2023 MAAC Championships: Fairfield Women Retake Title, Rider Men Win 11th Straight

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
• Day 3 Recap

The MAAC Championships wrapped up this evening in Buffalo, New York. The final day of racing saw the 1650, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, and 400 free relay.

The Rider men easily secured their 11th straight MAAC title, while the women’s meet ended up being much closer. Fairfield held off Niagara by just 4 points to retake the women’s trophy.

WOMEN’S RECAP

Fairfield’s Erin Hoyland completed her distance freestyle sweep with a win in the 1650. After holding a slight lead for most of the race, she clocked a 17:14.09 to beat Niagara freshman Avery King by over three seconds. King’s time of 17:17.94 marked a personal best and a new program record.

Fairfield sophomore Erini Pappas secured her 3rd individual win of this meet in the 200 back. She dipped below the 2-minute barrier for the first time to clock a 1:59.55, good for a new program record. Iona freshman Victoria Novinskiy was runner-up at 2:01.51.

Niagara sophomore Paige South got her hand on the wall first in the 100 free. South lowered her own program record to 50.91, beating Canicius’ Lana Janson by nearly three tenths (51.19).

Alison Sposili collected Fairfield’s third victory of the night in the 200 breaststroke. She trailed Julia Moser by three tenths at the halfway point, but came back to win in a best time of 2:19.59. Moser took 2nd at 2:19.79, while Niagara’s Kathryn Brady finished 3rd at 2:20.60.

Similar to the 200 breast, Marist senior Leigh-Anne Zanella relied on her back-half speed to win the 200 fly. She was just behind Niagara’s Zoe Gavin at the 100, but out-split her by half a second in the back half win at 2:05.57. Gavin was runner-up at 2:06.05, while Zanella’s teammate Genevieve O’Neil grabbed 3rd at 2:06.36.

Siena junior Talia Spenziero won the final diving event of the meet, as she scored 202.85 points in finals of 1-meter.

Niagara’s quartet of Nia Thomas (53.39), Moana Houde-Camirand (51.30), Lila Maddux (51.62), and South (50.18) touched 1st in the 400 freestyle relay in a new MAAC record time of 3:26.49. Fairfield was just a few tenths back at 3:26.84.

WOMEN’S FINAL TEAM SCORES:

1. Fairfield – 609
2. Niagara – 605
3. Marist – 566
4. Iona – 495
5. Canisius – 337
6. Siena – 293
7. Rider – 265
8. Mount Saint Mary’s – 239
9. Manhattan College – 150

MEN’S RECAP

The 1650 was a tight race between Canisius’ Liam O’Connell and Fairfield’s Joseph Stewart. Stewart held a slight edge through 1550 point, but O’Connell managed to come back in the final 100 to touch 1st at 15:41.82. Stewart was less than half a second behind at 15:42.23, while his teammate Joey Nizzardo put up a big best time to finish 3rd (15:51.51).

Michael Faughnan secured his third individual victory of the meet in the 200 back, clocking a best time of 1:45.83. Faughnan managed to hold off Mount Saint Mary’s Jason Fitch, who out-split Faughnan by nearly a second in the back half to touch 2nd at 1:45.89.

Marist senior Ahmed Sallam recorded a decisive win in the 100 free with a personal best time of 43.65. He topped the field by almost a second, with Alex Belfer from Fairfield earning 2nd at 44.43.

The 200 breast was one of the closest races of the evening, with the top four swimmers finishing within 0.24 of each other. Niagara freshman Jake Lauzonis came out on top, touching at 2:00.55. Canisius freshman Samuel Vidal was a tenth back at 2:00.65, while Mount Saint Mary’s Aidan Grady rounded out the top-3 at 2:00.67.

Canisius’ Archie Minto collected his 2nd individual win of the weekend in the 200 fly. He dominated the final to win in a personal best time of 1:47.08, nearly three seconds ahead of his teammate Bronson Benes (1:49.72).

The final event of the night belonged to Niagara, whose team of Levi Morgan (45.31), Jacob Ruffolo (45.53), Reid Tichy (45.11), and Nathan Dragon (44.40) combined to win the 400 free relay in 3:00.35. Dragon held off Marist’s Sallam, who split a 43.37 as the anchor leg to touch 2nd at 3:00.60.

MEN’S FINAL TEAM SCORES:

1. Rider – 646.5
2. Marist – 599
3. Niagara – 576
4. Fairfield – 556.5
5. Canisius – 405
6. Iona – 317.5
7. Mount Saint Mary’s – 260.5
8. Manhattan College – 127