Swimming & Diving Heads to Buffalo to Kick Off 2022 MAAC Championships

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Saint Peter's men's and women's swimming and diving begins the four-day 2022 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships on Wednesday in the Burt Flickinger Athletic Center at Erie Community College.

First-year head coach Chris Cipolla will lead his team into the first league championships since 2020 after the cancellation of the 2021 edition of the MAAC Swimming & Diving Championships.

Return of the MAACs

• The Peacocks men's team finished in seventh place during the last MAAC Championships in 2020, while the women's team finished in ninth.
• Saint Peter's earned 11 medals at the last championships, including five from members of this year's squad (Junior Luke Cillie, junior Brian Coughlin, and senior Yann Le Gall).

Cillie's Record-Breaking 2020 MAACs

• South Africa-native Luke Cillie won three individual medals at the 2020 MAAC Championships.
• He broke the school record en route to a second-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley (IM) (1:47.51).
• Cillie also took second place in the 100-yard backstroke and third in the 100-yard freestyle.

Davis Backstroke Dominance

• Senior Natalie Davis has won five consecutive backstroke events this season dating back to a Nov. 6 meet at Saint Francis Brooklyn.
• She is undefeated in the 100-yard backstroke during the 2021-22 slate, winning four races with a top time of 59.35.
• She earned individual wins in the 200-yard backstroke against Monmouth (2:12.26), the 200-yard freestyle against Susquehanna (2:03.49) and the 50-yard freestyle against Saint Francis Brooklyn (25.58).

Polishchuk's Stellar Season

• Graduate student Oleksiy Polishchuk has won 11 of the 14 individual events he has competed in this season.
• The breaststroke specialist is undefeated in his marquee events in 2021-22, racking up four 100-yard breaststroke wins (Top time: 57.87) and three 200-yard breaststroke wins (Top time: 2:07.28). Both of those season-bests came in the regular-season finale against Monmouth.
• Polishchuk is a two-time MAAC individual medalist with a 2019 championships third-place finish in 200-yard breaststroke and a 2018 championships seventh-place finish in the 400-yard IM.

The Relays

• Saint Peter's men's relay teams have come in first place in each event they have contested since the Manhattan meet on Nov. 20, winning eight consecutive races in events including the 200- and 400-yard freestyle and medley relays.
• Saint Peter's women's relay teams had an impressive stretch in which it won three consecutive 200-yard medley relays against Saint Francis Brooklyn/Manhattan, Kean/Manhattan and Susquehanna, posting a top time of 1:56.47.

Schedule of Events

Day 1: Wednesday – Finals at 6 p.m.

• 200-yard medley relay
• 800-yard freestyle relay

Day 2: Thursday – Preliminaries at 10 a.m., Finals at 6 p.m.

• 500-yard freestyle
• 200-yard IM
• 50-yard freestyle
• 200-yard freestyle relay (finals only)

Day 3: Friday – Preliminaries at 10 a.m., Finals at 6 p.m.

• 100-yard butterfly
• 400-yard IM
• 200-yard freestyle
• 100-yard breaststroke
• 100-yard backstroke
• 400-yard medley relay (finals only)

Day 4: Saturday – Preliminaries at 10 a.m., Finals at 6 p.m.

• 200-yard backstroke
• 100-yard freestyle
• 200-yard breaststroke
• 200-yard butterfly
• 1650-yard freestyle (finals only)
• 400-yard freestyle relay (finals only)