Swimming and Diving Falls to Niagara

Freshman Marin de Villard recorded a pair of first place finishes in the backstroke as Canisius faced Niagara in the Battle of the Bridge rivalry meet Saturday afternoon in collegiate swimming and diving action at the Oxy Aquatic Center in Lewiston, N.Y.

The Purple Eagles won convincingly against the Golden Griffins, with the men's team sowing a 174-88 victory and a 217-45 win over the Canisius women's swimming team.

De Villard highlighted the meet for the Griffs, earning a first place finish in both the 100 (50.53) and 200 (1:52.79) backstroke. This marks the rookie's sixth win in two days after winning four events in the Griff's meet versus John Carroll the previous evening.

Junior Bronson Benes continued his success from the John Carroll meet as well, winning the 200 butterfly (1:56.07) after winning both 100 and 200 butterfly events the night before. Benes garnered a second place finish in the 100 fly with a time of 50.91.

Other notable times for the Griffs come from junior Ben Yant, who finished second in the 100 freestyle with a time of 47.97, and freshman Luke Critchlow who completed the 1000 freestyle in 10:03.97 for a second place finish.

Up Next:
The Griffs will close out their regular season, traveling to Olean, N.Y. to compete against Little Three rivals St. Bonaventure in their second meeting of the season. The dual-meet is set to begin Saturday, Jan. 27 at 12 p.m. in the Reilly Center Pool.

For complete coverage of Canisius swimming and diving, please follow @griffs_swim on Instagram and @GriffsSwim on X.

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Players Mentioned

Ben Yant: 6' 0"; Junior

Bronson Benes: 5' 8"; Junior

Luke Critchlow: 5' 11"; Freshman

Marin de Villard: 6' 5"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

Ben Yant
: 6' 0"; Junior

Bronson Benes
: 5' 8"; Junior

Luke Critchlow
: 5' 11"; Freshman

Marin de Villard
: 6' 5"; Freshman