The Rider men and Marist women continue to roll toward repeat titles in the MAAC, with Zachary Molloy as well as the 400 medley relay breaking meet records for the Rider men while the Marist women won 5 of 7 events on the night.
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
The Marist women won 5 swimming events on night 3, including a medley relay win and a second individual title for junior Meredith Wurtz.
Wurtz, the winner of last night’s 50 free, took the 200 free title in a touchout. Wurtz blasted to an early lead with a 53.6 split at the 100-turn, and held off defending champ Rebecca Anthone of Canisius for the win. Wurtz was 1:51.88, while Anthone, last night’s 500 free champion, went 1:52.04 for seconds.
Wurtz would return to anchor the winning 400 medley relay. Marist got the best breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle splits in the field to win in 2:47.35. It was the third relay win of the week for Wurtz as well as senior Bethany Powhida, who led off in 57.5 on backstroke. Isabella Morreale (1:02.2 breaststroke) and Daniela Gomez (56.4 fly) manned the middle of the relay, and Wurtz anchored in 51.1 to seal the win.
Morreale and Gomez would also win individually. The junior Morreale went 1:02.94 to take the 100 breast title by well over a second, and the sophomore Gomez won the 400 IM in a 4:23.33.
Also winning for Marist: sophomore Sara Nestrowitz in the 1000 free (10:17.65), leading a 1-2-3-4 sweep for the defending MAAC champs.
Niagara sophomore Julia Casolo actually denied Morreale a second individual win on the night. Casolo went 57.35 to win the 100 fly, topping the 57.61 put up by Morreale.
The final individual swimming winner was Rider freshman Taylor Stalnaker, who followed up a big relay split on opening night with a 56.17 to beat Powhida for the 100 backstroke title.
Men’s Meet
Sophomore Zachary Molloy broke his own conference record in the 200 free and Rider kept its streak of relay records intact with a 400 medley relay title to maintain the team lead.
Molloy went 1:36.87 to win the 200 free, breaking the conference record he set last year. His older brother William was second in 1:37.42, nearly under the record himself. And freshman Vincent Gibbons was third in 1:39.99 in a 1-2-3 sweep for the Broncs.
Rider also took home its fourth relay title of the meet – the Broncs have broken MAAC records in all four. This time it was the 400 medley relay of Luke Musselman, Adam Phillips, Matthan-Matthew Martir and Gibbons who went 3:17.72 to break the 7-year-old mark.
Martir and Gibbons led the way with the fastest splits in their respective strokes. Martir was 48.2 on fly and Gibbons 43.8 on freestyle.
Musselman and Martir each won individually. Musselman took the 400 IM early in the session, going 3:57.83. Martir, meanwhile, won the 100 fly in 48.50. Martir’s time was also a new MAAC record.
Bryant University put together back-to-back men’s wins in the middle of the session. First, Benjamin Schulte defended his own MAAC title in the 100 breast, going 54.33, almost half a second faster than he was a year ago. Then in the next event, Colin Curtin went 49.88 to pick up the 100 back win as the only man under 50 seconds.
The other event winner on the night was Marist junior Ryan Murphy, who went 9:13.58 to win the 1000 free, defending his 2015 title in the event.
Rider Junior, Matthan Martir, also broke a 7 year old MAAC Meet record in the 100 Yard Butterfly (48.50) at finals last night.