The Iona men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams swept Manhattan College in their regular season finale in the Riverdale Horace Mann School pool in Riverdale, New York on Jan. 28.
 

The Iona women won 136-56 and had seven individual winners in the meet, meaning they finished with a 9-2 record in the regular season, including going unbeaten at home for the first ever time.
 

The men’s team won 152-39 and had six individual winners during the meet, as they finished with a 4-6 record in the regular season.
 

These were the individual winners for the women: sophomore Ashley Benkert, 100-yard Free (54:89); senior tri-captain Grace Curry, 100-Butterfly (1:00.74); sophomore Molly Finn, 100-Backstroke (1:02.11); junior Megan Josephs, 200-Freestyle (1:58.01); freshman Victoria Novinsky, 100-Individual Medley (1:00.66); senior Tri-captain Taylor Spillman, 500-Free (5:20.53); freshman Elisa Vaher, 1000-Freestyle (11:04.61)
 

The individual winners for the men were junior co-captain Michael Faughnan, 100-Individual Medley (52.67) & 100-Freestyle (45.93); sophomore Brian Baldwin, 100-Butterfly (52.98); freshman James Cash, 1000-Freestyle (10:18.26), graduate student Daniel Hadary, 100-Backstroke (54.36); freshman Mikel Palaj, 200-Free (1:46.12); freshman Matthew Woyksnar, 500-Freestyle (4:51.11).  

“We are all really excited to go into the championships,” said sophomore Ashley Benkert.  

“We’ve been training hard in Florida and since we have been back from the trip, both the men’s and women’s teams are going to do well. The whole team is very excited and ready to face the competition at MAAC’s.” 

The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) is the next competition for the Gaels, which will begin the postseason. The Championships are taking place in Buffalo, New York from Feb. 8-1
 

Last season at the MAAC Championships the women had their best ever finish with second, while the men’s team finished fourth.
 

The men’s and women’s programs were also recognized with Scholar All-America honors for their work in the classroom during the Fall 2022 semester. The women’s team held a team GPA of 3.34, while the men had a 3.09 team GPA.
 

Across the two programs, 14 students have been placed on the MAAC All-Academic team, including nine females and six from the men’s team.
 

To be eligible for the MAAC All-Academic team, student-athletes must hold a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher.