BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Cortland women's swimming and diving team is a conference champion for the second straight year after finishing first out of 10 schools at the 2026 State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Championships. The four-day event was held at Erie Community College's Burt Flickinger Center.
 
Cortland won the title with 979 points, followed by Penn St. Behrend (750), Oswego (687), Oneonta (326), Penn St. Altoona (318), New Paltz (256), Potsdam (187), Fredonia (139), Pitt Bradford (110) and Delhi (0). Penn St. Behrend, Penn St. Altoona, Pitt Bradford, and Delhi are SUNYAC affiliate members in women's swimming and diving.
 
Last year, Cortland won the first and only combined championship with the SUNYAC and the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC). The Red Dragons have placed in the top three in 19 of their last 22 conference championship meets.
 
Three Red Dragons won SUNYAC individual titles on Saturday. Ella Garrow (Peru) won the 200-yard breaststroke (2:26.05), Julia Bryce (Rochester/School of the Arts) won the 200-yard butterfly (2:11.87), and Auttumn Ayakawa (Honolulu, HI/Coppell (TX)) captured the title in 3-meter diving (418.85 points).
 
The Red Dragons received four SUNYAC post-meet awards. Brian Tobin and his assistants were named the Women's Swimming Coaching Staff of the Meet, and Veronica Ribot-Canales was named the Women's Diving Coach of the Year. Auttumn Ayakawa (Honolulu, HI/Coppell (TX)) earned Women's Outstanding Diver of the Meet honors, having won both the 1-meter and 3-meter league titles, and Julia Bryce (Rochester/School of the Arts) was chosen as the SUNYAC's Grace Mowatt Award winner.
 
The Grace Mowatt Award is given annually to a senior female swimmer based on career athletic and academic achievement. Bryce is an economics major with a 3.31 cumulative grade point average. In addition to her victory Saturday in the 200-yard butterfly, she also finished second in the 200-yard IM on Thursday and was the 200-yard butterfly champion and second in the SUNYAC-AMCC 200-yard IM last year, among other honors. Grace Mowatt earned her bachelor's degree from Cortland in 1959 and a master's degree from Cortland in 1963. She was the long-time women's swimming and diving coach at SUNY Oswego from 1963-93 and was a pioneer of women's swimming in the SUNYAC.
 
Four Red Dragons earned runner-up finishes on Saturday - Rhianna Lynch (New Hartford) in the 100-yard freestyle (55.31), Cassidy Torres (Brooklyn/H.S. for Health Professionals) in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:28.28), Morgan Hannon (Hyde Park/Franklin D. Roosevelt) in the 200-yard butterfly (2:12.67), and Alyssa Haberlack (Long Beach) in 3-meter diving (409.45 points, 416.50 points after prelims). Additionally, the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Torres, Garrow, Erin Galligan (Rochester/Our Lady of Mercy) and Lynch placed third in 3:39.43.
 
The top three finishers in each event earn All-SUNYAC honors. Winners are first team, runners-up are second team and third-place finishers are third team.
 
Galligan finished fourth in the 100-yard freestyle (55.67), Ryann Redmond (Floral Park/Floral Park Memorial) was fourth in the 1,650-yard freestyle (18:33.22) and Emma Bouwens (Hilton) finished fourth in the 200-yard backstroke (2:14.03). Peyton Glor (Tonawanda/Mount Saint Mary Academy) was fifth in the 200-yard backstroke (2:15.51).

Tristinye Martinez-Reyes (Queens/Benjamin Cardozo) placed sixth in the 200-yard butterfly (2:19.68). Areiannah Martinez-Reyes (Queens/Benjamin Cardozo) was seventh in the 200-yard backstroke (2:19.01, 2:18.47 prelims), Norah Eisnor (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) finished seventh in the 100-yard freestyle (56.81), and Makenna Deitz (Ravena/Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk) finished seventh in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:35.76).
 
Emma Wilson (Red Hook) turned in an eighth-place showing in the 200-yard backstroke (2:19.86) and Maura Nestler (Stormville/John Jay) was eighth in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:35.99). Also scoring on Saturday for the Red Dragons were Lilian Accettella (Newtown, CT) with a ninth-place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle (19:52.07) and Sydney Crozier (Amherst) with a 10th-place effort in the 200-yard butterfly (2:23.20).
 
Teams are allowed to enter "B" relay teams that can score points but can't finish ahead of any other school's "A" relays. Cortland's scoring "B" relay was the 400-yard relay relay team of Eisnor, (Areiannah) Martinez-Reyes, Bryce and Hannon in 10th place overall in 3:43.39. They were the top "B" relay and would have finished fourth overall.