2023 MAAC Championships: Niagara Men and Michael Faughnan Break MAAC Records On Night 2

MAAC Championships (Men’s and Women’s)

• Wednesday, February 8 – Saturday, February 11, 2023
• Burt Flickinger Center, Buffalo, NY
• Defending Champion:
  • Women: Niagara (1x)
  • Men: Rider (10x)
• Live Results or on MeetMobile: “2023 MAAC Men’s and Women’s Championships”
• Live Video
• Championship Central
• SwimSwam Fan Guide

Teams:  Canisius, Fairfield, Iona, Manhattan, Marist, Monmouth, Niagara, Rider, Saint Peter’s, Siena (Women Only)

The 2023 MAAC Championships kicked off yesterday as the first Division I Swimming & Diving conference championships of the 2022-2023 season. Last night’s session saw the 200 medley relay, 800 freestyle relay, and men’s 1-meter diving. Action continued today with the 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free, 200 free relay, and women’s 3-meter diving.

 Women’s Recap

Iona’s team of Victoria Novinskiy (26.22), Julia Moser (27.64), Ashley Benkert (24.82), and Megan Josephs (23.82) combined for a program record time of 1:42.50 in the 200 medley relay. They topped Niagara’s team by over a second, in large part due to Moser’s breaststroke split, which was the fastest of the event by nearly a second.

Fairfield took 1st in the 800 free relay, as the quartet of Erini Pappas (1:51.60), Sydney Scalise (1:52.33), Serafina Viola (1:54.56), and Erin Hoyland (1:52.01) cruised to victory in 7:30.50. The fastest split of the event belonged to Canisius’ Lana Janson, who clocked a 1:49.82 lead-off leg. Janson’s swim marked a new team record, as did their final relay time of 7:34.46.

Hoyland returned tonight with a big swim in the 500 free. She touched first in a personal best time of 4:59.54, beating 2nd place Avery King from Niagara by nearly 4 seconds (5:03.41). Hoyland’s teammates Scalise, Callie Gray, and Laina Bayles joined Hoyland in the top-8 at 3rd, 4th, and 8th, respectively.

Pappas kept it rolling for Fairfield in the 200 IM, as she recorded a personal best time of 2:02.77 to win. Iona’s Novinskiy grabbed 2nd in a personal best of 2:04.81, while Canisius’ Janson rounded out the top 3 with a 2:05.09.

Paige South got Niagara their first win of the meet in the 50 free. She got her hand on the wall first at 23.36, a few tenths ahead of Siena senior Rory Kalac (23.60).

Marist’s Madison Sweeney grabbed 1st in 3-meter diving with a score of 222.30 in finals, while Siena senior Lydia DeLano was runner-up with 215.05 points.

In the final event of the night, Niagara’s team of Moana Houde-Camirand (23.94), Megan Smith (23.62), Lila Maddux (23.61), and South (22.88) picked up a victory in the 200 freestyle relay. They successfully defended with title with a time of 1:34.05, almost a second faster than Iona in 2nd (1:34.95).

Women’s Team Scores Through Day 2:

1. Fairfield – 228
2. Niagara – 193
3. Marist – 174
4. Iona – 166
5. Canisius – 160
6. Siena – 133
7. Rider – 120
8. Mount Saint Mary’s – 99
9. Manhattan College – 73

Men’s Recap

Rider’s team of Lucas Racevicius (21.91), David Cooper (24.89), Jack Ruggieri (21.67), and Joe Gewartowski (20.10) combined to win the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:28.57. Gewartowski narrowly held off Marist’s Ahmed Sallam, who split a 19.45 freestyle leg to touch just 0.18 behind the winners.

Rider’s momentum continued with 1-meter diving, as Sean Binning and Marcas Racevicius pulled off a 1-2 finish with scores of 282.05 and 250.60, respectively.

In another close race, Niagara’s Reid Tichy (1:39.32), Jacob Ruffolo (1:39.97), Riley Dafoe (1:39.12), and Nathan Dragon (1:37.68) touched 1st in the 800 free relay at 6:36.09. Marist was about half a second behind, again, fueled a quick anchor leg by Sallam of 1:37.93. Fairfield’s Joseph Stewart posted the fastest split of the field at 1:37.50 in the lead-off position, marking a new program record.

Tonight’s racing began with a fantastic swim in the 500 by Iona’s Michael Faughnan, who clocked a new MAAC Record time of 4:20.35, taking over 2 seconds off the previous mark. Faughnan dominated the heat, with Stewart coming in over 7 seconds behind him for 2nd (4:27.55).

Rider’s Racevicius successfully defended his title in the 200 IM, recording a time of 1:49.09. He held off Canisius sophomore Archie Minto, who out-split Racevicius by over a second in the final 50 to touch at 1:49.72.

Marist senior Sallam threw down the only sub-20 50 freestyle of the night to post a 19.77. Fairfield’s Alex Belfer also separated himself from the field by a few tenths to grab 2nd in a personal best time of 20.17.

The Niagara men captured a win in the final event of the night in a new MAAC record time. The team of Kevin Vu (20.32), Levi Morgan (19.79), Alex Magditch (20.06), and Dragon (19.62) combined for a 1:19.79 to shave three tenths off the previous record. Sallam had the fastest split of the event at 19.24 as Marist’s anchor leg.

Men’s Team Scores Through Day 2:

1. Rider – 253
2. Niagara – 229
3. Marist – 208.5
4. Fairfield – 192
5. Canisius – 151
6. Iona – 132
7. Mount Saint Mary’s – 88.5
8. Manhattan College – 68