Men's Swim & Dive opens MAAC Championships Wednesday night
SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University men's swimming and diving team has its sight set on another record performance as it heads to Buffalo, N.Y., for the 2017 MAAC Championships beginning on Wednesday, Feb. 8.
The Bulldogs put together one of the most historic meets in program history last year in Buffalo, finishing a program-best third with 511 points (the most since joining the MAAC). Bryant also set 12 school records and took home 11 medals over the course of the week.
Picked to finish third again this year, the junior duo of Ben Schulte (Tumon, Guam) and Colin Curtin (Wethersfield, Conn.) will look to lead the Bulldogs once again. Schulte, a two-time Olympian and the 2015 MAAC Swimmer of the Meet, has won six gold medals in his first two years at the championships, taking home victories in the 100 breast, 200 breast and 200 IM. This year, he enters the week seeded third in the 100 breast, fourth in the 200 breast and seventh in the 200 IM.
Curtin will take his turn at the back events again after setting program records in both at last year's championships. In addition, Curtin won a gold medal in the 100 back, a silver medal in the 200 back and finished sixth in the 500 free. He is seeded fourth in the 100 back, eighth in the 200 back and 24th in the 500 free entering the week.
Two underclassmen also have a chance to shine this week as sophomore Tavish Boyle (Springfield, N.J.) and freshman Robert Davis (Glastonbury, Conn.) are primed for big meets. Boyle will give the Black and Gold a dynamic 1-2 punch in the breast events as he finished right behind Schulte a year ago. He earned a silver medal in the 200 breast and a bronze medal in the 100 breast. Boyle will enter the week seeded seventh in the 100 breast and ninth in the 200 breast, but also has a chance to score in the 200 and 400 IM.
Davis will look to translate a strong rookie season into a strong performance at the championships this week. Bryant's top distance swimmer, Davis enters the week seeded seventh in the 1000 free, 18th in the 200 free and 21st in the 500 free.
Bryant is also looking at the 100 fly as an event to score big points thanks to a bevy of swimmers. Benon Boyadjian (Middlebury, Conn.), Cyrus Nabavi (Murray, Kent.), Zach DiGiaro (Middletown, N.J.), Juan Gonzalez (Al Safa, Dubai) and Boris Paraliticci (Saunderstown, R.I.) are seeded 20-24, giving the Bulldogs five swimmers that could finish in the top 16.
Other swimmers that could make an impact this week include Oliver French (Nashua, N.H.), Damian Parzych (Farmington, Conn.), George Sommerville (Pittsfield, Mass.), Matt Zichelli (Glen Ridge, N.J.) and Shane Vyskocil (Parsippany, N.J.). French is seeded 11th in the 200 fly and 14th in the 1000 free, Parzych is 22nd in the 1000 free, Sommerville is 17th in the 100 breast and 23rd in the 50 free, Zichelli is 26th in the 50 free and Vyskocil is 11th in the 400 IM.
On the board, Kevin Sullivan (East Lyme, Conn.) enters the week seeded fifth in the 3 meter dive and eight in the 1 meter.
In the relays, Bryant enters the week with the expectation of doing big things. All five relay records were broken a year ago and the Black and Gold took home a medal in all five for the first time in program history. The next step is to win a gold medal in the relay event and Bryant seems primed to do that this year. The Bulldogs enter the week seeded third in both medley relays and won a silver medal in both events last year. Bryant is also fourth in the 200 free relay, fifth in the 400 free relay and fifth in the 800 free relay.
The 2017 MAAC Championships get underway on Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 3:00 p.m. with diving and at 6:00 p.m. with swimming events.