The New York University men's swimming & diving team wrapped up a successful 2015-16 season by equaling last year's team-best ninth place finish at the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships. The Violets, led by fourth-year head coach
Trevor Miele, posted an 8-1 record in dual meets and had 10 team members participate at the NCAA's.
Nine program records were broken during the campaign, including four by sophomore
Austin Palmer and three by junior
Phillip Kang.
"Finishing in the top-10 at nationals for two years in a row is a huge accomplishment for this program, and we will look to build off of our success next season," explained Miele.
The campaign began with a
196-90 victory against SUNY Cortland. Junior
Max Phillips won the 200-yard freestyle (1:42.73), placed second in the 100-yard freestyle (48.17) and anchored the winning 400-yard freestyle relay team (3:13.88). The other relay team members were junior
Harrison Clewell, sophomore
Joe Baron and senior
Win Htet Oo. Sophomore diver
Dylan Adler swept the one-meter and three-meter competitions with respective scores of 190.73 and 221.63 points.
After
winning the University of Rochester Invitational, the Violets hosted (and won)
the NYU Fall Invitational. NYU swimmers swept the top three places in the 200-yard breastroke, with freshman
Reid Hensen (2:08.37) finishing ahead of second-place sophomore
Tim Kou (2:09.72) and third-place freshman
Nick Dionisopoulos (2:13.42).
After dual-meet victories against The College of New Jersey and Vassar College, the squad travelled to Cambridge, MA, and placed second at the MIT Invitational. Kang broke school records in the 200-yard butterfly (1:49.45), 200-yard IM (1:50.97) and 400-yard IM (3:53.43), while Palmer set new standards in the 1,000-yard freestyle (9:20.48) and the 1,650-yard freestyle (15:26.26).
"I was really happy with our performance that weekend," Miele said. "The team worked incredibly hard all year and it was awesome to see their efforts pay off."
In its final three dual meets, NYU defeated Springfield College and the United States Merchant Marine Academy before falling to NCAA Division II West Chester University.
The Violets moved on to the
University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships and finished third of eight teams with 1,305 points. Adler and freshman
Max Falb qualified for the finals of the one-meter dive competition, capturing seventh (390.95) and eighth (346.45), respectively.
"For Dylan and Max to make the finals in both boards in their UAA Championship debuts is just incredible," said Diving Coach
Scott Donie. "I couldn't be prouder of all that they achieved."
NYU wrapped up its season by
sending 10 athletes to the NCAA Division III Championships and placing ninth of 55 teams. Palmer set a new NYU record in the 500-yard freestyle (4:27.89), while the 800-yard freestyle relay team of Phillips,
Daryl Wang, Palmer, and Kou also set a school record (6:40.70). In total, team members collected 15 All-America accolades as well as seven Honorable Mention All-America honors over the course of the meet.
The Violets' success during the season was not confined to the pool, as 12 team members were placed on the NYU Intercollegiate Athletic Advisory Committee Fall Honor Roll and received UAA Winter Sport All-Academic honors. Additionally, the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) honored the squad as a Scholar All-America Team.
"I am really appreciative of our swimmers' and divers' hard work and dedication, and I am very happy that they had such a great season," concluded Miele.
