Feb. 18, 2006

Complete Results

BALTIMORE, MD - The Marist Men's Swimming and Diving team claimed its second straight MAAC crown on Saturday as they topped the league with a point total of 884 . Junior Nick Chevalier (Milford, N.J.) swam to a second place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle, while classmate Pat Collins (Nutley, N.J.) finished first in the 100-yard freestyle in 45.77

Marist trailed after day one of the championships, but dominated the last two days of the event, opening up a 101 point lead after the second day. Marist palced four swimmers in the top six in the 1,650 free, led by Chevalier. He was followed by by Ralph Rienzo (Wallingford, Conn.) in third, Alec Troxell (Andreas, Pa.) in fifth and freshman Spencer Hartmann (Windsor, Conn.) in sixth.

Marist continued to bunch up finishers in the 200-yard backstroke, as it put three in the top six. The Red Foxes were led by Dan Garaffa (Manchester, Conn.) in second, he posted a time of 1:51.57. He was followed by Brandon Youse (Boyertown, Pa.) in third and Kevin Bobenchik (Rahway, N.J.) in sixth.

Greg Jablonski (Massapequa, N.Y.) continued his strong weekend by finishing second in the 200-yard breaststroke in a time of 2:08.09. Freshman Rashad Sutton (Spring Valley) was right behind as he placed fifth in 2:12.62.

Senior Joe Pilewski also continued swimming strong as he placed second in the 200-yard butterfly in 1:53.03. Senior captain Kevin Connors (Holmedel, N.J.) and Mark Esolen (Archbald, Pa.) finished the event in fourth and fifth place, repectively.

In one-meter diving Marist placed third and fourth. Sophomore Devon O'Nalty (East Hartford, Conn.) took the third spot with a score of 242.35, while classmate Jesus Santos (Haverstraw, N.Y.) placed fifth, posting a score of 228.85.

In the final event of the day, Marist finished off their impressive victory by placing second in the 400-yard freestyle relay in a time of 3:32.89.

Marist won its second straight title and 22nd in the history of the two programs. After the meet Head Coach Larry J. VanWagner was named the 2006 Men's Co-Coach of the year.

Members of the Marist team who qualified will be in action next weekend at the ECAC Championships in Pittsburgh.