Worcester, Mass. – Sophomore Travis May (Mount Kisco, N.Y./Fox Lane) earned five medals to lead the Le Moyne College men's swimming and diving team to a third-place finish at the Northeast-10 Conference Championship hosted by Assumption College at WPI's Sports and Recreation Center from Thursday to Sunday. Senior Tara O'Donnell (Delmar, N.Y./Bethlehem) won two individual events and medaled in all seven events to lead the women's team to a fifth-place finish.

In the men's team competition, Le Moyne registered 589.5 points to place third for the fourth straight year. Southern Connecticut State won its sixth straight conference title and 12th in the last 13 years with 884 points. Bentley University finished in second place for the fourth straight year with 715 points. Pace University, which placed seventh last year, tallied 551.5 points to place fourth. The College of Saint Rose finished fifth with 451.5 points, while Adelphi University placed sixth with 235.5 points. Saint Michael's College rounded out the standings with 183 points.

On the women's side, Le Moyne registered 475 points, an improvement of 140 from last year, to place fifth after finishing sixth each of the last two years. Assumption College earned its third consecutive team championship with 796.5 points. Southern Connecticut State University was only 36.5 points behind in second place with 760 points. Bentley University placed third with 608.5 points, while Pace University tallied 500 points to place fourth. The College of Saint Rose was just six points behind the Dolphins to place sixth with 469 points. Saint Michael's College finished seventh with 233 points and Adelphi University followed with 195 points. Merrimack College rounded out the standings with 136 points.

May was the team's top individual scorer with 51 points after posting one win, a third-place finish and a fourth-place finish. He earned his first career NE-10 individual gold medal on Saturday night by touching the wall first in the 100-yard butterfly in a school and NE-10 record and NCAA "B"-cut time of 49.18 seconds. He eclipsed the previous school and NE-10 record of 49.85 seconds set by Daniel Tarbrake (Beltsville, Md./Gonzaga College High) at the NE-10 Championship last year. He recorded his first NE-10 individual bronze medal in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:52.85, the second-fastest time in the program's history. In his first individual event of the weekend, he finished fourth in the 200-yard IM in a career-best time of 1:54.56, the third-fastest time in the program's history.

Senior Josh Byrne (Syracuse, N.Y./West Genesee) was named the Men's Diving Championship Most Valuable Athlete for the fourth consecutive year after earning his sixth career gold medal. He was victorious in the three-meter diving event for the fourth straight year with 399.65 points to win by 9.80 points, the second-closest of his six NE-10 victories. On Friday night, he earned a silver medal in the one-meter diving event for the second time in his career by recording 407.55 points.

May was also a member of four top-four relay teams, including three medal-winning quartets. In the first event of the Championship, May teamed with seniors Chris Mosconi (Gloversville, N.Y./Gloversville), Ben Verdi (Buffalo, N.Y./St. Joseph's) and Tarbrake to place second in the 200-yard medley relay in 1:33.42, the second-fastest time in the program's history and just 0.16 seconds off the school record. In Friday night's final event, the quartet finished third in the 400-yard medley relay with a school-record time of 3:24.93. The previous school record of 3:25.16 was set by Ricky Chidsey '09, Jerry Dumary, Mike Christine and Sean Hosford '11 at the 2009 UNYSCSA Championship.

May and Tarbrake combined with freshman Cory Knapp (Weedsport, N.Y./Christian Brothers Academy) and sophomore Andy Raiola (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xavier) on Saturday night to place fourth in the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:24.45, the fastest time by a Le Moyne quartet over the last eight seasons. May, Knapp and Raiola closed out the Championship by teaming with freshman Eric Burdge (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa) to place third in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:07.02, the fastest time by a Le Moyne quartet since the school record of 3:05.32 was set by Ricky Chidsey '09, Ryan Lowrie '08, Shawn Bankey '06 and Will Chidsey '06 at the 2006 UNYSCSA Championship.

Knapp and Raiola added a third top-four finish to their weekend by teaming with Burdge and junior Tim Buff (Latham, N.Y./Shaker) to place fourth in the 800-yard freestyle relay in a school-record time of 6:57.42. The mark eclipsed the previous school record of 7:03.41 set by Tyler Olson, Scott Thieke and then-freshmen Ronnie Lowe (Middletown, N.Y./Pine Bush) and Craig Carey (Belle Harbor, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) at the 2013 Northeast-10 Championship.
 
Raiola was the team's second-highest individual scorer with 39 points after posting three top-seven performances. In the first individual event of the Championship, he placed seventh in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:42.39 after advancing to the finals with a school-record time of 4:40.65. His time in the preliminaries broke the previous school record of 4:42.54 set by Joe Swiech in 2000. On Saturday night, he placed fourth in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:42.59 after turning in a preliminaries time of 1:42.46, the fastest time by a Dolphin over the last seven seasons. He wrapped up his performance at the Championship by placing seventh in the 200-yard butterfly in 1:55.55.

Buff registered 38 points after posting a pair of top-five finishes. He opened the Championship by placing ninth in the 200-yard IM in 1:56.22. On Saturday night, Buff registered his best finish of the weekend with a fourth-place finish in the 400-yard IM in 4:06.11. He tacked on a fifth-place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle on Sunday evening with a time of 16:24.74.

Tarbrake, Verdi and Mosconi each picked up 32 individual points over the weekend. After placing 10th in the 200-yard IM in a career-best 1:56.37, Tarbrake earned his seventh career NE-10 individual medal (four gold, two silver, one bronze) by placing third in the 100-yard butterfly in 50.65 seconds, the third-fastest time in the program's history. He capped the weekend by placing ninth in the 200-yard butterfly in 1:53.48, the third-fastest time in the program's history. Following a 14th-place finish in the 200-yard IM in a career-best 1:58.88, Verdi finished fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke in 58.38 seconds, the third-fastest time of his career. He concluded his final NE-10 Championship by placing fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:08.70, the second-fastest time of his career. After recording a 13th-place finish in the 200-yard IM in a career-best 1:58.85, Mosconi registered his best NE-10 Championship performance by placing fourth in the 100-yard backstroke in a career-best 52.17 seconds. He posted his fourth career sixth-place finish with a career-best time of 2:10.95 in the 200-yard breaststroke.

Knapp and classmate Connor Haldane (Homer, N.Y./Homer) each registered a pair of top-eight finishes. On Friday night, Knapp placed seventh in the 50-yard freestyle in 21.28 seconds, the top time by a Dolphin over the last seven seasons. He closed out his weekend by placing eighth in the 100-yard freestyle in 47.34 seconds, the best time by a Dolphin in two years. In his Championship debut on Friday, Haldane placed eighth in the one-meter diving event with a score of 206.80. He then registered 211.80 points off the three-meter board to place seventh.

Senior Mike Bardo (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xavier) turned in a seventh-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke in a career-best 59.95 seconds.

On the women's side, O'Donnell earned 57 individual points with three top-two finishes. In her first event of the Championship, she earned her seventh career silver medal placing second in the 50-yard freestyle for the second straight year in a school-record and NCAA "B"-cut time of 24.00 seconds. She set the previous school record of 24.22 seconds at last year's NE-10 Championships. She recorded her second NE-10 individual gold medal by touching the wall first in the 100-yard backstroke in a career-best and NCAA "B"-cut time of 57.03 seconds, the sixth-fastest time by a Dolphin, with the other five being recorded by her sister Katie '12. She earned her 12th career individual medal by winning the 200-yard backstroke for the second time in three years on Sunday night with a season-best time of 2:03.30, the fourth-fastest time of her career.
 
O'Donnell was also part of four medal-winning relay teams, including her first career relay gold medal. On Thursday night, she teamed with sophomores Kelsey Smith (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Valley), Alyssa Baker (Canandaigua, N.Y./Canandaigua) and Sarah Gaffney (Livonia, N.Y./Livonia) to win the 200-yard medley relay in a school-record and NCAA "B"-cut time of  1:46.39. The time eclipsed the previous school record of 1:47.86 set by Katie O'Donnell '12, Nicole Murphy '10, Mary Chidsey '12 and Sarah Salanger '11 at the 2010 UNYSCA Championships. On Friday night, the quartet earned a silver medal in the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:56.39, the second-fastest time in the program's history and just 0.18 seconds off the school record. The team combined on Saturday night to earn another silver medal by recording a school-record time of 1:38.26 in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The time eclipsed the previous school record of 1:38.54, which they set on December 5 at the Ithaca Invitational. The quartet completed their medal haul in the Championship's final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, by placing third in a school-record time of 3:32.96. They established the previous mark of 3:33.60 on December 6 at the Ithaca Invitational.

In Thursday night's final event, the 800-yard freestyle relay, Gaffney teamed with senior Katelyn Votapka (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Valley), junior Kelly Clemmer (Canton, N.Y./Canton) and freshman Haley Buchholz (Skaneateles, N.Y./Skaneateles) to place seventh in 8:07.53.
 
Smith registered 49 points after recording three top-five finishes, including a first-place performance. She opened her weekend by finishing fourth in the 200-yard IM in 2:08.92. On Saturday night, Smith touched the wall first in the 100-yard breaststroke by one second with a time of 1:05.44, the second-fastest time in the program's history and just 0.06 seconds off her school record set at last year's NE-10 Championship. She capped off the Championship by placing fifth in the 200-yard breaststroke in a career-best 2:26.77, the third-fastest time by a Dolphin in the program's history and the fastest since March 2010.
 
Baker recorded a pair of fifth-place finishes en route to 35 points. On Friday night, she finished fifth in the 50-yard freestyle in 24.72 seconds. She added 14 more points in the 100-yard butterfly on Saturday night by placing fifth in 59.35 seconds. Later that night, Baker completed her weekend by placing 10th in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:00.66.
 
Freshman Emily Nicastro (Rochester, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) recorded a pair of top-10 finishes to earn 19 points. She placed 10th in the 100-yard butterfly in a season-best 1:00.23. On Sunday evening, she recorded a seventh-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly in a season-best 2:14.36, the best time by a Dolphin in five seasons.

Sophomore Annie Steve (Cortland, N.Y./Cortland) registered a pair of top-11 finishes in the breaststroke events for the second straight year. In the 100-yard breaststroke, she placed 11th with a career-best time of 1:08.83. She then registered a career-best time of 2:31.90 to place 10th in the 200-yard breaststroke.
 
Votapka placed in the top-eight of the 1650-yard freestyle for the third time in four years by registering a career-best time of 18:05.72 to place eighth.
 
Sophomore Brittney Liddy (Rome, N.Y./Rome Free Academy/Iona) and freshman Kylee Wilson (Conesus, N.Y./Livonia) each earned double-digit points in the diving events. After placing 10th in the one-meter diving event with 280.50 points, she placed ninth off the three-meter board with 248.85 points. Wilson registered 268.60 points to place 11th off the one-meter board and then placed 12th in the three-meter event with 224.75 points.

The Dolphins return to the pool at the ECAC Championships at the U.S. Naval Academy Friday, February 26 through Sunday, February 28.