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Iona University Athletics

Men's Swimming & Diving 12/8/2024 10:48:00 PM Ionagaels.com

Iona Men Take Title; Women Third at ECAC Winter Champs

Faughnan, O’Brien, Riccio, Cavataro & Arnold Take Top Honors

The 2024 ECAC Winter Championships concluded three days of swimming in diving in splashing style for the Iona University Men's and Women's teams Sunday night. The Iona Men cruised to a convincing team title as the women placed third.

Full results can be found at http://www.besmarttinc.com/ECAC/Winter/choice.htm

The men, led by Most Valuable Swimmer, Michael Faughnan and Diver Dyland Riccio tallied 2,002-points, 487.5 points ahead of Monmouth University and 774 ahead of Adelphi. Head Coach Nick Cavataro was named the Men's Coach of the Year, with Maureen Arnold the Diving Coach of the Meet.

The Iona women saw freshman Raegan O'Brien grab a trio of gold medals that helped pace the women to 1,332-points and third place, behind MAAC rival Siena College, with 1,390-points and Monmouth University with 1,361.5 points.

The final night of competition at the Nassau County Aquatic Complex started with the 1,650-yard Freestyle. For the maroon and gold, Katherine Sarnes (17:33,42) took silver, with Anabel Huffstutler (17:44.92) in fourth. The men's race had Matt Woyksnar (16:03.66) take bronze.

Ther 200-Back had O'Brien take her third gold of the meet, with a 2:03.49 time to sweep complete the sweep of the backstroke events. The men's race saw Faughnan pick up his fourth individual gold medal of the meet with a time of 1:43.86. Elijah Decasseres was fifth in the race at 1:56.66.

Megan Josephs placed fifth in the 100-Free and Kieran Egan followed up with gold in the men's event with a school record time of 43.95. Classmate Nate Wales (45.21) took the silver with senior Liam Pyatt in eighth at 46.25.

The 200-Breaststroke had Julia Moser take bronze at 2:21.40, with Brennyn Veit in fourth at 2:22.91. The men's saw nearly a 9-second drop by Mikel Palaj who posted a 2:03.86 time for bronze. Sophomore Nick Patino was sixth at 2:08.46.

The meet's final individual event, the 200-yard Butterfly provided a thrilling race as Sophomore Noah Giunta stormed from behind to win by .25 at 1:49.78. The gold by Giunta was backed up with a fourth-place effort by Harry Summers (1:52.17); sixth by Brian Baldwin (1:54.47), seventh by Andrew Dian (1:54.59) and eighth by Decasseres (1:55.84). The women's final had Ashley Benkert placed seventh at 2:12.15.

The 400-yard Freestyle Relay saw the quartet of Egan (44.47), Wales (44.51), Pyatt (45.02) and Faughnan (43.25) combine for gold at 2:57.25, breaking the existing MAAC record of 2:58.13 set by Rider in 2019.

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Players Mentioned

Anabel Huffstutler: Distance; 5' 8"; Sophomore

Megan Josephs: Sprint; 5' 8"; Graduate Student

Katherine Sarnes: Distance; 5' 4"; Junior

Ashley Benkert: Fly; 5' 6"; Senior

Brennyn Veit: Breast; 5' 7"; Junior

Julia Moser: Breast; 5' 7"; Graduate Student

Brian Baldwin: Fly / Back; 6' 2"; Senior

Elijah Decasseres: Back; 5' 10"; Sophomore

Kieran Egan: Back / Free; 6' 1"; Sophomore

Michael Faughnan: Middle Free; 6' 6"; Graduate Student

Players Mentioned

Anabel Huffstutler
: 5' 8"; Sophomore
: Distance

Megan Josephs
: 5' 8"; Graduate Student
: Sprint

Katherine Sarnes
: 5' 4"; Junior
: Distance

Ashley Benkert
: 5' 6"; Senior
: Fly

Brennyn Veit
: 5' 7"; Junior
: Breast

Julia Moser
: 5' 7"; Graduate Student
: Breast

Brian Baldwin
: 6' 2"; Senior
: Fly / Back

Elijah Decasseres
: 5' 10"; Sophomore
: Back

Kieran Egan
: 6' 1"; Sophomore
: Back / Free

Michael Faughnan
: 6' 6"; Graduate Student
: Middle Free