ALFRED, NY – Alfred University Athletics continued to see success in the winter sports season, sending five teams to Empire 8 Championships while seven Saxons earned Empire 8 All-Conference accolades.
The Alfred University men’s and women’s track & field, men’s and women’s swimming & diving and men’s basketball teams all participated in the Empire 8 Conference Championships during the final weekend in February, giving approximately 90 Saxons the opportunity to participate in the postseason.
The men’s swimming & diving team finished third overall at the Empire 8 Championships with 653 points, marking the best finish for the Saxons since winning the championships during the 2008-09 season. Junior
Christopher Deaver (Warwick, NY/Warwick Valley) was named the Empire 8 Male Diver of the Meet after earning E8 titles in the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events. He set a new AU record in the 1-meter dive (500.30), surpassing
Kameron Chambliss ’10 (477.40) while posting a 484.40 in the 3-meter dive event. Sophomore
Andy Edmister (Belmont, NY/Genesee Valley Central) earned another Empire 8 Championship for the Saxons in the 200 back with a time of 1:50.74. The relay team of Edmister,
Richard Berger (New Paltz, NY/New Paltz),
Joseph Lawrence (Clarence Center, NY/Clarence) and
Yunneng Du (Yorktown, VA/TABB) paired up to take second in the 200-medley relay (1:33.78) to earn Empire 8 Second Team designation.
Deaver went on to compete in the NCAA Division III Regional Qualifier at Ithaca College where he earned a berth to the National Championship event. He finished fifth among 19 competitors in the contest with a score of 437.45. He will compete in the National Championships held in Indianapolis, IN from March 21-24. Links to results and live video will be available on the
www.GoSaxons.com website once they are posted.
On the women’s side, sophomore
Victoria Cramp (Hornell, NY/Hornell) and first-year
Lauren Serotta (Niskayuna, NY/Niskayuna) both earned Empire 8 Second Team honors, twice. Cramp was named to the Second Team after placing second in the 1-meter (344.85) and 3-meter (387.85) diving events. She also set a new school record in the 3-meter dive (389.35) during the preliminary round, surpassing
Erin Collins ’07 who earned a score of 388.10. Serotta refused to be outdone, setting a new school record of her own in the 200-back. She originally broke
Lacy Clifford’s ’05 record (2:14.59) during the preliminary rounds with a time of 2:12.84. She turned around during the finals and bested her prelims time with a 2:11.34 to earn second place. She also earned second in the 100-back with a time of 59.69. AU finished fourth during the Empire 8 Championships with 460 points.
The men’s track & field team finished fourth in the Empire 8 Championships held at Houghton College, with senior
Seth Spicer (Corning, NY/Corning-Painted Post) leading the way. Spicer placed in five-of-six events on the day, including a third-place finish in the high jump (1.88m) and teaming up with
Rashid Abuelmaali (Latham, NY/Shaker),
Kwame Maxwell (Greenburgh, NY/Woodlands) and
Wesley Burke (Rochester, NY/Churchville-Chili) to edge out Houghton in the 4x400-meter relay to jump the Highlanders for fourth place in the meet. Senior
Kyle Gallo (Ontario, NY/Wayne) also chipped in to earn the Saxons a total of six points after finished fourth in the 5,000-meter run and fifth in the 3,000-meter run.
Spicer continued onto the 2018 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field National Championships to compete in the men’s heptathlon where he earned All-American status after finishing eighth. Heading into the final event, he sat in ninth place, but willed his way to the finish line, taking first in the 1,000-meter run to overtake his competition to earn a spot on the podium with 4,973 points.
The women’s track & field team finished sixth at the Empire 8 Championships, while all Saxons that competed found their way onto the podium. Senior
Brynn Hyde (Homer, NY/Homer) and sophomore
Danielle Perry (Leicester, NY/York Central) led the Saxons with third-place finishes on the day. Hyde set a personal-best in the weight throw and advanced her own school record to 14.16 meters. Her toss qualified her for the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Indoor Track & Field Championships to be held next week. Perry earned third in the triple jump, covering a distance of 10.50m.
The men’s basketball team advanced to the Empire 8 Championships held at Nazareth College for the first time since 2014-15 season. The Saxons narrowly fell to the #1 seeded, and eventual Empire 8 Champion, Golden Flyers, 73-72. AU battled back from a 10-point deficit in the second half and nearly won a last-second shot. The Saxons then continued on to the ECAC tournament for the seventh time in program history where they fell to #1 seeded Penn State-Behrend (21-7 AMCC 14-4) 78-57 on the road.
Senior
Nick Schmidt (Olean, NY/Olean) and junior
Sage Brown (Cortland, NY/Cortland) were named to the Empire 8 All-Conference second team. Schmidt led the Saxons in scoring (13.3 PPG) while sitting atop the Empire 8 Conference in three-point field goal percentage (.418), second in free throw percentage (.883) and second three-point field goals per game (3.0). Among NCAA Division III rankings, Schmidt finished the regular season 22
nd overall in free throw percentage and 59
th in assists to turnover ratio (2.37). Brown was recognized after leading AU in rebounds (208), rebounds per game (8.3), steals (38) and steals per game (1.5). The 6'4" hybrid player also ranked second in the Empire 8 offensive rebounds per game (3.2), third in rebounds, and fifth in steals. Nationally, he was positioned 47
th in offensive rebounds per game at the end of the season, while reaching as high as second in the nation back in December with 5.13 offensive rebounds per game.
The western equestrian team continued to tear through the 2017-18 schedule, claiming the Zone 2 Region 1 Championship in the Bromeley-Daggett Equestrian Center at Maris Cuneo Equine Park. Junior
Haley Ruffner (Allegany, NY/Allegany-Limestone) continued her successful season, earning the top honor in both open reining and open horsemanship during the event. She was followed by senior teammate
Courtney Slack (Dalton, NY/Fillmore) who took second in both events. Five more Saxons took first or second place and punched their ticket to the IHSA Western Equestrian Semi Finals in Hamburg, NY to be held March 17-18 at the Showplex at the Hamburg Fairgrounds. AU will compete as a team to earn a berth to the IHSA Nationals to be held on May 3-6 in Harrisburg, PA.
Men’s alpine skiing finished sixth at the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) Mideast Regionals held on February 24-25. Senior
Cameron Martineau (Hampstead, NH/Pinkerton Academy) was named to the Mideast All-Conference First Team as one of the top-five competitors in the region.
