Schulte wins third gold, Bulldogs finish third at MAACs

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Sophomore Ben Schulte (Tumon, Guam) won his third gold medal to help the Bryant University men's swimming and diving team earn its best finish ever at the MAAC Championships at Erie Community College.

The Bulldogs finished third with 511 points, the best finish the school has ever had at the MAACs. Rider won its fifth-straight title with 906.5 points and Marist finished second with 589.5 points.

Schulte matched his exploits from 2015 by winning a third gold medal on Saturday. He won the 200 breast with a time of 2:00.23 but set the school record in the prelims with a time of 1:59.97. Schulte also set a school record in 100 free, posting a time of 45.00 in the first leg of the 400 free relay. The record had stood since 2011. The Black and Gold went 1-2 in the 200 breast as freshman Tavish Boyle (Springfield, N.J.) took home silver with a time of 2:03.48. Joshua Bjornberg (Wallingford, Conn.) finished ninth (2:05.98) and Jonathan Brodeur (Old Saybrook, Conn.) finished 16th (2:13.49).

Sophomore Colin Curtin (Wethersfield, Conn.) picked up another medal, finishing second in the 200 back with a school-record time of 1:49.06. The time is nearly four seconds faster than the previous record. Bryant also placed two others in the 'A' final as Robert Beauchemin (Holliston, Mass.) finished seventh (1:52.99) and Charlie Broe (New Windsor, N.Y.) finished eighth (1:55.78).

The 400 free relay also set a school record in the final event of the championships. Schulte, Zachary Hannon (Marlborough, Conn.), Benon Boyadjian (Middlebury, Conn.) and Curtin teamed up to win a bronze medal with a school-record time of 3:03.70.

Bryant also placed several other individuals in the finals on Saturday evening. Broe finished sixth (16:10.67) and Oliver French (Nashua, N.H.) finished 16th (16:36.05) in the 1650 free. Hannon finished 12th (47.18) and Boris Paraliticci (Saunderstown, R.I.) finished 14th (47.36) in the 100 free. French finished 14th (1:56.60) and Shane Vyskocil (Parsippany, N.J.) finished 16th (1:58.18) in the 200 fly, while Kevin Sullivan (East Lyme, Conn.) and Ryan Sheehy (West Newbury, Mass.) finished 10-11 in the 3 meter dive.