BUFFALO, NY – The Rider University men's swimming and diving team won the 2018 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship on Saturday evening. The Broncs captured the MAAC title for the seventh straight year thanks to registering 718 total points. The four-day event took place February 14-17 at the Burt Flickinger Athletic Center at Erie Community College.

Coming in behind Rider in the team standings were Marist in second-place with 668 points followed by Bryant (538.5 points) in third, while Canisius (413.5 points) and Iona (377 points) rounded out the top-five.

Senior Zack Molloy (Toms River, NJ/Toms River HS North) capped a stellar career at the MAAC Championships by being named the MAAC Men's Most Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet for the third straight year. Molloy wasn't the only Bronc to bring home a major award as freshman Dillon Walles (The Woodlands, TX/The Woodlands High School) was honored as the Men's Rookie Diver of the Meet and Steve Fletcher was tabbed as the MAAC Men's Swimming Coach of the Year.

On the final night of action, the Broncs put an exclamation point on their victory with the men's 400 free relay taking home gold and setting a new MAAC record. The quartet of Molloy, junior Lucas Musselman (Timonium, MD/Loyola Blakefield), junior Vincent Gibbons (North Brunswick, NJ/North Brunswick)  and freshman Daniel Bonge (Allentown, PA/Salisbury High School) finished in first with a time of 2:58.58.

Molloy also broke the MAAC record in the 100 free earlier in the evening, earning a gold medal with a first-place time of 43.10. Coming in behind Molloy in the event was Gibbons in second-place at 44.66.

The Red Foxes were closing the gap on Rider heading into the 200 fly and the Broncs responded with four student-athletes finishing in the top-eight. Sophomore Cole May (Columbia, MD/Oakland Mills) earned a bronze medal with a third-place time of 1:49.67. Bonge came in fourth at 1:50.57, while junior Griffin Hutton (Hamilton, NJ/Hamilton HS West) and senior Ben Smith (Forked River, NJ/Lacey Township) ended up in seventh and eighth, respectively.

Musselman capped a strong week of action at the MAAC Championships by taking home gold with a first-place finish in the 200 back with a time of 1:47.25.

In the one-meter diving event, both Walles and junior Joe Warker (Reading, PA/Wilson) both finished in the top-seven. Walles came in fourth with a score of 280.35 in the finals and Warker came in seventh with a mark of 259.50 in the finals.    

NOTES
- Molloy now owns the MAAC record in the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free and 500 free.
- Over the course of the last four days, the Broncs set eight new MAAC Championship records.
- Patrick Rollefson came in 13th in the 1M dive with a score of 174.50 in the finals.
- Carter Paules finished in seventh in the 200 breast with a time of 2:07.62.
- Porter Barnes landed in 11th in the 200 breast with a time of 2:05.86 in the consolation finals.
- Rich Fortels was fourth in the 200 back with a time of 1:50.48.
- Alexander Trauger was 14th in the 100 free at 46.87.
- Griffin Hutton came in sixth in the 1650 free with a time of 16:03.85.
- Padraic Cassidy landed in 16th in the 1650 free at 16:33.24.    

UP NEXT
The Broncs return to the pool next weekend, February 23-25 traveling to Piscataway, New Jersey to take part in the 2018 ECAC Championships hosted by Rutgers.