2025 MAAC Fan Guide: Niagara Women, Marist Men Favored For Repeat Titles

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) – Men and Women

• Dates: Wednesday, February 12 – Saturday, February 15
• Location: Spire Academy, Geneva, OH
• Defending Champions: Niagara women (1x); Marist men (1x)
• SCY (25 yards)
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Live Video
• Teams: Canisius, Fairfield, Iona, Manhattan, Marist, Merrimack*, Mount St. Mary’s, Niagara, Rider, Sacred Heart (women)*, Saint Peter’s, Siena (women)

The 2025 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships will be one of two Division I championship meets to get underway on Feb. 12, returning to the SPIRE Academy in Geneva, Ohio after it was held there for the first time last year.

WOMEN’S PREVIEW

After finishing as the runner-up by a mere four points at the 2023 championships, the Niagara women reclaimed the MAAC conference title last season in dominant fashion, and the Purple Eagles will be favored to make it two wins in three years in 2025.

Niagara won seven events last season en route to winning the conference title, and they return both of their individual champions and all of their championship-winning relay members.

However, the biggest factor making the Purple Eagles a big favorite to repeat as champions is sophomore Natalie Killion, who only raced a handful of meets during her freshman year, missing the entire second semester, but has been on fire all season.

Killion currently ranks 1st in the conference and is the top seed on the psych sheets in the 200 free (1:49.99), 500 free (4:52.86), 100 back (55.32) and 200 back (1:57.63), making her a favorite to sweep her individual events.

On paper, it makes the most sense for Killion to opt out of the 500 free (she’s pre-entered in all four events), where Niagara has the defending champion, Mary Carl, who posted a winning time of 4:55.56 last season. However, Carl’s season-best thus far is only 5:11.33 (set Jan. 18), so she’ll need to find peak form quickly to have a chance at repeating.

Carl, a sophomore, also won the 200 fly last season as a freshman in 2:03.86, and ranks 5th in the event this season at 2:06.90.

Niagara’s other defending champion is another sophomore, Alaina Pitton, who won conference titles in the 200 breast (2:15.56) and 200 IM (2:02.24) last February and added a runner-up finish in the 100 breast to claim Women’s Freshman of the Meet honors.

Pitton currently holds down the conference’s top time in the 200 breast (2:16.04), and ranks 2nd in both the 100 breast and 200 IM.

Niagara swept the free relays at the MAAC Championships last season and in addition to returning every member of those winning relays, they’ll be bolstered with the addition of Killion (particularly on the 800 free relay):

Niagara’s 2024 Winning Relays:

• 200 free relay – Alaina Pitton, Megan Jackson, Claire Gorton, Paige South
• 400 free relay – Alaina Pitton, Megan Jackson, Claire Gorton, Paige South
• 800 free relay – Paige South, Claire Gorton, Megan Jackson, Mary Carl

While Niagara has positioned itself as the clear-cut favorite, the numbers tell us that Fairfield and Marist are locked in a battle for the runner-up spot. Last year, Fairfield was 2nd, 62 points back of Niagara, while Marist trailed Fairfield by 37 points in 3rd.

Leading the way for Fairfield are seniors Erini Pappas and Erin Hoyland, who are projected to score big-time points for the Stags with a chance to finish top-three in all their individual events.

Pappas was the runner-up in both backstroke events last season, and also took 3rd in the 200 IM. She comes in seeded 1st in the 200 IM (2:04.49), and ranks 2nd behind Killion in the 100 and 200 back.

Hoyland is seeking a third straight title in the 1650 free, and aims to reclaim the 500 free championship after she won in 2023 but fell to 5th last season. She comes in seeded 1st in the 1650 free, 3rd in the 500 free, and also holds the #4 spot in the 200 free and 400 IM, and will have to pick one.

Fairfield does suffer a significant loss in Alexis Gaulin, who swept the women’s diving events last season, but do bring back divers Lily Tonhole and Lia Oppenheim, who scored 29 points apiece last year.

Two of Marist’s top three scorers last year, defending 400 IM champion Genevieve O’Neill and 3rd-place finisher Caitlyn Riordan, haven’t been near their best times so far this season, while the other, Nellie Thompson, has graduated.

However, the team has gotten a major addition in the form of Icelandic transfer Eydis Kolbeinsdottir, who came over from Fresno State in the offseason and comes in seeded 1st in the 100 free, 2nd in the 100 fly and 3rd in the 50 free.

Marist also figures to get big contributions from breaststrokers April Avila and Rae Dodson—Avila was the runner-up in the 200 breast last year, while Dodson, a freshman, holds down top-four seeds in the 100 breast, 200 breast and 200 IM.

RACES TO WATCH

100 Freestyle

Marist’s Kolbeinsdottir holds down the top seed after clocking 51.57 at the Patriot Invite in November, but there’s not much room for error.

Niagara’s Paige South (51.82) and Siena’s Shaylea Triller (51.97) have both been sub-52 this season, and six more entrants have been under 52.5.

Last season, Marist’s Thompson won the title, so with her graduated, South, who was the runner-up in 50.69, is the top returner.

100 Backstroke

Niagara’s Killion and Fairfield’s Pappas are set for a showdown in the 100 back, with South also likely to factor in.

Last season it was Fairfield’s Nora Segurola winning the title, with Pappas (55.17) and South (55.59) placing 2nd and 3rd.

This season we’ve seen Killion post the fastest time in the conference at 55.32, while Pappas is also sub-56 (55.73) and South ranks 3rd (56.75). Four others have been under 57 seconds this season, led by Mount St. Mary’s freshman Theodora Kanellopoulou (56.75).

200 Medley Relay

The first event of the meet promises to be a barn burner with Niagara set to take on defending champion Fairfield in the 200 medley relay.

The Stags won the event last season in a time of 1:41.70 behind a 22.72 anchor from the now-graduated Segurola, with Mount St. Mary’s and Niagara close behind in 1:42s.

This season, Niagara owns the top time in the conference at 1:43.27, with Fairfield next up in 1:43.38.

2024 Final Standings

1. Niagara, 697
2. Fairfield, 635
3. Marist, 598
4. Canisius, 332
5. Mount St. Mary’s, 312.5
6. Iona, 307
7. Siena, 303.5
8. Rider, 280
9. Manhattan, 113
10. Saint Peter’s, 69

SwimSwam’s Predictions

1. Niagara
2. Fairfield
3. Marist

MEN’S PREVIEW

The Marist men stormed to the MAAC title last season, ending Rider’s 11-year run atop the conference with a dominant victory, ending their own 16-year drought.

The Red Foxes posted 664 points at the 2024 championships, well clear of runner-up Niagara (533), while Rider ended up 3rd (516).

The Marist momentum has carried over into the 2024-25 season, with the team projected to run away with another conference title.

Marist had six swimmers score 40-plus individual points last season, and return five of them, led by Kevin McNamara and James Conable.

McNamara, the defending champion in the 1650 free and 200 fly, is a bit of a wildcard heading into the meet as he hasn’t raced the mile at all this season, while in the 200 fly, his season-best is 1:52.60, nearly four seconds slower than he was en route to winning last year’s title (1:48.75).

In his other primary event, the 400 IM, he’s more than 11 seconds off his PB from last year, clocking 4:07.32 at the Patriot Invite after going 3:56.00 to finish as the runner-up last February.

Conable, on the other hand, has been strong this year. He won the 400 IM over McNamara last season, and was the runner-up in the 200 IM and placed 4th in the mile.

This season, he comes in seeded 1st in the 200 IM (1:47.13), 2nd in the 400 IM (3:54.99), and is entered in the 1650 free (3rd) and 200 back (4th) as his third event.

Behind Conable, the swimmer who projects to score the second-most points for Marist is junior Caden Hardy, who had one top-eight finish last year, placing 7th in the 200 breast, but has taken a big step this season.

Hardy is the top seed in the 200 breast (2:00.41) and ranks 3rd in both the 200 IM (1:50.90) and 100 breast (55.30), putting him in position to be a big contributor for the Red Foxes.

Behind Marist, the Swimulator tells us that on paper, Iona is favored over Fairfield to finish as the runner-up, though diving could throw a wrench in that.

Iona was a distant 5th-place last season, but has turned up the heat this year and is led by Michael Faughnan, who was named the conference’s student-athlete of the year in 2023-24.

Faughnan was undefeated individually at MAACs last season, winning the 200 free, 500 free and 200 back while propelling Iona to a pair of relay wins in the 400 free and 400 medley.

Faughnan is a near-lock to sweep his events once again this year, while his teammate Kieran Egan is seeded to do so as well, coming in ranked 1st in the 50 free, 100 free, 100 back and 100 fly. He’ll have to drop one of those events at the meet, but could easily score the maximum 60 points for Iona, which would give them 120 points from two swimmers alone.

Joseph Stewart was Fairfield’s top point scorer last season and is projected to do so once again in 2025, as the senior holds down the top seed in the 1650 free and ranks 2nd in the 200 back and 4th in the 200 free. Last season, Stewart was 3rd in both the 200 and 500 free, and took 8th in the mile.

In terms of diving points, Fairfield outpaced Iona in the 80-point range last year, but the Stags don’t return one of their key divers, Dillon O’Connor. However, they’ve got defending 3-meter champion Andrew Cataldo, Noah Duncan and Tyler Robie coming back, and that trio combined for 74 points last season, so that could push them past Iona for 2nd.

Iona returns its only scoring diver from last year, Dylan Riccio, but still finds themselves at a 50-point disadvantage on the boards compared to Fairfield.

Niagara and Rider finished 2-3 last season, and on paper, are slated to be in a fight for 4th this year.

Niagara senior Sean Finley led the team in points in 2024 and will be aiming to defend his conference title in the 200 breast, while Rider’s top performer last year, Lucas Racevicius, has graduated.

Junior Billy Ruddy didn’t make any ‘A’ finals for Rider as a sophomore, but is projected to lead the team in points with top eight seeds in the 100 breast (2nd), 100 free (3rd) and 50 free (7th).

RACES TO WATCH

50 Free

Last season we saw the top seven finishers in the men’s 50 free separated by a quarter of a second, with five one-hundredths separating the top four (including a tie for bronze).

It should be a similar case this year with Iona’s Kieran Egan leading the psych sheets in 20.31, while Niagara’s Nathan Dragon (20.32) and Nick Patino (20.34) close behind. Defending champion Austin Toland of Mount St. Mary’s is lurking in 6th.

100 Fly

Another race where Egan is the top seed, the 100 fly title is up for grabs with 2024 champion Ethan McCormac graduated. Egan didn’t even race this event at last year’s championships, but leads the conference after clocking 48.49 at the ECAC Winter Championships in December.

Mount sophomore Parker Koenig went 48.51 in November, while Marist senior Kellen Fletcher, who was 4th last year, makes it three men sub-49 so far this season, going 48.71 at the Patriot Invite.

Niagara fifth-year Gio Germano sits down at 11th on the psych sheets (49.77), but shouldn’t be discounted after he was 3rd last year (48.71).

200 Free Relay

Last year’s conference meet saw a three-way battle between Niagara, Rider and Iona in the 200 free relay, and it should be close once again in 2025.

Iona and Rider are the fastest teams this season at 1:21-mid, but Niagara returns all four swimmers of its title-winning relay from last season, led by Nathan Dragon, who anchored in 19.57 to secure the victory.

Mount St. Mary’s comes in flying under the radar as the 5th seed (1:22.74), but notably has three of the top eight seeds in the 50 free: Lucas Hancock, Toland and Koenig

2024 Final Standings

1. Marist, 664
2. Niagara, 533
3. Rider, 516
4. Fairfield, 474.5
5. Iona, 397
6. Canisius, 317
7. Mount St. Mary’s, 294
8. Saint Peter’s, 192.5
9. Manhattan, 122

SwimSwam’s Predictions

1. Marist
2. Fairfield
3. Iona