The Canisius swimming and diving teams competed in day one of the 2016 MAAC Swimming and Diving Championships this evening at the Burt Flickinger Center, highlighted by a second place finish in the women's 800 free relay. Junior Hannah Graesser, sophomores Katelyn Battaglia and Rebecca Anthone and senior Clare Battaglia teamed for the podium finish with a time of 7:40.62.

The four-day-event began with the women's 3-M preliminaries, as freshman Vivian Mroz placed second overall (248.30), advancing to the 3-M finals, while sophomore Kelly Roberts finished 14th (141.20).

Mroz continued her success in the finals, ending her day with a third place finish in the 3-M event.

"I thought we had a strong night overall," said head coach scott Vanderzell. "Vivian was excellent in the 3-M, and the relays swam really well to start the Championship."

The Griffs also finished in third place in the women's 200 medley relay, as Graesser, freshman Cassie Brousseau, junior Marissa Watroba and senior Alicia Wheeler teamed for the podium finish.

On the men's side, sophomores Greg Staebell, Tommy Kirch and Dan Dirrigl, along with junior Cam MacDonald placed fifth in the men's 200 medley, while the men also finished in sixth place in the 800 free relay.  

Day two gets underway tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. with six preliminary events including the 500 free, 200 IM and 50 free.

The event will be streamed through maacsports.com and can be followed on social media platforms including the Canisius Swimming and Diving handle, @GriffsSwim. Live stats are available here.

For more information including a full meet schedule click here.