After the final day of the 2015 MAAC swimming and diving championship at the Flickinger Center in Downtown Buffalo, N.Y., the Golden Griffins swimming and diving team finished in second place with 528 points on the women's side and third place with 498 points on the men's side.
Head coach Scott Vanderzell was named the 2014-15 Women's Coach of the Year after his women's team recorded a second place finish in the Championship, the highest the team has ever finished in program history. Over the past three seasons, the women's team has improved from fourth overall to second in the Championships under Vanderzell.
Senior diver Eddie Quarantillo was named the 2014-2015 MAAC Men's Diver of the Year after his strong performances all season and his first place finish in the 1-meter diving contest with a score of 329.10 and his first place finish in the 3-meter with a score of 306.25.
The first finals event on the final day of competition was the men's and women's 1650-yard freestyle races and the Griffs saw freshman Rebecca Anthone finish in second place with a time of 17:28.49 and Marissa Oakey finish in third place with a time of 17:34.16. The men's top performers in the 1650-free were Sean Wurster who finished in fourth with a time of 15:54.97, Collin Zapisek who finished in fifth with a time of 16:00.95 and Spencer Bray who claimed sixth place with a time of 16:04.84.
In the 200-yard backstroke, Clare Battaglia finished in seventh place with a time of 2:08.42 and freshman Gregory Staebell finished in sixth place with a time of 1:53.27. The highest finish in the women's 100-yard freestyle was Hannah Graesser with a third place finish with a time of 51.79. On the men's side senior Nick Sereday finished in fourth place with a time of 46.19 and Tommy Kirch finished in 15th and Sean Stegemoller finished in 16th.
After the 100-yard freestyle events, the team competed in the 200-yard breaststroke and Marissa Watroba broke her own school record in the event, finishing in third place with a time 2:23.06. Jacquie Sagasta finished in 13th with a time of 2:30.65 and Alex Doody finished in 14th with a time of 2:32.05. The men's 200-yard breaststroke saw Wyatt Sintay record a eighth place finish with a time of 2:09.85 and Sam Hansen finish in 13th with a time of 2:09.06.
In event 39, the women's 200-yard butterfly, senior Sara Nungesser recorded the highest place finish for Canisius finishing in fifth place with a time of 2:09.99. Behind Nungesser were Alicia Wheeler (sixth/2:10.05) and Meghan Tyler (ninth/2:11.42). The top finishers for the men's 200-fly were Dan Dirrigl (12th/1:55.28), Alex LaPoint (13th/1:56.87) and Matt Tanchick (15th/1:58.54).
Besides Quarantillo's first place finish in the men's 1-meter, Brent Carbone finished in eighth and Adam Bonk finished in fifth.
In the final events of the 2015 Championships, the Griffs finished in second in the women's 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:30.43 and sixth in the men's with a time of 3:08.38.
