SYRACUSE, NY – The Alfred University men’s swimming and diving team stood in fourth place after the first day’s action at the Upper New York State Collegiate Swimming Association championships.

Alfred is the three-time defending champs in the UNYSCSA meet, which is being held Friday, Saturday and Sunday (Feb. 26-28) at Nottingham High School in Syracuse. Alfred has 294 points after Friday’s events; Union leads with 369 points and Stevens Institute of Technology and Ithaca are second (365 points) and third (332), respectively. The Saxons earned state titles in both relays - 200-yard freestyle relay and 400-yard medley relay (the latter with an NCAA “B” provisional cut time) -- and AU senior Kameron Chambliss (Alfred Station, NY/Alfred-Almond) claimed his first career UNYSCSA championship, winning one-meter diving.

In the meet’s first event, the 200-yard freestyle relay, the Alfred team of sophomore Andrew Moragne (Cleveland, OH/University), juniors Zach Mix (Mt. Morris, NY/Mt. Morris) and Tyler Olsen (Saratoga Springs, NY/Saratoga) and senior Andrew Brisson (Greenwich, CT/Greenwich) took first with a time of 1:24.46. Stevens took second and 17th and Alfred’s other relay squad – freshman Tyler Diesenberg (Avon, NY/Avon), senior Pat Grimmer (Bath, NY/Haverling), freshman Nate Chapman (Hornell, NY/Hornell) and junior Dan Steere (Hornell, NY/Alfred-Almond) – placed 20th (1:28.85) and the teams were tied 74-74.

In the 500-yard freestyle, Olsen was ninth (4:47.09) and Chapman 14th (4:54.01), while Stevens placed three in the top four of to take a 170-155.5 lead over second-place Union, with AU in third (106.5). Mix was ninth in the next event, the 200-yard individual medley (158.15) as Union took a 248-216 lead over Stevens, with Alfred dropping to fifth (125 points) behind Ithaca and RPI. In the 50-yard freestyle, Brisson was second (21.35 seconds), Moragne was ninth (21.58), and Steere was 21st (22.24).

Chambliss won one-meter diving with 466.35 points to outdistance runner-up Douglas Pilawa of Skidmore (444.80). Chambliss’s previous best finish at a UNYSCSA meet was last year, when he was second on both the one-meter and three-meter boards.

Senior Sipol Smakpunt (Colorado Springs, CO/Sierra) and freshman Phil Yanella (Glenmoore, PA/Downington West) were 18th (291 points) and 19th (282.71), respectively, on the one-meter board and AU remained in fifth (222 points) heading into the 400-yard medley relay, the day’s final event. Brisson, sophomore Warren Dolben (Rye, NH/Berwick Academy), Mix and Olsen won the race with a time of 3:27.83, which was under the NCAA “B” cut of 3:28.78. The AU team of sophomore Richard Guarniero (New York Mills, NY/Thomas R. Proctor), sophomore Jeff Swartout (Binghamton, NY/Chenango Valley) senior Greg Pilgrim (Almond, NY/Alfred-Almond) and Morgane were 21st in 3:39.34.

The championships continued Saturday with the 200-yard medley relay, 400-yard individual medley, 100-yard butterfly, 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard breaststroke, 100-yard backstroke, and 800-yard freestyle relay. The meet concludes Sunday with the 1,650-yard freestyle, 200-yard back, 100-yard free, 200-yard breast, 200-yard butterfly, three-meter diving and the 400-yard freestyle relay.