Ithaca, NY – Sophomore divers Joseph Kozlowski and Brent Reid each finished in the top eight in the 1-meter dive to lead the Clarkson University Swimming & Diving team's charge on day three of the Liberty League Championships held at the Athletics & Events Center Aquatics Pavilion on the campus of Ithaca College.

Through 29 events, the Golden Knights' men are still in fifth place among nine teams with a total of 669 points, but they are within striking distance of fourth place Union (722). Clarkson's women remained in ninth place out of 10 teams with 227 points.

Day Three of Liberty League Championships (PDF)

Both Kozlowski and Reid reached the 1-meter dive finals on Friday night, with Kozlowski taking fifth place (466.55 points) and Reid gaining eighth place (453.90 points).

Joining the two divers with appearances in the top eight were sophomores John Magnuson and Benjamin Thibert. In the 200 butterfly, Magnuson finished in seventh place in 1:58.78, while Thibert matched the effort by coming in seventh in the 100 backstroke in 53.27 seconds. Neither was by themselves in the finals, however, as Magnuson was accompanied by four other swimmers and Thibert had a pair of teammates in the 'B' finals. Senior Chris Bankaitis took 11th in the 200 butterfly (2:02.42) and he was followed closely by junior teammate Andrew Woythal in 12th (2:02.59). In the 'C' finals of the 200 fly, sophomore Caleb Farleigh came in 18th (2:07.95) and classmate Ryan Gannon took 22nd (2:13.30). Later in the 100 backstroke, sophomore Kevin Atkinson placed 14th (1:00.48) and Michael Sarkisian closed out the 'B' finals with a 16th-place showing (1:03.27).

Four other Clarkson swimmers participated in the finals of the 100 breaststroke, headlined by sophomore Benjamin Vondrak. With a time of 1:00.23, Vondrak came in 11th place in the finals while teammates Garry Dorn (12th, 1:00.80) and Connor Maloney (13th, 1:01.20) gained the next two spots. Nathan Perrotta also finished 20th (1:05.89) in the event.

On the women's side, Clarkson had swimmers in each of the finals for the three individual events on Friday. Junior Brooke Atkinson enjoyed the best finish of the day for the women, coming in 10th place in the 200 butterfly (2:18.21) while senior Rachel Barclay came in 24th (2:40.97). In the 100 backstroke, senior Tiffany Catano took 15th place in 1:02.64, while the 100 breaststroke had both Kayla Weckesser (19th, 1:13.83) and Caitlin Newhard (22nd, 1:14.88) in the 'C' finals.

The Golden Knights earned more points in the 800 freestyle. The men came in fourth place thanks to a crew of Gavin Lopata, Thibert, Magnuson and Angus McLean finishing in 7:07.67. For the women, Emma Atkinson, Laura Dowdy, Samantha Denning, and Kendal Lazarus combined to earn ninth-place points for the Knights with a time of 9:00.82.