Opening their 2011-12 campaign at the Western New York Invitational, the Canisius College men and women's swimming and diving team will travel to Geneseo for its first meet of the season on Saturday at 1 p.m. After competing at Geneseo, the Canisius divers will compete in the Clarion Diving Invite on Sunday at 11 a.m.

"After six weeks of practice, the team has made tremendous strides in the pool," said men and women's swimming and diving head coach Scott Vanderzell. "As a team, we are prepared to finally have a meet to gage our progress."

The Golden Griffins will have a combined total of 15 freshman making their debut in their first collegiate meet. The women's squad will feature seven new members while the men's squad will feature eight.

"This weekend's meet at Geneseo will be our first opportunity to see how the freshman class blends with the returners in a meet situation," said Vanderzell.

At the Western New York Invitational, the freshmen class made their presence felt in the pool. On the women's side, freshman Marissa Oakey recorded the Golden Griffins' top performance of the day, coming in second place in the 200 yard freestyle in 1:56.72. Oakey also set the new school record in the 400 IM with a time of 4:43.08 to pick up third-place. Freshman diver Eddie Quarantillo took top honors in the 3-meter dive, scoring 329.80.

On the men's side, junior Shawn Parkhurst captured a top-finish in the 200 butterfly, earning a time of 1:54.34 to secure his first-place finish, which was over two seconds ahead of second-place finisher Elias Homerin (1:56.60) of St. Bonaventure. 

Prior to the Canisius College hockey team's homeopener versus RIT on Oct. 20, Parkhurst was honored with a watch ceremony for capturing both the 200-butterfly and 1000-freestyle individual crowns at the 2011 MAAC Men's Swimming and Diving Championship.