Bulldogs finish third at MAACs; French sets two school records on final day

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Sophomore Oliver French (Nashua, N.H.) broke a pair of school records and junior Ben Schulte (Tumon, Guam) won his third gold medal as the Bryant University men's swimming and diving team wrapped up the 2017 MAAC Swim & Dive Championships on Saturday.

The Bulldogs finished the four-day event with 469.5 points and finished in third place. Rider won the meet with 840.5 points and Marist finished second with 635.

French had a big day for the Bulldogs, setting school records in the 1650 free and the 200 fly. He opened his day with the mile, finishing fifth with a time of 15:59.20. French capped his day with a bronze medal in the 200 fly, setting the school record with a time 1:51.41 in his preliminary heat.

Schulte put the finishing touches on another outstanding meet as he claimed his third individual gold. He won the 200 breast for the third-straight year, finishing with a time of 1:59.89. Schulte has now won three individual gold medals in all three of his appearances at the MAAC Championships.

Sophomore Tavish Boyle (Springfield, N.J.) finished right behind Schulte in the 200 breast, taking home a silver medal with a time of 2:00.88.

Charlie Broe (New Windsor, N.Y.) joined French in the 1650 free, finishing 15th with a time of 16:36.48. He then added a 12th-place finish in the 200 back.

Bryant had two others in the 200 back finals as well. Colin Curtin (Wethersfield, Conn.) finished fifth, while Ben Steen (Portsmouth, R.I.) finished right behind Broe in 13th.

The Black and Gold had a pair of 'B' finalists in the 100 free as Boris Paraliticci (Saundertown, R.I.) and Zachary Hannon (Marlborough, Conn.) finished 11th and 14th.

In addition to French in the 200 fly, Cyrus Nabavi (Murray, Kent.) and Zach DiGiaro (Middletown, N.J.) both swam in the 'B' final. Nabavi finished 13th and DiGiaro finished 14th.

Bryant closed the meet with a bronze medal in the 400 free relay. Schulte, Hannon, Paraliticci and Curtin teamed up to post a time of 3:04.35.