Minto and O’Connell Named MAAC Champions in Final Day of Swimming and Diving Championships

Canisius capped off the 2023 MAAC Swimming and Diving Championships in a big way, claiming seven top-three finishes including a pair of MAAC Champions to go along with five more program records at the Burt Flickinger Center in downtown Buffalo on Saturday.

Sophomore Archie Minto claimed his second first-place finish in the meet while graduate student Liam O'Connell concludes his collegiate career as a MAAC Champion.

Minto swept the men's fly events during the four-day event, claiming the top spot in the 200 fly for the second consecutive year. His time of 1:47.06 also bests his preliminary time of 1:47.24.

Sophomore Bronson Benes earned silver in the 200 fly as he touched the wall at 1:49.72.

O'Connell earned a MAAC Champion honor of his own, battling at the end of the 1650 free to claim the top spot, swimming to a time of 15:41.82.

Freshman Samuel Vidal earned a program record for himself, touching the wall at 2:00.65, which was good for second-place. Vidal's time tops Lucas Kennedy's 2:01.30 from 2018-19.

The men's relays earned their third program record of the championships, swimming a 3:04.17. Minto, O'Connell, sophomore Ben Yant and senior Alex Hiltrand bested their time of 3:04.82 from earlier in the season.

Sophomore Lana Janson added to her trophy collection on the final day, picking up silver in the women's 100 free and earning bronze in the women's 400 relay alongside senior Grace Van Buren, junior Jordan O'Connor and sophomore Ashley Allaire.

In the 100 free, Janson touched the wall at 51.19, tying Sage Pollack's time from the 2022 MAAC Championships.
The quartet swam a 3:29.41 in the relay, besting the 3:30.36 time from the 2019-20 campaign and giving them their third program record of the meet as a group.

Janson, Van Buren and Allaire also earned the program record in the women's 200 medley relay alongside freshman Hannah Brainard.

Closing out her college career, graduate student Adriana Bolender earned her second bronze of the meet, picking up a score of 197.20 in the women's 1-meter dive. Bolender, alongside Siena's Talia Spenziero were named the 2023 MAAC Championships Co-Women's Most Outstanding Divers.

Canisius' men's and women's teams both finished in fifth place in the meet. The men's squad picked up 405 points while the women earned a score of 337 points. Fairfield earned the top spot in the women's side with 609 points while Rider garnered 646.05 points for a MAAC Championship for its men's team.

The Blue and Gold's relays broke seven of the 10 program records with the Griffs breaking 14 records in total and swimming 67 best times across the championship.

For complete coverage of Canisius swimming and diving, please follow @griffs_swim on Instagram and @GriffsSwim on Twitter.

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Players Mentioned

Sage Pollack: 5' 5"; Graduate Student

Ashley Allaire: 5' 11"; Sophomore

Bronson Benes: 5' 8"; Sophomore

Adriana Bolender: DIVER; 5' 6"; Graduate Student

Archie Minto: 5' 11"; Sophomore

Liam O'Connell: 6' 1"; Graduate Student

Jordan O'Connor: 5' 5"; Junior

Grace Van Buren: 5' 5"; Senior

Ben Yant: 6' 0"; Sophomore

Hannah Brainard: 5' 4"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

Sage Pollack
: 5' 5"; Graduate Student

Ashley Allaire
: 5' 11"; Sophomore

Bronson Benes
: 5' 8"; Sophomore

Adriana Bolender
: 5' 6"; Graduate Student
: DIVER

Archie Minto
: 5' 11"; Sophomore

Liam O'Connell
: 6' 1"; Graduate Student

Jordan O'Connor
: 5' 5"; Junior

Grace Van Buren
: 5' 5"; Senior

Ben Yant
: 6' 0"; Sophomore

Hannah Brainard
: 5' 4"; Freshman