Swimming and Diving Splits with Niagara

The Canisius College swimming and diving teams split a dual meet with Niagara University in the Koessler Athletic Center Pool on Thursday evening. The Canisius men won 126-117, clinching the meet in the final relay. The Canisius women fell 137-104 to the Purple Eagles.

The meet was tied at 113-113 entering the 400 freestyle relay. Steve Potchatko gave Canisius a lead of just over a second during his 100 meters. Matt Moessinger maintained that lead in the second leg. Niagara's Evinn Drusys cut the Canisius lead to 0.6 seconds after 300 meters. Senior Randall Snodgrass II pulled away in the final leg, winning the relay by 1.79 seconds with a team time of 3:13.80.

The Golden Griffin men won nine of the 11 swimming events on the day, with Pochatko, Snodgrass and Moessinger taking part in three of the wins. Pochatko was a part of the opening 200 medley relay (Tyler Carver, Kevin Ernst, Mike Disco) that easily won 1:39.24. Pochatko also won the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:56.97, finishing first by more than eight seconds. Snodgrass won the 200 freestyle (1:47.10) by more than three seconds and won the 100 freestyle (49.20), out-touching Kevin Jennings from Niagara by .03 seconds. Moessinger won the 200 IM with a time of 2:01.42 and the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:51.60.

Other Canisius winners on the men's side included Robby Novak in the 1,000 freestyle (10:18.20) and Carver in the 200 breaststroke (2:15.55), who won by six seconds.

On the women's side, Erica Vitale won three events. Vitale took the 1,000 freestyle with a time of 10:52.47, winning by more than 15 seconds. Vitale also won the 200 IM (2:14.02) and took the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:13.50, winning by more than eight seconds. Julia Terrien took the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:31.01.

Canisius returns to the pool in the middle of February when the Golden Griffins participate in the MAAC Championships, scheduled for Feb. 11-13 at Loyola University in Baltimore.

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