BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Purple Eagles' swimming and diving teams wrapped up the first of four days of the 2017 MAAC Swimming and Diving Championships Wednesday evening at the Burt Flickinger Center in Buffalo. Both the men's and women's teams took part in the 200 medley relay and 800 free relay, while the men's divers competed on the 1-meter board to open the championships. The Niagara women's 200 medley relay team came within one-tenth of a second of setting the team's first program record of this year's MAAC Championships. The Purple Eagles set four program records at the 2016 championships.
 
At the end of the first day of competition, the Niagara men sit fourth out of 10 teams with 77 points, while the women are in sixth place out of 10 with 52 points. The MAAC also announced the 2017 MAAC Swimming & Diving All-Academic Teams on Wednesday, with 16 Purple Eagles earning All-Academic accolades.
 
Men's Day 1 Recap

• Andreas Rintel, Nicolas Winograd, Matthew Ricks, and Robert Brown teamed up for the men's 200 medley relay. The foursome posted a season-best time of 1:35.52 and finished in eighth place.
• Niagara picked up a fifth-place finish in the men's 800 free relay. Shawn Warner, Daniel Leskowicz, Rintel, and James Crumm finished the relay in 6:54.17.

 
Women's Day 1 Recap

• The Niagara women opened the MAAC Championships with the 200 medley relay. Sydney Kligys, Bridgette Ehrmann, Julia Casolo, and Kristen Suarez gave the Purple Eagles a fourth-place finish with a time of 1:47.85.
• That time was just one-tenth of a second off of the program of 1:47.75. Casolo, Ehrmann, and Kligys were a part of that record-breaking relay team back in 2015.
• In the 800 free relay, Niagara teamed up four freshmen in Nastassja Posso, Lauren Nicastro, Sarah Webber, and Hannah Charlton. The relay team swam a time of 8:05.69 and finished in eighth place.

 
Diving Board: Men's 1-Meter

• JaRon Williams and Noah Barnard led the way with a pair of top-8 performances on the diving board on the opening day of the championships.
• Williams led the Niagara men on the 1-meter board Wednesday night. After placing fifth in the preliminaries at 264.20, Williams finished the final ranked sixth with a score of 248.40.
• Barnard also made the final eight with a score of 223.80 in the preliminaries, and he finished in eighth in the finals at 186.25.
• Khallid Lewis rounded out the Purple Eagles on the 1-meter board, scoring a 113.80 at the MAAC Championships.

 
MAAC All-Academic Teams

• The 2016-17 MAAC Swimming and Diving All-Academic Teams were also announced on Wednesday evening.
• From the women's swimming & diving team, Emily Deck, Annie Eckhardt, Bridgette Ehrmann, Angelica Gordon, Sydney Kligys, Cara Mergner, Brianna Smith, and Montanna Valler all earned MAAC All-Academic honors for the 2016-17 season.
• The Niagara men had eight players named to the All-Academic Team: Nathan Booth, Robert Brown, Christopher Fritschi, Daniel Leskowicz, Khallid Lewis, Thomas McManus, Nick Rogers, and Daniel Ronen.

 
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