BUFFALO, NY – The Rider University men's swimming and diving team set a pair of records on Wednesday evening on the opening night of the 2018 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships. The four-day event takes place February 14-17 at the Burt Flickinger Athletic Center at Erie Community College.

After the first night of action, the Broncs are in first-place with 80 points, while Marist and Bryant are tied for second with 66 points apiece.

The first MAAC record to fall came in the 200 yard medley relay as the Rider quartet of sophomore Justin Carey (Landenberg, PA/Avon Grove), junior Carter Paules (Emmaus, PA/Emmaus), senior Maciej Paz (Garfield, NJ/Paramus Catholic) and junior Vincent Gibbons (North Brunswick, NJ/North Brunswick) finished first with a time of 1:27.83. Rider broke the meet record by nearly two seconds.

In the next relay event, the 800 free, the Broncs also set a championship record and finished in first-place to take home gold. The team of junior Lucas Musselman (Timonium, MD/Loyola Blakefield), Gibbons, Carey and senior Zack Molloy (Toms River, NJ/Toms River HS North) finished in a time of 6:30.52 shattering the old record by almost four seconds.

The Broncs return to the pool tomorrow, February 15 with preliminary heats in the morning and the finals for five events in the evening starting at 6:00 pm. 

QUOTES
"We had great energy tonight at the finals. We've got to treat each session with the same focus and enthusiasm in order to stay competitive this weekend." – Rider Head Coach Steve Fletcher

"Two conference records and two Rider University records in the first two events for the men was a great way to start. The men recognize that we have an uphill battle this weekend and we're committed to taking it one session at a time." – Fletcher