Cillie Wins Gold, Davis Scores Bronze on Third Day of MAAC Swimming & Diving Championships

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Saint Peter's swimming and diving produced its best evening at a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships since 2015 on Friday, earning its first individual title and first women's top three medal in seven years as part of a four-medal haul day three of the league's marquee meet.

Five-time MAAC medalist Luke Cillie scored his first-ever gold with a career-fastest time in the 100-yard breaststroke, while senior Natalie Davis took home a bronze medal in her signature 100-yard backstroke.

Top Performances

• Graduate student Oleksiy Polishchuk came through with two medals on the day – both sixth-place finishes in the 400-yard individual medley (4:03.88) and the 100-yard breaststroke (56.07). 
• Cillie, a junior from Cape Town, South Africa, already had three MAAC silvers and a bronze to his name coming into Friday night, but finally stood atop the podium thanks to a career-best 53.99 time in the 100 Breast.
• Davis had strong backstroke performances throughout the season, and continued that form on Friday by smashing her career-best time in the 100-yard backstroke by nearly two seconds – touching the wall at 56.98 in the final to finish in third place.
• Senior Thomas Granet qualified for Friday night's finals in the 400-yard individual medley, scoring points for the Peacocks with his 13th-place finish (4:08.12).
• Senior Yann Le Gall made his second individual final of the championships, finishing in 16th in the 200-yard freestyle (1:44.51) to add to Saint Peter's points tally.
• The women's 400-yard medley relay team (Davis, Devyn Hantgin, Evangelia Vasilakis, Noelle Sprenkle) posted a season-best time (4:12.87) to finish in 10th place.
• The men's 400-yard medley relay team (Yanis Benadouda, JT Funari, Ethan Riozzi-Bodine, Brendan Vieira) produced the Peacocks' eighth point-scoring effort of the evening with a ninth-place finish (3:40.19).

Up Next

• The 2022 MAAC Swimming & Diving Championships conclude with a six-event day – 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly, 1650-yard freestyle and the 400-yard freestyle relay. Prelims get underway at 10 a.m. before finals at 6 p.m.