BUFFALO, NY - The 2023 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships ended on a high note for the Iona Men's and Women's teams as Junior Co-Captain Michael Faughnan was named the meet's outstanding swimmer and Freshmen Victoria Novinskiy claimed Rookie-of-the-Meet honors.

Final Standings

The Iona women took fourth place with 495-points, behind Fairfield (609), Niagara (605) and Marist (566). Canisius (337), Siena (293), Rider (265), Mount Saint Mary's (239) and Manhattan rounded out the women's field.
 
The Iona men finished sixth with 317.5-points. Rider (646.50), Marist (599), Niagara (576), Fairfield (556.50), Canisius (405) were the top five, with Mount Saint Mary's (260.50) and Manhattan (127) filling the standings.

Day 4 Summary

The final night proved to be the best for the Gaels, with Faughnan, swimming only his third 200-Backstroke race of the season and swimming in lane 1, raced out to an early lead to hold on and take gold with a new team record of 1:44.82, narrowly missing his third NCAA qualification time by 1.01 seconds. Teammate Dan Hadary, swam his final individual race in the event and went a career best 1:50.54 for sixth.
 
The 1650-Freestyle proved to be a strong event for the Iona women has freshmen Katherine Sarnes (17:40.96), Tristan Urso (17:55.29), Elisa Vaher (18:00.03) and Hannah Forbes placed third, sixth, eighth and twelfth respectively. The men's race saw Freshmen Matthew Woyksnar (16:05.75) and Andrew Diano (16:37.60) take eighth and fourteenth, respectively.
 
The Women's 200-Backstroke had Novinskiy battle the Women's MVP from Fairfield, Erini Pappas to take silver at 2:01.51. Seniors Luiza DaSilveira (2:03.90) and Grace Curry (2:05.18) were fourth and fifth respectively.
 
Senior Julia Moser took silver in the 200-Breaststroke at 2:19.79, missing gold by two tenths.
 
The 200-Butterfly had Senior Taylor Spillman take eighth at 2:08.88 as sophomore Ashley Benkert took the consolation final at 2:07.80.
 
Team Tri-Captain and Senior Isabella Nicholson took fourth in the 100-Free at 52.34.
 
The Iona relays finished the meet with a statement as the quartet of Nicholson (51.86), Novinskiy (53.50), Josephs (52.63) and Moser (52.69) went 3:30.69 for fourth.
 
The Iona men took bronze as Hadary (46.06), Mikel Palaj (45.62), Liam Pyatt (45.95) and Faughnan (43.95) went 3:01.58, to lower the school record set last year .22.

Coaches Comments

Coach Nick Cavataro speaking of the meet noted, "to come away with 6 individual gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze and another pair of relay titles is our best ever medal tally at the MAAC Championships. Add in the MVP for Faughnan, his NCAA qualification and Novinskiy's Rookie of the Meet, it was a great 4-days for Iona. We had higher goals for team finishes, but we are young - with 20 first and second-year swimmers and divers – and a solid incoming class, we are going in a strong direction."

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