The Iona College swimming and diving teams headed up north to Buffalo, New York and competed in the 2018 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships, which ran from Feb. 14-17.

The Gaels were able to claim fourth place in the women’s 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:47.08, which was a new season best, on day one. Sophomore Alyssa Chain’s split time of 25.19 was the fastest in school history.

The men’s team took fifth in the 200-yard medley relay at 1:32.49. Junior Matthew Bosse’s opening backstroke split was essential to the Gaels’ success as they broke the school record.

The women’s 800-yard freestyle relay team snagged the bronze. The men’s team finished with a time of 6:46.14. It was the team’s first College Swim Coaches Association National Invitational meet qualifying time.

Senior Elizabeth Kaczmarek made a comeback to win the gold in the 200-yard iIndividual medley on the second day of the championship.

The Gaels broke two school records both in the 50-yard freestyle event. On the women’s team, Chain clocked a time of 23.60 lowering her own school record and placing her in second. On the men’s team, freshman Delano Townsend placed fourth with a time of 20.73 and smashed an eight-year-old school record.

Senior co-captain Christian Foti lead the Gaels to bronze in the men’s 500-yard freestyle.

Chain once again claimed gold on day three. This time Chain dominated in the 100-yard butterfly event with a time of 55.52.

Kaczmarek found success in the individual medley race. She took first place in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:31.58.

Freshman Willow Lopez-Silvers broke the school record in the women’s 100-yard backstroke with a time of 58.70. Junior Maria DiBella nipped the school record down to 58.43.

Day three concluded with the women’s team placing third in the 400-yard medley relay and the men’s team placing fourth with a time of 3:22.51.

The fourth and final day of competition began with DiBella snagging the gold in the 200-yard backstroke. Her time of 2:04.00 was a new school record.

For the men’s team, Foti won silver in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 16:01.63. Senior Sam Braziel won the bronze in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:02.31.

Rookie Conor Mullin broke the school record in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:52.40, however sophomore James Whaley reset that record shortly after with a time of 1:52.20.

The closing event of the Championships was the 400-yard freestyle relay where the women’s team came up big with a second-place finish behind Fairfield. Their time of 3:29.48 was a new school record.

The women’s team placed third in the MAAC Championship with 482 points behind Fairfield and Canisius. It was the Gaels highest finish since 1995. The men’s team claimed fifth place in the MAAC with 377 points.

Iona had 28 student-athletes—a conference best— named to the MAAC All-Academic team.

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