The Genesee Community College swimming team traveled to Potsdam to compete in the North Country Invitational. Only Genesee and Monroe Community College were participants from the National Junior College Athletics Association, while five other four-year schools competed from various divisions in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the United States Collegiate Athletics Association (USCAA) Nov. 17-18.
The Cougar men's team finished fifth with 259 points. NCAA Division-I Clarkson University was first with 500 points and followed by NCAA Division-II Saint Michael's College (391), host NCAA D-III SUNY Potsdam (356), Monroe (331), GCC (259) and USCAA Division-III SUNY Delhi (95).
The Cougar women were sixth with 159 points. Saint Michael's was first with 560 points and followed by SUNY Potsdam (385), Monroe (235), Clarkson (222), GCC (159), and SUNY Delhi with 23 points.
Four Genesee men competed together in three different relays and set records in each. The foursome of Nathan Richardson, Ferran Martinez, Joan Ferrer and Brandon Brown set school relay records in the 400-yard medley, 400-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle.
The group had its best finish at third in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:24.03. They finished fifth in the other two record-setting relays with a time of 3:48.84 in the 400-yard medley relay and a time of 1:32.24 in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
On an individual level, the Cougars had eight top-three finishes with five coming from the men's team and three from the women's squad.
Of the latter three, Nanako Shiozawa earned two with a pair of third-place finishes in the 200-yard individual medley and the 200-yard butterfly. Angel Priest recorded the other with a second-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke.
Martinez recorded three of the men's top-three finishes with all three coming with first-place accolades in individual medley competition at 200 and 400 yards and at the 200-yard butterfly. Ferrer finished in second place in the 200-yard backstroke, while Matthew Langerman also recorded a second-place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle.
The Cougars next compete at Monroe Dec. 1-2 with a 6 p.m. start Dec. 1 and a 9 a.m. start Dec. 2. The Cougars finish out the calendar year at Roberts Wesleyan College Dec. 9.
