Webster, NY - Freshmen Tiffany Catano and Abigail Sullivan each set Clarkson University Swimming team records in the preliminaries to highlight the third day of the UNYSCSA Championships at the Webster Aquatic Center on Friday.

Through 29 events, the Clarkson men currently sit in 11th among 15 teams, while the women jumped a few spots and are now in 13th out of 16 squads. The UNYSCSA Championships will conclude on Saturday evening.

The shortest day of the four-day event began with the 200 butterfly. Senior Jackie Yeaton finished a few spots shy of reaching the finals with a time of 2:35.25, ranking 31st in the preliminaries, while freshman Rachel Barclay took 36th. The men's 200 butterfly was slightly more successful with four placing inside the top 30. Freshman Chris Bankaitis and junior Nick Short each advanced to the 'C' finals, coming in 21st and 22nd, respectively, in the preliminaries, while Sam Zwierzchowski (25) and Nate Menapace (29) were just outside the evening race. Bankaitis and Short finished in the same spots in the finals as well, with the freshman ending in 2:02.97 and the junior closing in 2:03.08.

The women's 100 backstroke turned out to be the highlight for the Golden Knights so far, as Tiffany Catano vaulted from a seed time that placed her 23rd entering the event all the way up to eighth overall with a spot in the 'A' finals. Catano also shattered the program mark by 2.24 seconds in the preliminaries, and though her finals time was three-tenths of a second slower, she still was able to take eighth in the race. Sarah Halstead came in 28th in the prelims and Molly Kelso took 42nd. The men also had four swimmers participate in the 100 backstroke, led by Kyle Atkinson (36th) with a time of 1:00.21. Evan Pendelton (37), Mike Sarkisian (40) and Duncan Gentner (41) were narrowly behind Atkinson.

The 100 breaststroke saw swimmers from both the women's and men's teams gain points. Freshman Abigail Sullivan finished in a tie for fifth in the preliminaries and also narrowly set a new program record with a time of 1:08.40. She slipped just slightly in the 'A' finals, taking seventh in 1:08.71. Kayla Weckesser (34) and Kelly Mulvehill (37) also swam in the 100 breaststroke for the women. On the men's side, Aaron Parysek placed 24th overall with a time of 1:04.52, about a second and a half off his preliminary time that helped him reach the finals. Garry Dorn just missed out on joining Parysek in the 'C' finals by coming in 25th in the prelims, and Connor Maloney also slightly fell short by coming in 30th.

The day closed with the 800 freestyle and the Golden Knights' women, racing with a team of Sullivan, Kelly Ludeke, Halstead and Catano, took 12th with a time of 8:20.93, almost 39 seconds faster than the seed time. The men had two teams collect points, with Tyler Nichols, Chris Bay, Sam Zagrobelny and Sam Zwierzchowski combining to finish in 11th in 7:18.33, nearly 18 seconds faster than the seed time. A second squad of Alex Trass, Chris Bankaitis, Nick Short and Ray Bailey came in 24th in 7:31.45.