Geneva, OH (Feb. 16, 2024) – A record-breaking day three of the 2024 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Men’s and Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships at SPIRE Academy in Geneva, Ohio, concluded on Friday night. On the team leaderboard, Marist College extended its lead on the men’s side, while Fairfield University women’s team moved back into the top spot after falling out of the lead yesterday.
Three records fell on the day, with two being broken by individuals and one relay team. The first record to fall came in the Men's 200 Free, when Michael Faughnan from Iona touched the wall in a record time of 1:34.79, breaking the prior mark of 1:34.84, which was set by Zack Molloy of Rider in 2017. The individual title in the event was the second straight for him after he also took gold in 2023. In the very next race, Fairfield freshman Tone Sandsjoe set the new MAAC benchmark in the Women's 100 Breast, swimming a 1:01.45, to break the previous record of 1:01.51 set by Jamie Manser of Iona in 2012. The final record taken down was the Women's 400 Medley Relay mark, which Fairfield’s quartet of Erini Pappas, Sandsjoe, Maggie O’Donnell, and Nora Segurola Larrinaga shattered in a record time of 3:44.67, beating Iona’s mark of 3:45.91 from 2022. The three broken records in a single day were the most since 2018, and the five total broken records over the course of three days, are also the most at the championships since 2018.
Other notable nuggets of the night included a trio of swimmers defending their titles from a year ago. In addition to Faughnan’s record breaking gold medal performance which defended his 2023 title, his Iona teammate Ashley Benkert won the Women's 100 Fly for the second straight year and Marist’s James Conable took gold in the Men’s 400 IM in back-to-back years.
Also contributing to the lead for Marist men was Ethan McCormac, who won the gold medal in the Men's 100 Fly in a time of 48.07.
Fairfield’s women added an additional pair of golds on the night, helping to propel the squad back into first-place. In the Women's 100 Back, Segurola Larrinaga was victorious, winning in a 54.92 time and in the meet’s only diving event of the night, Alexis Gaulin scored a 264.85 in the Women’s 3-Meter Dive for a first-place finish.
| Team Standings |
| Men |
Women |
| 1 |
Marist |
438 |
1 |
Fairfield |
480 |
| 2 |
Niagara |
347 |
2 |
Niagara |
444 |
| 3 |
Rider |
336 |
3 |
Marist |
415 |
| 4 |
Fairfield |
306.5 |
4 |
Canisius |
242 |
| 5 |
Iona |
271 |
5 |
Rider |
227 |
| 6 |
Canisius |
219 |
6 |
Mount St. Mary’s |
224.5 |
| 7 |
Mount St. Mary’s |
211 |
7 |
Siena |
222.5 |
| 8 |
Saint Peter’s |
142.5 |
8 |
Iona |
214 |
| 9 |
Manhattan |
92 |
9 |
Manhattan |
87 |
| |
10 |
Saint Peter’s |
48 |
| Day 3 Event Results |
| Event |
Name |
Institution |
Time/Score |
| Women's 100 Fly |
Ashley Benkert |
Iona |
56.57 |
| Men's 100 Fly |
Ethan McCormac |
Marist |
48.07 |
| Women's 400 IM |
Genevieve O'Neil |
Marist |
4:24.99 |
| Men’s 400 IM |
James Conable |
Marist |
3:52.56 |
| Women's 200 Free |
Evie Leighton |
Canisius |
1:50.08 |
| Men's 200 Free |
Michael Faughnan |
Iona |
1:34.79* |
| Women's 100 Breast |
Tone Sandsjoe |
Fairfield |
1:01.45* |
| Men’s 100 Breast |
Joe Brennan |
Manhattan |
54.29 |
| Women's 100 Back |
Nora Segurola Larrinaga |
Fairfield |
54.92 |
| Men’s 100 Back |
Lucas Racevicius |
Rider |
47.85 |
| Women's 3-Meter Dive |
Alexis Gaulin |
Fairfield |
264.85 |
| Women's 400 Medley Relay |
Erini Pappas, Tone Sandsjoe, Maggie O’Donnell, Nora Segurola Larrinaga |
Fairfield |
3:44.67* |
| Men's 400 Medley Relay |
Kieran Egan, Matthew Loftus, Noah Giunta, Michael Faughnan |
Iona |
3:14.86 |
MAAC Record*
The 2024 MAAC Men's & Women's Swimming & Diving Championships conclude tomorrow, Saturday, February 17 at 10 a.m. All action throughout the entire championship will be streamed live via
ESPN+.
For all information regarding the 2024 MAAC Men's & Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships, please visit
http://maacsports.com/swim.
About the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference:
With 11 institutions strongly bound by the sound principles of quality and integrity in academics and excellence in athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) is in its 43rd year of competition during the 2023-24 academic year. Current conference members include: Canisius University, Fairfield University, Iona University, Manhattan College, Marist College, Mount St. Mary’s University, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Rider University, Saint Peter’s University, and Siena College. Merrimack College and Sacred Heart University will join the MAAC as full members in the 2024-25 academic year, expanding the conference to 13 institutions.
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