BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Fairfield University men's and women's swimming and diving teams completed their four-day run at the 2022 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships this evening with the men finishing second and the women taking third in the final team standings. The men scored 585 team points which trailed only Rider University (706 points) while the women tallied 548 team points behind Niagara (582.5 points) and Iona (554 points).

Devon O'Nalty was selected as the conference's Diving Coach of the Year while Joseph Stewart was named the Men's Swimming Rookie of the Meet and Lia Oppenheim was picked as the Women's Diving Rookie of the Meet following their performances in the championships.

Stewart picked up a second-place finish in the 1650 free (15:40.31) this afternoon to cap his inaugural championship. Oppenheim was the top freshman in the 1 meter and 3 meter dives in the championship, finishing ninth overall with 204.75 points in the 3 meter and sixth overall with 197.55 points in the 1 meter. O'Nalty helped the Stags excel in the diving events during the championship, placing 14 divers in the top 10 of the four events over the four-day competition.

Joey Nizzardo joined Stewart in the 1650 free by placing eighth in the event with his time of 16:10.79. Shannon Feely earned a sixth-place finish in the 1650 free by finishing the race in 17:25.51 while Erin Hoyland garnered ninth place with her time of 17:37.00.

Erini Pappas secured second place in the 200 back by touching the wall in 2:00.38 while Serafina Viola collected a 10^th place run with her time of 2:06.57. On the men's side, Will Robinson and Chris Chumbley represented the Stags with 11^th place (1:51.64) and 15^th place (1:54.09) finishes.

In the 100 free, Olivia Thompson completed the swim in 52.81 which was 13^th overall while Alex Belfer picked up fourth place following his time of 45.16.
Fairfield boasted two swimmers in the top 16 for the women's 200 breast with Alison Sposili pacing the Stags as she finished second after clocking in at 2:20.59. Alexandra Miko-Rydzaj also performed admirably with her time of 2:27.83 which ranked her 14^th in the event.

Chris Ford earned the gold medal in the 200 breast by touching the wall in 1:59.30, followed by Peter Sloan's third-place swim in 2:01.14. Jeffrey Vlass (7^th in 2:04.66) and Jack Shashaty (14^th in 2:07.93) also competed in the event.

Gabriella Tejeda and Maggie O'Donnell turned in fine efforts in the 200 fly with Tejada taking eighth place in 2:08.92 and O'Donnell securing 14^th after her time of 2:11.42. Evan Fair garnered third place in the event for the men after completing the distance in 1:50.61 while Hans Lim placed 15^th with his time of 1:55.73.

In the 1 meter dive, Sam Tonole was the Stags' top finisher with his second-place performance, registering 226.55 points. Dillion O'Connor (4^th with 207.20 points), Lukas Stanton (6^th with 202.40 points), and Noah Duncan (8^th with 185.10 points) also scored points for the Stags.

The championship came to a conclusion with the 400 free relay with the women taking fourth place by recording a time of 3:30.84 and the men collecting seventh place by clocking in at 3:03.23. Olivia Thompson, Serafina Viola, Ameila Sicignano, and Erini Pappas comprised the women's relay team. Peter Gori, Joseph Stewart, Ed Hunt, and Alex Belfer comprised the men's relay team.