Junior Nate Katz placed seventh in the 50 free at the MAAC Championship.

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. – Junior Traci Liberi (Churchville/Churchville) won her second-straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title of her career when she won the 50 free Thursday at the MAAC Championships at Loyola College in Baltimore, Md.

As a team, both the men’s and women’s squads are in seventh place with 62 and 86 points, respectively, after the first day of competition. Rider leads the men’s competition with 234 points and Marist is in first place on the women’s side with 264 points.

The defending MAAC champion in the 100 free, Liberi swam the 50 free in an unofficial 24.47 in the event, 14 seconds fastest than the second-place finisher. She also anchored Niagara’s 400 medley and 200 free relays to score 78 of Niagara’s 86 points.

Liberi, freshmen Heather Link (Wheatfield/Niagara Wheatfield), Jodi Kennis (N. Tonawanda/N. Tonawanda) and junior Karolina Bazylewicz (Buffalo/Hutch Tech) set the school record in the 400 medley relay. Finishing fifth, the Purple Eagles posted a 4:07.64 topping 4:08.00 which Niagara posted in last year’s MAAC Championship.

Niagara finished fourth in the 200 free relay with Link, Bazylewicz, Liberi and freshman Staci Thoman (Lockport/Starpoint) posting a 1:41.24.

Link and Thoman placed 12th (25.56) and 15th (25.96), respectively in the 50 free, and senior Christen Kane (Lockport/Lockport) placed 16th in the 200 IM (2:21.49).

On the men’s side, junior Nate Katz (Niagara Falls/Niagara Falls) placed seventh in the 50 free with an unofficial time of 22.19. The Purple Eagle 200 free relay squad of freshman Josh Nowasell (Bliss, N.Y), sophomores Joe Kirchgraber (Buffalo/St. Joseph’s) and Andy Farnham (Sanborn/Niagara Wheatfield) and junior Brian Griffin (Petersburg, Va.) placed eighth in a time of 1:36.73.

Friday’s competition begins with qualifying heats at 10 a.m., followed by the finals at 6:30 p.m. each day.