BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Marist men's swimming and diving team stands in second place after the second day of competition at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship at the Burt Flickinger Athletic Center on the campus of Erie Community College. In their nine events in the evening session, Red Fox athletes earned seven finishes of fourth or better, including second place finishes by sophomore Nick Spinella (Franklin Square, N.Y.) and freshmen Jason Ruddy (Lake Katrine, N.Y.) and Bill Drennen (Collegeville, Pa.).

Competing in the 100-yd. backstroke, Spinella finished in second with a time of 50.82. He was joined in the Championship Final by teammate Dylan Cummings (Midland Park, N.J.). Cummings helped Marist earn 31 points in the race with a fifth place finish of 52.37.

Drennen was the top finishing Red Fox in the 1000-yd freestyle, as Marist's distance corps placed four swimmers in the top 10. Drennen finished in second at 9:35.57, 3.39 seconds ahead of the third place finisher. Daniel Collins (Brooklyn, N.Y), Matt Collins (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Patrick Shea (Peabody, Mass.) finished eighth, ninth and tenth with times of 9:45.87, 9:45.88 and 9:46.15, respectively.

Ruddy was Marist's lone representative in the 100-yd butterfly finals. After a preliminary time of 50.33 in the morning placed him second best all-time in Marist's record book, the freshman came back in the Championship Final to earn a second place finish of 50.37.

Cummings coupled his fifth place finish in the backstroke with a fourth place standing in the 400-yd IM. He finished the race with a time of 4:06.78.

Two Red Foxes saw Championship Final action in the 200-yd freestyle as junior Stephen Miller (Downington, Pa.) and sophomore Alex Lombardi (Branford, Conn.) went sixth and eighth with times of 1:43.33 and 1:47.09. In Miller's case, he was just .29 seconds shy of a fourth place tie of 1:43.04.

In diving action, sophomore Sean Molloy (Slingerlands, N.Y.) earned a fourth place finish with a six dive total of 236.55. Freshman Jacob Baker (Shavertown, Pa.) finished in seventh with 203.45 points.

Marist's 800-yd freestyle relay team of Drennen, Miller, Spinella and Ruddy led the way in relay action with a third place finish of 6:53.47. They surpassed the earlier fourth place finish by the all freshmen 200-yd medley team of Cummings, Ruddy, Evan Uy (Kailua-Kona, Hawaii) and John Spitzer (Fairport, N.Y.)

After the second day of the championship, Rider leads the way with 533.50 points. Marist is second with 419 points, while Canisius is third at 410.

The 2012 MAAC Championship will continue on Saturday morning at 10 a.m., with the qualifying heats of events 33 to 40. The finals for those same events will be held Saturday evening, with the first race scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.  At the conclusion of Saturday, the MAAC champion will be crowned.

Men's Standings (Through Event 30) 1. Rider -533.50. 2. Marist - 419. 3. Canisius - 410. 4. Loyola - 374. 5. Fairfield - 218 6. Iona - 209. 7. Saint Peter's - 205. 8. Niagara - 184. 9.Manhattan - 149.50.