BUFFALO, New York – The Swimming and Diving Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships came to a close on Saturday night, and the Marist men's swimming and diving team finished the competition in second place. The Red Foxes trailed only Rider, who had a stranglehold on the entire event, besting second-place Marist 725.5-544.
Tyler Wenzel was named MAAC Men's Rookie Diver of the Meet, as he finished in sixth place in the 1-meter boards with a score of 201.85. He also finished ninth in the 3-meter dive with a score of 244.75. This is now the fourth year in a row a Marist diver has won Rookie Diver of the Meet, as Esabelle Gervasio won in 2018,
Raislan Aiken won in 2017, and Madison Sweeney won last year.
In the end, the competition was a success. Both the men's and women's teams swam their hearts out, and were in it till the very end. Throughout the four days, members of each team had some monsterous performances, including from some standout freshman. As Head Coach
Larry VanWagner put it, "Sure there is some disappointment, but I couldn't be more proud of the effort both of our team's gave." "We'll be back next year," said Diving coach
Melanie Bolstad.
- Michael O'Donovan raced in his final MAAC Championship event to kick off the day, and di not disappoint. He had an incredible performance, finishing in second place in the 1650-yard free, one of the toughest events in the competition, with a time of 15:33.22
- Ryan Kaplan followed that up with a fourth-place finish in the 200-yard back, clocking in at 1:8.79.
- Ahmed Sallam had his best performance of the meet, taking second place in the 100-yard free with a time of 44.57. Ethan McCormac took fifth in the same event with a time of 45.48.
- Jackson Klarsfeld clocked in at 2:02.59 in the 200-yard breast, which was good for fifth place.
- Adam Kapusta and Murray Coueslant finished in fourth and seventh, respectively, in the 200-yard fly.
- Raislan Aiken placed second in the men's 1-meter diving event, totaling 263.50 points which was only shy of MAAC Diver of the Meet Dillon Walles of Rider.
- The men closed out the MAAC Championships with a second place finish in the 400-yard free relay, which helped secure their second place overall finish in the event.
- For more information on the MAAC Championships check out the following links:
- Click HERE to read about Day Four's Prelims.
- Click HERE to read a recap of Day Three.
- Click HERE to read a recap of Day Two.
- Click HERE to read a recap of Day One.
- Kaplan's time of 1:48.79 in the 200-yard back on day four was not only a school record, but it broke the longest standing men's record remaining, which was from 2001.
- Klarsfeld's notched a time of 2:02.59 in the 200-yard breast on day four, which is a new school record.
- Pavel Makarchuk set a school record on day-three in the 100-yard fly with a time of 49.27.
- Ahmed Sallam's time of 22.8 in the 50-yard back on day-one was a school record.
- On day three, the men's 400-medley relay squad set a school record with a time of 3:19.49.
The Red Foxes have a week off, but are back in action for the ECAC Championships in Annapolis, MD on Friday, February 28.
