Buffalo, NY - The 2017 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference LifeStorage Swimming and Diving Championships concluded today at the Burt Flickinger Athletic Center in Buffalo, New York. The Rider University men won their sixth consecutive MAAC Championship title and the Marist College women claimed their eighth consecutive title.
The Rider University men improved their place in the standings after day two to first place and remained in that spot to go on to win the title with 840.5 points. Marist College moved into second place after day two, finishing after the four day event with 635 points. Bryant University finished in third place with 469.5 points followed by Canisius College (420), Iona College (400.5), Niagara University (324), Saint Peter’s University (246), Manhattan College (180.5), Fairfield University (172.5), and rounding out this years standings is Monmouth University (97.5).
Rider University continued to add to their point total throughout the championship, winning gold medals in five of six men’s events on day four. Senior Sam Cramer repeated his title and won the first gold medal of the night in the 1650-yard freestyle in 15:27.72, a NCAA Division I B time. Justin Carey, the 2017 Men’s Swimming Rookie of the Meet added another gold medal in the 200-yard backstroke (1:48.60), followed by teammate Luke Musselman in second and Greg Staebell of Canisius in third. Junior Zack Molloy and 2017 Men’s Most Outstanding Swimmer for the second consecutive year broke his second MAAC record in the men’s 100-yard freestyle with a NCAA DI B cut time of 43.47.
Ben Schulte of Bryant added his third individual gold medal and won his third consecutive 200-yard breaststroke in 1:59.89. His teammate Tavish Boyle finished in second place in 2:00.88. Freshman Cole May of Rider added another first place finish in the 200-yard fly (1:49.66), followed by Marist’s Manuel Garcia, and Bryant’s Oliver French. Rider capped the 2017 MAAC LifeStorage Swimming and Diving Championships off with a record breaking 400-yard freestyle relay. Vincent Gibbons, William Molloy, Matthan-Matthew Martir, and Zachary Molloy beat the record the squad set last year with a time of 2:59.18.
For the women, Marist earned the first place position on the leaderboard after day one and remained there to win the championship. Rider finished in second with 617, followed by Canisius (581), Iona (469), Niagara (328), Fairfield (319), Siena (289), Manhattan (194), Monmouth (122), and Saint Peter’s (58).
Junior Shannon Gordon started the night for the Red Foxes in the 1650-yard free touching the wall first in 17:17.10, followed by teammate and the 2017 Women’s Co-Outstanding Swimmer, Sara Nestrowitz. Senior Meredith Wurtz and the 2017 Women’s Co-Outstanding Swimmer for the second year in a row, then went on to add another gold medal for the Red Foxes and defend her title in the 100-yard free (51.95). Megan Berardelli, the 2017 Women’s Most Outstanding Diver, also added her second gold medal to the teams victory in the 1-meter diving with a final score of 258.00. Rider’s freshman Meg Tomayko earned the 2017 Women’s Diving Rookie of the Meet with a 1-meter score of 219.40.
Rider freshmen Natalie Carter and Casey Wrabley each won gold medals. Carter’s time of 2:04.66 in the 200-yard backstroke secured her the top spot on the podium while Wrabley’s time of 2:07.88 in the 200-yard butterfly also earned her a gold medal. Carter was named the 2017 Women’s Swimming Rookie of the Meet.
The Canisius Griffs also won two events tonight. Senior Marissa Watroba won the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:22.94. The Griffs then went on to finish the women’s events with a win in the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:30.64, improving their seed time by more than seven seconds.
Junior Travis Wright of Canisius was named the 2017 Men’s Most Outstanding Diver for the second consecutive year. Marist freshman Raislan Aiken was awarded the 2017 Men’s Diving Rookie of the Meet Award.
Ian O’Rourke of Canisius was named the 2017 MAAC Diving Coach of the Year, Larry Van Wagner of Marist was named the 2017 MAAC Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year, and Steve Fletcher of Rider was named the 2017 Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year.
