ITHACA, NY – The Alfred University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams each finished fifth in at the Empire 8 Conference championships, held last week at Ithaca College.

The Empire 8 championships are held in conjunction with the Upper New York Collegiate Swimming Association (UNYSCSA) championships, which took place Feb. 20-23 at Ithaca. The conference championship results are determined using results from the six Empire 8 schools – Alfred, Hartwick, Ithaca, Nazareth, Stevens and Utica – competing at the UNYSCSA meet.

The Alfred men finished with 307 points to take fifth place behind conference champ Stevens (876.5), Ithaca (760), Hartwick (682) and Nazareth (324.5) and ahead of sixth-place Utica (188). The AU women took 299 points to finish behind conference champion Stevens (814), Ithaca (781), Hartwick (614) and Nazareth (522) and ahead of sixth-place Utica (169).

Empire 8 all-conference award-winners were determined using the performance of E8 athletes at the UNYSCSA meet, with event winners earning First Team honors and runners-up earning Second Team designation.

AU freshman Carly Watson (Hyde Park, NY/Hyde Park) was the only all-conference selection from the men’s and women’s teams. She earned Second Team honors in the 100-yard butterfly after swimming a school-record 58.40. Watson set three individual school records at the UNYSCSA meet (the 200 fly and 200 free were the others) and was part of four relay teams that set new school marks. All told, Alfred’s women’s swimmers established 10 new individual and relay records during the championships.