NEW ROCHELLE, NY - The Iona University Swimming and Diving Team season got off to a strong start Saturday as they posted a pair of home dual meet victories over the visiting Siena and New Jersey Institute of Technology University teams. The Iona women toppled the Siena 181-113 as the men toppled the Engineers 171-125.

MEET SUMMARY

Coach Maureen Arnold's diving crew kicked off the scoring Friday morning at the Hynes Athletic Center Pool, with the springboard diving portion of the double dual meet with Senior Dylan Riccio setting two school and meet records, winning both the 1 and 3-meter events. Junior Emma Todd, placed first in the 3-meter event and second on 1-meter. Riccio's school records came on the on the one-meter board with a 6-dive total of 283.35-points, eclipsing the 2001 mark of 276.10 by Kieran Smyth.

On the 3-Meter Board, the Harrison, NY resident broke the 300-point barrier totaling 303.60-points, which was a dozen ahead of the oldest record on the IUSD books set in 1988 by Karl Schwab at 291.20. Teammate and New Rochelle resident Neil Senhouse tallied 121.65-points on the 1-Meter springboard. On the women's side, Junior Emma Todd, posted a total of 221.90 on 1-Meter and 218.85 on 3-Meter Springboards, respectively.  Both results were the Kansas native second best of all-time at Iona and were 7-points and 3-points off her career bests.

The swimming portion on Saturday saw Iona start fast with three wins in a row. The 200-yard Medley relay quartet of Raegan O'Brien, Hailey Baker, Victoria Mordaunt and Mary Grace Waring won by 2.55 seconds at 1:48.65. The Iona men's quartet of Kieran Egan, Max Buchen, Wyatt Julian and Nate Wales ripped off a 1:32.68 time, 2.61 ahead of NJIT. Senior co-captain Katherine Sarnes took the 1000-yard Freestyle race at 11:07,69, with teammates Caitlin Hopkins and Mollie Sarnes in second and third with times of 11:12.60 and 11:14.63, respectively.The men's 1000-free saw senior Matthew Woyksnar take third at 10:11.28, with classmate Andrew Diano, third.

Sophomore Mary Grace Waring had a strong day winning the 200-Freestyle at 1:57.03 with Junior Kate Kennedy less than a second behind at 1:57.90. Junior Karry Platt led a 1-2-3 finish in the men's 200-Free at 1:42.80 with classmates Kieran Egan and Elijah Decasseres taking second and third at 1:43.08 and 1:45.25 respectively. Sophomore Raegan O'Brien took the 100-Back at 58.91, with Freshmen Wyatt Julian and Junior Nate Wales going 2-3 in the men's race with respective times of 51.20 and 53.08.

Freshmen Francesca Fields of new jersey led a 1-2-3 effort in the women's 100-Breast touching at 1:09.06, with Senior Brennyn Veit and Freshmen Sydney Cronin touching right behind at 1:09.59 and 1:09.69, respectively. Sophomore Max Buchen and Junior Nick Patino claimed the top two spots in the men's 100-Breatstroke race at 57.20 and 59.11, respectively. Freshmen and Florida native Marissa Hengesbach joined classmate Fields with a gold medal effort in the 200-yard Butterfly, winning at 2:09.71, with Georgia native Maddie Lauria in third at 2:19.34. Freshmen Declan McGlynn (1:58.34), Junior Noah Giunta (1:59.79), and Freshmen Nicola Re (2:02.45) placed 2-3-4 to outscore NJIT.

Freshmen Victoria Mordaunt and Paige Fiorino placed 2-3 respectively in the 50-Free 25.31 and 25.74. the men's race saw Juniors Nick Patino and Harry Platt take 1-2 at 21.34 and 21.40. Fiorino returned a race later to take second in the 100-Freestyle at 54.85 as Platt took gold in the men's race at 47.00. O'Brien and Egan claimed the top spots in the 200-yard Backstroke with times of 2:08.39 and 1:51.47, respectively. The 200-Breaststroke had freshmen Cronin take the women's race at 2:28.37, with Buchen taking silver in the men's race at 2:09.11. Hengesbach and Kennedy placed 1-2 in the women's 500-Free at 5:17.39 and 5:18.52, respectively. Woyksnar took silver in the men's race at 4:55.15.

Waring touched first in the 100-Fly at 58.85 for her second win of the day with Freshmen Wyatt Julian taking gold in the men's race at 51.81. The 200-Individual Medley event saw O'Brien, Veit and Cronin go 2-3-4 with respective times 2:12.09, 2:15.03 and 2:15.91.  Buchen gained his second win taking the men's IM top spot at 1:57.91. The 400-Freestyle relay quartet of Kennedy, Hengesbach, Caitlin Hopkins and Waring closed strong but were .59 off the top spot at 3:40.26. The Iona men's team of Egan, Platt, Decasseres, and Wales finished 4.13 seconds ahead of NJIT at 3:07.13.

COACH THOUGHTS

Speaking of the meet Coach Nick Cavataro commented, "This was a great start for our group winning both meets against two very well coached teams. Our diving looked solid and to have four freshmen win events is a huge boost.

UP NEXT

Iona returns to action next Saturday as they travel to Rider University for the first time since 2006 for a MAAC dual meet at 1:00pm contest.