Karadimas shines on day one of MAACs

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Senior Nicholas Karadimas (New Milford, Conn.) earned a bronze medal of his own and helped the 200 free relay team to a bronze medal as the Bryant University men's swimming and diving team completed day one of the MAAC Championships on Thursday.

The Bulldogs earned 104 points on the first day, good enough for fifth place. Marist leads the way with 185 points, Rider is in second with 171, Canisius has 116 and Saint Peter's has 109 points after day one.

One of the greatest male swimmers in program history, Karadimas earned a medal for the second-straight year at the conference championship. Swimming the 50 free, Karadimas finished third with a time of 20.88. Freshman Pierre Le Guyader (East Islip, N.Y.) finished right behind Karadimas, earning fourth with a time of 20.97. In addition, Karadimas and Le Guyader guided the 200 free relay team to a third-place finish with a time of 1:23.72. Freshman Boris Paraliticci (Saunderstown, R.I.) led off the relay and sophomore Joshua Bjornberg (Wallingford, Conn.)  swam the third leg.

The Bulldogs also set program records in the 400 medley relay and the 500 free. Karadimas and Bjornberg joined with Cameron Hessler (Southbury, Conn.) and Graham Beck (Danvers, Mass.) to finish fourth with a program-record time of 3:23.72 in the 400 medley relay. Prior to the final relay of the night, Beck broke his own school record in the preliminaries of the 500 free with a time of 4:38.52. He went on to finish eighth with a time of 4:40.34.

Bryant also received strong performances from Conor Makepeace (Wallingford, Conn.) and Ian Miller (Meriden, Conn.) in the one meter dive. Makepeace finished ninth with a score of 248.52 and Miller finished 16th with a score of 173.25.

Day two of the MAAC Championships will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Friday.