LATHAM, N.Y. – Cedar Crest College and Wells College have been named co-champions of the 2019-2020 North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) Women's Swimming & Diving Championship, hosted by SUNY Cobleskill.

The results of the championship meet were sent to a review following an error detected in the Sunday’s final results. The final standings provided for the on-site awards ceremony did not match the final results distributed following the conclusion of the event.  Given the discrepancy, the NEAC Executive Committee reviewed the results and determined the second set of results to be accurate. The accurate results can be found here: Day 1 Day 2 Day 3. 

Due to the error, Wells College was announced as the conference champion on Sunday evening.  In reviewing the accurate version of the final results, Cedar Crest College finished in first place, followed by Wells College, SUNY Cobleskill, Cazenovia, and Gallaudet, respectively.

“The NEAC Executive Committee reviewed the events surrounding the reporting of Sunday’s results and determined an inadvertent error occurred, which resulted in incorrect team standings that were reported at our awards ceremony,” stated NEAC Commissioner Stephanie Dutton. “The committee has decided to declare Cedar Crest College and Wells College as our Co-Champions given the circumstances as we feel this decision is in the best interests of all our student-athletes.”

“On behalf of our conference and our host institution, we sincerely apologize for a situation that had a negative impact on our student-athletes,” added Dutton. “This year’s championship was an extremely exciting event and the competitiveness of our NEAC teams is to be commended.  Celebrating our student-athletes is the main focus of everything we do and we will continue to evaluate how we can do better in the future.”

The new co-champions broke a streak of five consecutive championships won by Cazenovia College from 2014-15 through the 2018-19 season.  For Wells, it is the program’s fourth women’s title and first since the 2013-14 season while Cedar Crest won its first title after being two-time runners up in 2016-17 and 2017-18. 

It was a tight three-team race heading into the final day of action with SUNY Cobleskill leading Wells by seven points and Cedar Crest by 17 points entering Sunday’s third—and final day—of competition. 

Freshman Abbey Mower won the 1,650-yard freestyle and placed second in the 200-yard backstroke for the Falcons on Sunday to propel Cedar Crest to a top finish in points with 464.  The Express tallied 463 points and were also lifted by a freshman in Saoirse Murphy-Collins, who won the 100-yard freestyle in :59.43. 

SUNY Cobleskill finished in third with 458 points while Cazenovia (409 points) and Gallaudet (215) concluded the five-team field.

Sophomore Katie Noncarrow of SUNY Cobleskill was named the NEAC Swimmer of the Year, one year removed from winning last year’s Rookie of the Year honors.  The Allendale, N.J. native became the first recipient from the Fighting Tigers program to win the award.  Noncarrow won the 200-yard butterfly in 2:24.92 on Sunday. 

Gallaudet coach Larry Curran and Wells coach Trish George were named the NEAC Women’s Swimming and Diving Co-Coaches of the Year.  For Curran, it marked the second time he’s been distinguished as the Women’s COY and the first time since the 2013-14 season.  George also won for a second time with the last time bestowed to her during the 2012-13 season. 

Murphy-Collins, a 5-foot-10 freshman from Wells and native of Syracuse, earned the Rookie of the Year award.

The 2019-20 NEAC Women's Swimming & Diving All-Conference Teams were also announced, which were awarded to any of the swimmers or divers that finished in the top three for each of the 20 events taking place throughout the championships.

First Team honors were awarded to the first-place finishers for each event, while the Second and Third Team selections consisted of the second- and third-place finishers, respectively. The complete list of All-Conference honorees can be found here.

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The North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) has 12 NCAA Division III member institutions which include: Cazenovia College, Gallaudet University, Keuka College, Lancaster Bible College, Morrisville State, Penn College, Penn State Abington, Penn State Berks, Penn State Harrisburg, SUNY Cobleskill, SUNY Poly, and Wells College. Associate members are: Alfred State (M Lacrosse), Cedar Crest College (W Swimming), College of Saint Elizabeth (M Tennis & M Volleyball), D’Youville College (W Lacrosse), Hilbert College (M&W Lacrosse), Medaille College (M&W Lacrosse), Rutgers University – Camden (M Golf), SUNY Potsdam (M Volleyball) and Wilson College (M Volleyball). The NEAC has also partnered with the North Atlantic Conference in the sport of men’s tennis and women’s tennis. For more information, please visit: www.neacsports.com.