The Canisius College men's and women's swimming and diving teams each occupy third place following day one of the MAAC Swimming and Diving Championships on Thursday evening at the Burt Flickinger Center in Buffalo, N.Y. At the conclusion of the opening day, the Canisius men scored 151.5 points and the women tallied 135 points.
The host Golden Griffins combined to break five school records, including four on the women's side. The Griff women established new program marks in both the 200-yard freestyle and 400-yard medley relay teams, and in a pair of individual races.
En route to a fifth-place finish (2:08.46) in the 200-yard IM, freshman Clare Battaglia broke her own record in the A-finals. Earlier in the day during the preliminaries, the freshman broke her previous record (2:09.72).
Sophomore Kelli Graber became the second Griff to break her own school record, as the sophomore finished ninth overall in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.52.
The 200-yard freestyle team of Graber, sophomores Marissa Oakey and Erika Tozser, and freshman Alex Doody set the school mark in a fourth-place finish (1:37.66). Oakey and Doody would join Battaglia and junior Anna Schena to break the school record in the 200-yard medley relay team with a seventh-place finish (3:59.96).
In the A-finals of the 500-yard freestyle, Oakey swam to a fifth-place finish (5:04.00) with Doody placing eighth overall (5:05.85).
On the men's side, the Griffs were involved in one of the closest races of the evening as freshman Spencer Bray set the school record in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:32.32. Facing three-time MAAC champion Brennan Morris of Loyola, Bray swam stride-for-stride with the reigning champion. In the end, Morris edged out Bray for the individual crown by just over two seconds.
The Griffs made their presence known in the 500-yard freestyle race, occupying three of the eight spots in the championship final. Besides Bray's runner-up performance, sophomore Sean Wurster finished fifth (4:38.17) with a career best to move into third on the Griffs' all-time career list, while junior Corey Petrie came in eighth (4:41.76).
In relay action, the 200-yard freestyle team of seniors Tyler Carver and Mike Disco, and sophomores Sean Stegemoller and Nick Sereday placed sixth overall (1:25.09). Sereday and Carver partnered with seniors Shawn Parkhurst and Matt Moessinger in the 400-yard medley relay to end the night with a third-place performance (3:23.63).
Carver and Disco each set personal bests in the B-finals of the 200-yard IM, as Carver finished tenth overall (1:55.12) and Disco 12th (1:56.23). Sereday and Stegemoller would also set personal bests in the B-finals of the 50-yard freestyle to move into the top-five in the all-time career list. Sereday's ninth-place finish of 21.36 moved him into second, while Stegemoller slid into fourth all-time in his 13th-place performance of 21.56.
In women's diving action, freshman Audrey Mulhisen and senior Alexa Gigliotti each earned a spot in the A-finals of the 1-meter event. Mulhisen finished fifth overall (204.75 points) and Gigliotti scored an eighth-place finish (173.76 points).
On the men's side, sophomore Eddie Quarantillo recorded a fifth-place finish (240.70 points) in the 3-meter event. Quarantillo entered the finals session as the Griffs' lone top-seed in any event.
The Blue and Gold return to the Burt Flickinger Center on Friday, Feb. 15 for day two of the MAAC Swimming and Diving Championships with preliminaries beginning at 10 a.m.
