Princeton, NJ – The Rider University men's swimming and diving team closed out action at the 2017 Big Al Invitational hosted by Princeton on Sunday. The three-day event took place at DeNunzio Pool on the Tigers campus and features eight men's teams. On the third day of action, the Broncs had student-athletes take part in 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, 1650 free and 400 free relay.

In the individual events, four Bronc swimmers qualified for the finals thanks to posting strong times in the preliminaries. Senior Zack Molloy (Toms River, NJ/Toms River HS North) and junior Vincent Gibbons (North Brunswick, NJ/North Brunswick) made the finals in the 100 free thanks to posting times of 45.01 and 45.98, respectively. In the prelims, Molloy was fifth and Gibbons was 22nd. Sophomore Justin Carey (Landenberg, PA/Avon Grove) earned a spot in the finals in the 200 back thanks to coming in 22nd in the prelims with a time of 1:51.82, while junior Griffin Hutton (Hamilton, NJ/Hamilton HS West) made the finals in the 200 fly with a time of 1:53.46, which was good enough for 23rd.

Carey landed in 18th-overall in the 200 back with a time of 1:48.33 in the finals, while Molloy and Gibbons came in seventh and 21st, respectively in the 100 free. Molloy had a time of 44.95 and Gibbons posted a mark of 45.75. Hutton concluded the 200 fly in 23 thanks to a time of 1:56.04 in the finals.

Notes & Quotes
- There are 17 teams total (9 women, 8 men) at the three-day event.
- The Rider men are eighth-place with a score of 184 total points after day three.
- The top-24 swimmers in each event qualified for the finals.
- Padraic Cassidy came in 26th in the 1650 free with a time of 16:43.07.
- The 400 free relay quartet of Carey, freshman Daniel Bonge, Gibbons and Molloy came in seventh with a time of 3:01.16.    

Up Next
The Big Al Invitational was the final competitive action of the first semester for the Broncs. The team has a winter training trip from January 4-12 in Coral Gables, Florida. The team returns to action on Tuesday, January 16 with a dual meet at Monmouth that is slated to begin at 5:00 pm.