College Swimming & Diving
Rider at 2012 MAAC Championships February 16-18
BUFFALO, N.Y.--The Rider University men's and women's swimming and diving teams go for the gold Thursday-Saturday at Erie Community College in Buffalo, New York as the Broncs battle for the 2012 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship at the Burt Flickinger Center.
The Rider women go for their first title since 2009 and the Bronc men aim for their first title since 2004. Both teams finished runner-up the last two seasons.
The Rider men are led by junior Johnny Funk (Las Vegas, Nev./Southeast Career & Tech. Academy) and freshman Drew Peterson (Boulder City, Nev./Boulder City).
Funk, the MAAC 200 IM champion in 2011 (1:50.19) is the top seed in the 200 IM this season (1:51.26) and is second in the 400 IM (4:00.65), third in the 100 fly (51.16) and fourth in the 200 back (1:53.30).
Peterson is seeded second in the 200 IM (1:53.53), third in the 400 IM (4:02.90), third in the 200 fly (1:52.70) and fourth in the 500 free (4:38.02).
This past summer, Peterson qualified for the 2012 United States Olympic Trials in the 400 long-course IM.
The Rider women are led by junior Addie Oswald (Henderson, Nev./Green Valley and senior Kelly Fleagle (Springfield, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara).
Oswald won MAAC gold in 2011 in the 200 free (1:50.74) and the 200 back (2:00.48) and enters the championships as the top seed in the 500 free (4:58.74) and 200 back (2:03.24) and is the second seed in the 200 free (1:52.67) and third in the 100 back (58.88).
Fleagle enters the competition as the second seed in the 400 IM (4:35.60) and eighth in the 200 IM (2:11.68).
Rider expects important contributions from its relay teams as the Broncs enter as the top seed in the men's and women's 200 free relay, the men's 400 medley relay and the women's 200 medley relay.
Senior diver Brendan Cavallaro (Middleboro, Mass./Middleboro) and sophomore diver Trevor Hiller (Galloway Twp./Absegami) are expected to make a splash with Cavallaro seeded second in the three-meter (335.85) and third on the one-meter (311.63). Hiller is seeded second on the one-meter (320.90) and fifth on the three-meter board (291.67).
In addition to winning the team title in 2004, the Rider men have placed runner-up 14 times since 1996.
The Bronc women have won three team titles (2001, 2003, 2009) and have placed runner-up 10 times since 1998.
Last year, Loyola University Maryland won the men's swimming & diving title for the third consecutive year after compiling 796 points with Marist College winning its 12th women's crown with 843 points.
Fans can watch the championships on MAAC.TV as part of the pay per view video stream.
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