The second year as Akron’s Swimming and Diving coach, Brian Peresie has led the Zips to back to back MAC Championship seasons.

Akron led the entire way through the four-day match at Eastern Michigan’s Jones Natatorium winning the championship with 650 points. The Zips earned eight individual postseason honors and Peresie was named the MAC Swimming Coach of the Year for the second-straight season with his and his team’s performance during the match.

The Zips had four ALL-MAC First Team honors: freshman Paloma Marrero Munoz and juniors Ashley Niznik, Hannah Raspopovich, and Erin Seiler. They also clenched four ALL-MAC Second Team honors: junior Ashley Drazkowski and sophomores Kara Kaulius, Laura Savariau, and Luka Szynal.

“It feels great. I’m very happy for the team, the program and our alumni. It’s exciting to be able to come in and experience this, especially with what we experienced last year, it’s difficult to try and recreate something like that. We had our fair share of ups and downs, but I’m proud of how they attacked everything and how they handled the meet. We wanted to finish on top and the team did a great job,” Akron’s head coach Brian Peresie said to the media after the meet.

Akron had three relay teams earn MAC Championship times, in the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle medley relay, while also earning a program first championship time in the 400-yard medley relay.

Akron won another MAC Championship in the 200-yard breaststroke thanks to Munoz who had a pool record time of 2:13.34. This was also an Akron program record by nearly four seconds and was Akron’s first ever individual MAC Championship in the 200-yard breaststroke.

Akron also had four individual third-place finishes on the final day of the Championship. Drazkowski led the Zips, besting a program record 16:41.53 in the 1650-yard freestyle. Raspopovich would follow with a third-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 50.26, and Seiler posted a third-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly setting another Akron program record with a time of 1:59.26. Lastly, junior diver Alice Hottensmith placed third in the three-meter dive with a score of 331.55.

This Akron swimming and diving team would also record five second place finishes, while setting 10 program records for the Akron Swimming and Diving team and four pool records at Jones Natatorium.

Akron will now prepare for the three-day LESI Championships, which will be held here at Akron in the Ocasek Natatorium in Akron March 6-8.