2019-20 NEAC Men's Swimming & Diving Season Preview
LATHAM, N.Y. – Four men's swimming and diving teams from the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) are ready for the start of a new season, with the first team competing this weekend. Wells College narrowly missed a NEAC Championship last season when it fell just four points shy of SUNY Cobleskill, who is aiming for a fourth consecutive title in 2019-20. The Fighting Tigers accumulated 358 points to the Express' 354 at last year's championship.
Wells College
Head Coach: Trish George, 15th season
2018-19 Record: 3-7, 2-1 NEAC
2018-19 Postseason: 2nd at NEAC Championship
Key Returners/Players to Watch: Aaron Connolly, Vincent Chen
Key Losses: Brandon Sprague
Coach's Season Outlook: The men's team is young and good team size. I am excited to see what each swimmer will be able to accomplish.
Schedule link: https://www.wells-express.com/sports/mswim/2019-20/schedule
Cazenovia College
Head Coach: Bill Houser, 12th season
2018-19 Record: 1-7, 0-2 NEAC
2018-19 Postseason: 4th at NEAC Championship
Key Returner/Player to Watch: Tyler Dellavechia
Key Losses: None
Coach's Season Outlook: With a small team this season the Wildcats will look to work hard and set individual goals for the season.
Gallaudet University
Head Coach: Larry Curran, eighth season
2018-19 Record: 4-6, 3-0 NEAC
2018-19 Postseason: 3rd at NEAC Championship
Key Returners/Players to Watch: Juniors Ben Sealts, Rett Jala, Xiangming Liu, Abe Polanco
Key Losses: None
Coach's Season Outlook: Gallaudet returns the core nucleus from last year's squad that placed third overall at the NEAC Championship. Junior Ben Sealts will lead the Bison into the 2019-20 season. The two-time NEAC Men's Swimmer of the Year is back and ready to erase more school marks and try and garner more conference honors this year. Last year, he earned three First-Team All-NEAC honors and helped GU's four relays earn either second-or third-team honors. Fellow juniors Rett Jala, Xiangming Liu, and Abe Polanco are back and should add some solid veteran experience on the team. Sophomore Barry McGrain III is back and provides GU will another solid swimmer to go with the influx of new swimmers to the team.
SUNY Cobleskill
Head Coach: Jamie Hotaling, seventh season
2018-19 Record: 2-12, 1-1 NEAC
2018-19 Postseason: NEAC Champions
Key Returners/Players to Watch: sophomore Dan Mullen, freshman Zackary Boekeloo
Key Losses: Freshmen Tianran Pan and Ian Duran
Coach's Season Outlook: The Fighting Tigers will look to defend their 2019 men's conference title led by Mullen and Boekeloo along with eight newcomers to the program.
*Information courtesy of Phil Paquette, NEAC Interim Assistant Commissioner for Sports Information. Some information was edited, a complete look at Commissioner Paquette's media release can be found at: https://www.neacsports.com/sports/mswimdive/2019-20/releases/mswim-season-preview