BUFFALO, NY - The third day of competition at the 2023 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships proved to be a historic one for the Iona University swimming and diving contingent.

Five Gold Medals

Collectively, the two teams captured an all time high 5 Gold medals with 4 for the women and another Gold, NCAA Qualification standard and School record for Michael Faughnan in the 200-Freestyle at 1:35.27.

Day 3 SUMMARY

The Iona women had a unique, but impressive combination taking gold in the 100-yard Butterfly, Backstroke and Breaststroke events and then ended the night defending their title in 400-yard Medley Relay.
 
Sophomore Ashley Benkert took the top spot in the 100-Butterfly at 55.75. Freshman Victoria Novinskiy touched first in a tight race in the 100-Backstroke lowering her own school record to 56.23. Senior Julia Moser, defended her title in the 100-Breaststroke with a finals winning time of 1:02.69, after a prelims time of 1:02.40.
 
The trio combined with senior Isabella Nicholson, who took bronze in the 200-Freestyle (1:53.64) to win the 400-Medley Relay for the second year in a row with Novinskiy (57.37), Moser (1:02.59), Benkert (55.01) and Nicholson (51.28) posting a collective time of 3:46.25.
 
Other women scoring included seniors Taylor Spillman and Tristan Urso, who took eighth and sixteenth, respectively at 4:39.77 and 4:43.62 in the 400-Individual Medley.
 
Junior Megan Josephs placed fifteenth at 1:07.69 in the 100-Breaststroke. Seniors Luiza DaSilveira and Grace Curry placed seventh and eighth respectively in the 100-Backstroke at 57.91 and 58.52 to complete the finals scoring.
 
The Men's 100-Butterfly saw sophomore Brian Baldwin make his first championship appearance with a sixth place career best effort of 49.59. Freshman Mikel Palaj posted a career best at 50.06 for eleventh.
 
Backing up Faughnan in the 200-Free, was freshman Robert Heim with a fifteenth place at 1:43.97. The men's scoring in the 100-Backstroke saw Baldwin climb to fifth at 50.20, with senior Dan Hadary eighth at 50.72.
 
The men's final event saw the versatility of Faughnan as he led off the backstroke leg with a 48.16 clocking, which would have won the evening backstroke final. Junior Lucas Haddad swam breasts (59.74), with Baldwin taking the Fly leg at 49.56 and Hadary anchoring the Freestyle at 45.43 for a season best 3:22.89 time.

Current Standings

The standings show the Iona women in fourth with 319-points, behind Fairfield (409), Marist (366), Niagara (364). Trailing Iona is Canisius (251); Siena (211); Rider (194), Mt. Saint Mary's (154) and Manhattan (107).
The Iona men stand in sixth at 228.5-points, behind leader Rider (458), Niagara (419), Marist (413), Fairfield (384) and Canisius (288). Mt. Saint Mary's (184.5) and Manhattan (102) round out the men's field.

Up Next

The meet concludes Saturday in Buffalo with the 200-Back, 100-Free, 200-Breaststroke, 200-Butterfly, 1650-Freestyle and 400-Freestyle Relay.

SOCIAL MEDIA