Seeing Gold: Schulte takes home second medal, qualifies for NCAA "B" cut in 100 breast

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Bryant University men's swimming and diving freshman Ben Schulte (Mermaid Beach, Australia) continued his historic debut at the MAAC Championships, claiming his second gold medal and qualifying for an NCAA "B" cut for the second-straight night in Buffalo, N.Y.

Behind Schulte's second gold of the meet, the Bulldogs have accumulated 222.50 points and are in sixth place after three days. Rider continues to lead the way with 473.50 points.

A day after winning gold and qualifying for an NCAA "B" cut in the 200 IM, Schulte repeated the feat in the 100 breast. The rookie from Australia won the event with a school-record time of 54.71 to once again qualify for the NCAA "B" cut. Schulte had become the first male swimmer in program history to accomplish the feat on Thursday night.

In addition to Schulte also helped the 400 medley relay team earn a bronze medal and break the school record. The Bulldogs finished third in the event with a time of 3:23.47. Benon Boyadjian (Middlebury, Conn.) opened the relay, Schulte swam the second leg, Joshua Bjornberg (Wallingford, Conn.) swam third and Pierre Le Guyader (East Islip, N.Y.) swam the final leg of the relay.

Bryant also recieved outstanding individual performances from Andrew Neggia (Ramsey, N.J.), Robert Beauchemin (), Bjornberg, Boris Paraliticci (Saunderstown, R.I.), Le Guyader, Kyle Koziol (Farmington, Conn.), Graham Beck (Danvers, Mass.), Jonathan Brodeur (Old Saybrook, Conn.) and Boyadjian.

Neggia finished 14th in the 400 IM with a time of 4:15.66, while Beauchemin finaled in the 400 IM and the 100 back. He finished 16th in the 400 IM with a time of 4:19.35 and 12th in the 100 back with a time of 52.74. Bjornberg also earned a pair of finals appearances on Friday, finishing 15th in the 100 fly (51.82) and ninth in the 100 breast (58.48).

Paraliticci joined Bjornberg in the 100 fly, finishing 16th with a time of 52.01. Le Guyader finaled in the 200 free with a time of 1:43.25, while Koziol added a 14th-place (1:44.25) finish in the event. Beck (5th) and Brodeur (16th) finished with times of 56.22 and 59.64, respectively, in the 100 breast. Boyadjian was Bryant's top finisher in the 100 back, coming in eighth with a time of 52.57.

The final day of the MAAC Championships begin Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m.