COBLESKILL SWIMMERS SHINE AT 2006 MOUNTAIN VALLEY CHAMPIONSHIPS

The SUNY Cobleskill swimming & diving program brought home some major hardware from the 2006 Mountain Valley Conference Swimming & Diving Championships hosted by Delhi Tech in Delhi, NY, on Saturday. The Cobleskill men posted a team score of 95 points to capture their fourth consecutive league championship while the Fighting Tiger women scored 37 points to place second in the field.

In the men’s portion of the meet, Cobleskill claimed four individual event conference championships and two relay championships. Senior Danny Porras, Great Neck, NY, Great Neck North High School, led the Fighting Tiger winning league titles in the 50 Freestyle, 26.62 seconds, and the 200 Freestyle, 2:10.26. Fighting Tiger senior Brian Fox, Ballston Lake, NY, Shenendehowa High School, also claimed individual gold winning the 200 Breaststroke, 2:49.60, and freshman Mike Sidoti, Pine Island, NY, Warwick Valley High School, won the 100 Backstroke, 1:15.07.

The Fighting Tiger 200 Medley Relay of Mike Sidoti, Brian Fox, Danny Porras and senior Sam Deboer, West Winfield, NY, Mount Markham High School, won the league title with a time of 1:59.63 while the Cobleskill 200 Freestyle Relay of Mike Sidoti, Sam Deboer, Danny Porras and freshman Willie Cool, Canajoharie, NY, Canajoharie High School, were victorious in a time of 1:49.50.

For their efforts Danny Porras, Brian Fox, Mike Sidoti, Brian Fox, Sam Deboer and Willie Cool were named to the 2006 All-Mountain Valley Conference Team. Fighting Tiger Head Coach Mary Irving also was honored by the conference being named for the fourth consecutive year as the Mountain Valley Conference Coach-of-the-Year by the league’s coaches.

In the women’s portion of the competition freshman Gabrielle Asay, Greenfield Center, NY, dominated the meet individually winning four individual events in the meet capturing individual championships in the 200 Backstroke, 2:32.05, the 100 Butterfly, 1:12.07, the 200 Freestyle, 2:14.29 and the 100 Breaststroke, 1:23.55. For her efforts the talented freshman was named the 2006 Mountain Valley Conference Women’s Swimmer-of-the-Meet by the league’s coaches.

The Fighting Tigers will next be in action at the 2006 Northeastern Regional Championships hosted by Monroe Community College in Rochester, NY from Friday February 10th thru Sunday February 12th.