GENEVA, Ohio – The Fairfield University swimming and diving teams completed competition at the 2024 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships with the women taking second place and the men securing the fourth slot in the team standings.
The Stags collected several major awards at the MAAC Championships, namely
Nora Segurola-Larrinaga earning the MAAC Women's Most Outstanding Swimmer,
Alexis Gaulin capturing the MAAC Most Outstanding Diver, and
Lily Tonole collecting the MAAC Diving Rookie of the Meet.
Andrew Cataldo garnered both the MAAC Most Outstanding Diver and the MAAC Diving Rookie of the Meet. The coaching staff was also recognized with
Jacy Dyer being named the MAAC Women's Swimming Coach of the Year and
Devon O'Nalty carrying home the MAAC Diving Coach of the Year.
Niagara University captured the women's title with 697 points ahead of the Stags' 635 points as the two programs were the only two with team totals that surpassed 600 points. Marist College rounded out the top three with 598 points. Marist captured the men's team title with 664 points followed by Niagara (533 points), Rider University (516), and Fairfield (474.5).
The Stags started day four of the championship with gold as
Erin Hoyland captured the 1650 free with a time of 17:04.14, better than 13 seconds faster than the runner up.
Sydney Scalise also scored points with her sixth-place swim, finishing the distance in 17:37.76.
Joey Nizzardo (15:56.68) and
Joseph Stewart (16:03.60) secured seventh and eighth place in the men's edition of the 1650 free.
Fairfield took the top two spots in the 200 back with
Nora Segurola-Larrinaga winning the event by touching the wall in a school-record 1:59.06 which was just ahead of teammate
Erini Pappas' time of 1:59.58. The duo were the only two participants in the final that eclipsed the two-minute mark. The Stags' top finisher on the men's side was
Oliver McLaughlin, who finished 12
th overall and fourth in the B final by completing the distance in 1:52.14.
The 100 free was next up in the program and
Olivia Thompson took eighth in the B final with her time of 53.01. The men's team included one swimmer in both the final and the B final as
Patrick Gill garnered seventh overall (45.14) and
Nicholas Besgen collected eighth in the B final and 16tth overall (46.41).
Alison Sposili and
Tone Sandsjo each finished in the top six of the 200 breaststroke, garnering third and sixth respectively. Sposili completed the race in 2:18.99 followed by Sandsjo's time of 2:20.94. Jeffrey Vlass secured a place in the 200 breaststroke B final, grabbing fourth in the event and 12
th overall with a time of 2:03.91.
The 200 fly came up on the docket with
Callie Gray taking the 10
th spot overall after finishing in 2:07.27 with
Olivia Glaser also competing by recording her time of 2:09.14. Two Stags were ranked in the men's 200 fly after
Ed Hunt (1:51.01) and
Tim Regan (1:51.22) secured fourth and seventh, respectively.
Four Fairfield divers occupied spots in the final of the 1-meter dive as
Dillon O'Connor,
Andrew Cataldo,
Tyler Robie, and
Noah Duncan being responsible for the success. O'Connor finished with a bronze medal after tallying 250.10 points, followed by Cataldo's fourth-place total (239.15), Robie's sixth-place finish (208.65), and Duncan's seventh-place total (208.10).
The final events of the day came in the form of the 400 free relay. The Fairfield women, behind the efforts of Pappas, Thompson, Scalise, and Segurola-Larrinaga, garnered fourth place overall (3:28.81) while the men, courtesy of Stewart, Besgen, Regan, and Gill, placing third with a school record time of 2:59.95.
