BUFFALO, N.Y. –
Marie Feneron (Molsheim, France/Lycee Henri Meck),
Matea Samardzic (Split, Croati/Ekonomsko-Birotehnicka Skola) and
Rachel Wuko (Wildwood Crest, N.J./Wildwood Catholic) each won an event to pace the Saint Peter's women's swimming and diving team to a fourth-place finish after the second day of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Swimming and Diving Championships on Thursday.
Jonathan Gomez (Cali, Colombia/Patrick Henry [Va.]) paced the men's swimming and diving team with a second-place finish to help the squad rank fourth after the second day of competition.
Feneron helped keep the 200 IM title in a Peacocks swim cap after winning the event with a time of 2:04.80. Samardzic won the event last year, but did not compete in the race in 2015. Samardzic did come home with her first individual title after winning the 500 free with a meet record time of 4:50.46. Wuko repeated as the 50-free winner and beat her own meet record time she established last year with a time of 22.97 on Thursday evening. The trio now has two first-place finishes in the first two days after teaming up to win the 200-medley relay on Wednesday.
Gomez, who won the 200 IM as a freshman, placed second in the event on Thursday with a time of 1:48.75.
The 200-free relay team of Manuel Garcia (Mexico City, Mexico/The American School Foundation), Sean Dunne (Holmdel, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy), Igal Oren (Jersey City, N.J./Ort Kiryar Bialik) and Eliran Epstein (Nahariya, Israel/Wester Galilee Regional) also earned a medal on the night after finishing in second place with a time of 1:22.83.
Nicholas Reipe (Middlesex, N.J./Saint Joseph) finished fourth in the 500 free (4:33.90) while Daniel Gayetsky (East Brunswick, N.J./East Brunswick) placed 16th in the event (4:42.81).
The trio of Epstein, Oren and Garcia helped the men's team rack up some points in the 50 free after Epstein placed sixth (21.04), Oren seventh (21.13) and Garcia 16th (21.70).
Dunne was seventh in the 200 IM (1:53.89) and Bence Greifenstein (Budapest, Hungary/Kerek) was 10th in the event (1:54.32).
Gloria Morales (St. Croix, Virgin Island/The Good Hope School), Christina Petrelis (Belle Mead, N.J./Montgomery), Karen Castaneda (Woodbridge, N.J./Woodbridge) and Nowras Halag (Shknin, Israel/Hofsharon) finished eighth in the 200-free relay (1:44.80).
After finishing the first day tied for first place, the Saint Peter's women's team now sits in fourth place. Marist leads the for-day competition with 312 points while Canisius (188), Rider (159), the Peacocks (154), Siena (131), Fairfield (118), Iona (116), Niagara (113) and Manhattan (73) round out the nine-team field.
On the men's side, Rider leads with 259.50 points and is followed by Marist (222), Canisius (181), Saint Peter's (179), Iona (111), Bryant (106.50), Fairfield (106), Niagara (105) and Manhattan (94) in that nine-team field.
The MAAC Swimming and Diving Championships resume on Friday with preliminaries starting at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m. The 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, 1000 free and the 400-medley relay will all be contested on Friday. Gomez is the defending champion in the 400 IM while Samardzic is the defending champion in the 100 back and also was a member of the winning 400-medley relay last season along with Wuko.
