mills/Monroe-Woodbury), senior Zeke Brynin (Pleasantville/Pleasantville), sophomore Harrison Abrams (Fort Plain/Fort Plain) and freshman William Coddington (Highland Mills/Monroe-Woodbury) joined forces and took the top spot with a time of 1:41.04 more than a second ahead of their Cortland foes.

The second win in a row came in the 1000 Yard Freestyle as sophomore Jared Ciccarelli (Staten Island/Tottenville) checked in with a time of 10:28.55 almost 22 seconds ahead of the Cortland runner-up.  The winning ways kept on going for Oneonta as freshman Daniel Kohler (Nanuet/Nanuet) was a victor in the 200 yard freestyle touching the wall with a time of 1:52.14 more than two-seconds ahead of the Cortland second-place finisher.

Brynin got back on the winning track as he was triumphant in the 100 yard breaststroke turning in a time of 1:00.58 edging out his teammate and runner-up sophomore Douglas Alliano (Massapequa/Massapequa) by almost four-seconds.  Brynin was also a winner in the 200 yard breaststroke with a time of 2:12.44 almost a full eight-seconds ahead of the Cortland runner-up.  Later on in the day Brynin found another win in what was a very successful day for him, the 400 yard individual medley fell as he took the top honors timing in at 4:24.25 representing an almost five-second gap between him and the Cortland foe.

Ciccarelli got his third victory on the day as he was top finisher in the 200 yard butterfly recording a time of 2:06.10 which was more than a second ahead of the Cortland foe.  Coddington also got his second win on the day when he got a time of 22.58 in the 50 yard freestyle just .28 seconds ahead of the Cortland second place finisher.  Up next for Coddington with his third win on the day and second in a row coming back as a winner in the 100 yard freestyle recording a time of 48.80 over a second ahead of the Cortland competitor.  Later, returning back to the winners circle was Ciccarelli this time in the 500 yard freestyle timing in at 5:07.78 over seven-seconds ahead of the Cortland rival. 

The wins kept on mounting for the SUNY Oneonta squad as junior Daniel Alton (Long Beach/Long Beach), freshman Jacob Hurteau (Burnt Hills/Burnt Hills Ballston Lake), Abrams and Coddington topped the field in the 200 yard freestyle relay representing a win with over a second to spare timing at 1:30.27.  That was the final victory for the SUNY Oneonta men's swimming team but collectively as a team they were just short of points and had to settle for a respectable defeat against their Cortland rivals.

Next up for the SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons is to prepare for the conference championships which will be held at Erie Community College beginning Thursday, February 22nd.