Iona swimming secured its first victory over a MAAC opponent on the men’s and women’s side by beating Manhattan on Nov. 4.

The Lady Gaels won with a score of 146 to 102. The 200-Medley Relay, consisting of  senior Jamie Manser, junior Theresa Harvey, sophomore Maria Skievys and sophomore Sophia Hyokyvaara, won with a time of 1:54.50.

Another great performance was led by junior Kara Nowakowski who placed first in the 1000-Freestyle, while freshman Ashley Bresnahan took second. Senior Mackenzie Mone and sophomore Brigitte Doughty took first and second place for the Gaels in the 200-Freestyle with times of 1:59.67 and 2:03.47, respectively.

Manser and junior Zuzanna Michalak also headlined a dominant performance for the Lady Gaels by receiving first and second place in the 100-Backstroke. Other top scorers were freshman Brittany Wallace, sophomore Kerri-Anne Dodenhoff and freshman Olivia Kroll.

The men beat the Jaspers with a score of 145 to 117. The Gaels received outstanding performances by junior Chris Yacobacci and sophomore Nick Kotonias who were both responsible for winning three individual events.

Yaccobacci swept the breaststroke events, winning the 100 and 200 with times of 1:00.90 and 2:12.98, as well as earning his third individual win in the 200-IM with a time of 2:01.83. Kotonias won the 200-Butterfly, 500-Freestyle and 1000-Freestyle to complete his trio of wins.

The closest race of the night was won by sophomore Justin Grigull in the 100-Freestyle. Grigull rallied to out touch his opponent by less than a tenth of a second. Grigull, sophomore Mark Wallace and sophomore Tyler Eller rounded out the strong individual performances by the Gaels which resulted in a victory despite having lost both relays to Manhattan. 

The conference victory over Manhattan ended the opening stretch of the season for the men’s and women’s teams.

The season started three weeks ago at the first ever New England Catholic Invitational Swim Meet sponsored by Boston College, where Iona faced off against an ACC opponent for the first time. Both the men’s and women’s teams were able to hold their own, finishing second for the men and third for the women.

Junior Briana Gongloff was named MAAC diver of the week after she placed third in the 1-meter diving event.

The team’s momentum continued into its first home meet of the season. The men beat their only opponent, St. Francis, while the women were able to secure two out of three wins (Sacred Heart and St. Francis), but fell just short of defeating Wagner for a perfect home opener. 

The tough schedule for Iona continued as the calendar flipped from October to November. Iona’s men’s and women’s teams traveled to Orange, New Jersey to take on Big East opponent Seton Hall. Seton Hall had too much fire power for the Gaels defeating the men 185.5 to 105.5 and the women 173 to 119, despite great individual performances on a big stage by Yacobacci, a triple individual event winner, and Manser, an individual event winner.

The tough opening schedule has resulted in the men having a team record of 5-2 and the women having a record of 6-4.

Both the men’s and women’s teams now turn their sights toward the opening weekend of December, where the Gaels will compete in a quad meet with conference rivals Loyola, Marist and Saint Peters.

“I think we will do as well as we aspire to do. How hard we work and how focused we are will really determine how well we do,” said senior Mackenzie Mone. “We try to look at this meet as a step towards MAACs, so we take it very seriously and hope to do