April 2020

Genesee Swimming Competed at NJCAA National Championships

The Genesee men’s and women’s swimming teams traveled to Fort Pierce, Florida in the beginning of March to compete in the NJCAA National Championship meet.

The meet started off with prelims on Wednesday with impressive swims and best times from Ashley Hearn (40.67) for the women, Ethan Heim (30.70), and Brandon Cutter (32.33) for the men in the 50 breaststroke. In the next event, Hunter Camacho and Tyler Stachowiak (10:49.82/season best) both competed for the men’s team in the 1000 freestyle. Ethan Heim then dove back into the pool for the 200 individual medley with a best time of 2:13.40. In the women’s 50 freestyle, Brianna McMullen got 15th place (29.19). Carlitos Sanchez (22.20), Brandon Cutter (25.29/personal best), and Raymond Pray (27.28) all had great swims in the men’s 50 freestyle. In the Wednesday night finals McMullen finished in 15th place with a personal best time of 28.96 in the 50 freestyle.

The Thursday morning prelims started off with Ashton Laird finishing in 16th place for the women’s 50 backstroke with a best time of 33.72; Sanchez also had an impressive swim in this event for the men’s team finishing in 14th place with a best time of 25.80. In the 400 individual medley Camacho earned 15th place with a best time of 4:56.18. Hearn (2:38.00/personal best) and Laird (2:32.94) later swam in the 200 freestyle where Laird got 16th place. Stachowiak swam in the 200 freestyle for the men’s team with a season best time of 1:53.64. The Thursday night finals started off with the 200 freestyle relay. The women’s relay team of Laird, Hearn, Ana Cerezer, and McMullen finished in 8th place with their best time of the season (2:00.01). The men’s relay team of Stachowiak, Camacho, Heim, and Sanchez finished in 7th place with their best time of the season as well (1:32.54). In the 50 backstroke finals, Laird finished in 16th place with a personal best time (33.59) and Sanchez finished in 15th place (25.97). Camacho had an amazing swim in the 400 individual medley finals finishing in 14th place with a new personal best time of 4:40.36. Laird then placed 16th in the 200 freestyle (2:32.38). The night concluded with the Cougars relay team of Stachowiak, Heim, Camacho, and Sanchez placing 8th in the 400 medley relay with their season best time of 3:56.78.

Friday morning’s prelims started off strong with McMullen (1:19.54) and Laird (1:19.31) competing in the 100 individual medley where Laird placed 16th. Camacho (5:19.59/best time) and Stachowiak (5:06.64/season best) both competed in the men’s 500 freestyle with Stachowiak placing 16th. Sanchez then got back into the pool for the 100 backstroke with a time of 57.72. For the women, Hearn (1:29.72) competed in the 100 breaststroke; Heim (1:08.83), and Cutter (1:11.61) both received best times in the men’s 100 breaststroke. In the finals on Friday night Laird finished with a personal best time of 1:18.91 and 16th place in the 100 individual medley. Stachowiak had another impressive swim in the 500 freestyle finishing 15th with a new season best time of 5:02.35. The night ended with the 200 yard medley relay. Sanchez, Heim, Camacho, and Stachowiak finished in 8th place with their fastest time of the season, 1:46.39.

The final day of competition began with McMullen in the pool swimming the 50 butterfly where she placed 15th with a best time of 32.58. The 1650 freestyle had strong swims by Stachowiak (18:07.00/season best) who placed 14th and Camacho (18:21.42/season best) who placed 15th. McMullen (1:06.93) got back into the pool with Laird (1:08.56) and Cerezer (1:09.79) to compete in the 100 freestyle where they all received best times. For the men’s 100 freestyle, Sanchez placed 11th and broke yet another of his own school record for the cougars. Sanchez’s time was 47.50 which is .67 seconds faster than his original record in the event. Hearn completed the women’s 200 breaststroke with a personal best time of 3:09.90. In the men’s 200 breaststroke both Heim (2:32.27) and Cutter (2:43.38) finished with personal best times. The Saturday night finals began with McMullen swimming the 50 butterfly and finishing with a new personal best time of 32.06 in 16th place. Sanchez later placed 14th in the men’s 100 freestyle with a time of 48.29. The night concluded with the 400 freestyle relay. The women’s team of Laird, Hearn, Cerezer, and McMullen finished with a season best time of 4:28.47 in 8th place. The men’s team of Stachowiak, Camacho, Heim, and Sanchez also finished off the night with their best time of the season in 7th place with a time of 3:22.67.

The coaches and returners are excited for the start of next season. Congratulations to all of the swimmers and good luck to the graduating sophomores!

The Genesee Cougars’ coaching staff are still in the process of recruiting for their 2020-2021 team and have some more signings coming up. If you are interested in trying out for next year’s 2020 Genesee Cougars, please email Jeff Reyngoudt at jcreyngoudt@genesee.edu.

Genesee Virtually Adds Fourth Swimmer

On April 10th, the Genesee Cougars virtually signed their fourth swimmer of the year, Victoria Kilner. Victoria is a butterfly and freestyle swimmer from Pembroke Jr-Sr High School. The events that she swims are the 50 free, 100 free, 500 free, 100 fly and she also partakes in the 200-medley relay (50 fly), 200 free relay, and the 400 free relay. Kilner was a captain for her swim team and led them to a Division 2 Championship. She was also awarded the Coaches Award and has maintained Honor Roll status.

Victoria and the other swim recruits are coming in at the perfect time. Head Coach Jeff Reyngoudt is excited to build on the progress they had made this past season and to become an even better swim team with the incoming swimmers. “We have three returning women swimmers (Ashton Laird, Ashley Hearn, and Brianna McMullen) and they are strong ones at that. We are excited about the recruits we have been signing and we know they will mesh well with our returning athletes”, stated Reyngoudt. Laird, Hearn, and McMullen all made it to the National Championship this past season with impressive times. The incoming freshmen class are sure to have a great year with these three sophomores.

The Genesee Cougars’ coaching staff are still in the process of recruiting for their 2020-2021 team and have some more signings coming up. If you are interested in trying out for next year’s 2020 Genesee Cougars, please email Jeff Reyngoudt at jcreyngoudt@genesee.edu.

Mackenzie O’Brien Commits to Alfred University

Genesee Women’s Soccer graduating sophomore, Mackenzie O’Brien, has just announced that she is officially committing to Alfred University, where she will be studying Criminal Justice and continuing her soccer career. Mackenzie was the starting center back for Genesee during her freshmen and sophomore season.

During her freshmen year, Mack showed promise immediately. She was stepping into a defense with three other sophomores, as well as a sophomore goalkeeper, and handled herself with effortless poise. She was only one of three freshmen starters and lead the team to a Regional Title and National appearance in the Elite Eight in the fall of 2018. During her sophomore season, she was honored as a captain and continued to start as the center defender. She was a two-time All-Conference player and an All-Region player. O’Brien also played lacrosse and quickly became a starting defender in that as well, where she helped lead the team to Regional Semi-Finals in 2019. Although Mackenzie did not get to play her sophomore season of lacrosse due to Covid-19, she was already showing huge growth and would have been a leader on the team. As for her GPA, she currently has a 3.85. She is also President of our LEADS program and is currently in Phi Theta Kappa as well. Due to Mackenzie’s strong athleticism and academic excellence, she was awarded this year with the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence.

O’Brien will be hitting the field at Alfred University with her old Genesee teammate, Katline Cartwright. Cartwright played two years of soccer and lacrosse for the Cougars and was successful in both. When Katline had found out that Mack was interested in Alfred she was immediately invested in getting her to come play there. Katline played a holding forward position for Genesee during her time here and was a strong one at that. She was a captain during Mack’s freshmen year and had numerous goals and assists. Head Coach, Jeff Reyngoudt, and Assistant Coach, Macy Reyngoudt, are excited that the two of them will get to play together again. “They are both cut from the same cloth; feisty, strong, determined, and talented. Having those two on the field at the same time is electrifying.” said Jeff.

The Athletic Department here at GCC is so extremely proud of Mackenzie and she will be greatly missed. Good luck at Alfred University!

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