The Marist women swept all 6 events on the final day of competition to repeat as Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) champs for 2016. Meanwhile, the Rider men lost just one event on the night to earn a repeat title of their own.
METRO ATLANTIC ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (MAAC) – MEN AND WOMEN
- Wednesday, February 10 – Saturday, February 13
- Erie Community College, Buffalo, NY (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champion: Rider men & Marist women (results)
- Live results
- Championship Central
WOMEN’S MEET
It was a night of repeats for the Marist Red Foxes, with a host of last night’s winners adding to their totals as the team successfully defended its 2015 title.
Meredith Wurtz finished out her meet a perfect 3-for-3 individually, winning the 100 free in 51.27. This one came by about seven tenths over her teammate Georgia Goldman (51.94). Wurtz had already won the 50 and 200 free earlier in the meet.
Friday night’s 1000 free winner Sara Nestrowitz doubled down on Saturday, taking the 1650 by a wide margin. Nestrowitz went 16:59.72 to win the conference title in another 1-2 for Marist. Her teammate Daniela Gomez was second in 17:07.44.
Gomez, who won the 400 IM one night earlier, had only to wait a few more events for her second win of the meet, taking first by a longshot in the 200 fly – her 2:05.42 blew out the field by four seconds in yet another Marist 1-2. Sarah Mosca was second in 2:09.21.
And last night’s 100 breast champ Isabella Morreale completed a sweep of the stroke, going 2:19.13 to win the 200 breast by over two seconds.
Marist senior Bethany Powhida won the 200 back early in the night, going 2:02.62 for the title.
Finally, capping off the sweep, Marist’s team of Goldman, Bridget Curley, Powhida and Wurtz went 3:27.63 to win the 400 free relay in a landslide. That was led by a 51.8 leadoff leg from Goldman, plus a 51.3 anchor split from Wurtz, who capped off a completely undefeated meet with wins in all 7 of her events.
Top 5 Teams
- Marist – 976
- Rider – 530
- Canisius – 518
- Iona – 433
- Siena -422
Men’s Meet
On the men’s side, Rider dropped just one swimming event in another night of stunning swimming.
The biggest moment came in the final event, when Rider completed a sweep of the entire MAAC relay record book in one year. Already with 4 conference relay titles and conference records under their belts, Rider crushed the 400 free relay mark as well, going 2:59.69.
That team was powered by twin 44.6s on the final two legs from freshman Vincent Gibbons (44.60) and sophomore Zachary Molloy (44.62). Matthan-Matthew Martir led off in 45.38 and William Molloy was 45.09 as that relay sealed a dominating team points win for the Broncs.
Zachary Molloy also starred individually, winning his 3rd individual event with a 44.82 in the 100 free. That earned Molloy a clean 7-for-7 sweep of his events, including the 500, 200 and 100 frees, plus the 200, 400 and 800 free relays and the 200 medley relay.
In fact, that event really showcased Rider’s dominance, with the entire Bronc 400 free relay lineup sweeping the top 4 spots. William Molloy was 45.32, Martir 45.38 and Gibbons 45.47.
Rider junior Sam Cramer topped 2015 conference champ Ryan Murphy of Marist in the mile. Cramer was 15:30.49 to Murphy’s 15:42.20.
A pair of freshmen also won for Rider. Luke Musselman went 1:48.67 in the 200 back to follow up his 400 IM win from Friday night, and Griff Hutton took the 200 fly in 1:50.60, touching out Fairfield’s Connor Daly (1:50.78) by just over a tenth.
The only swimming event to escape the Broncs was the 200 breast, where Bryant’s Benjamin Schulte successfully defended his 2015 title and completed a breaststroke sweep of the 2016 meet with a 2:00.23.
Canisius sophomore Travis Wright took home the 3-meter diving title, scoring 347.05 points.
Top 5 Teams:
- Rider – 906.5
- Marist – 589.5
- Bryant – 511
- Canisius – 432.5
- Iona – 431