OXFORD, Ohio – The University of Evansville men's swimming team continued its assault on the UE record book on Thursday, as the Purple Aces broke or tied a school record seven different times in preliminary round and final round swims at the 2023 Mid-American Conference Championships in Oxford, Ohio.
"What a great team effort today!" said UE head coach Stuart Wilson. "We had a lot of personal-best times, and of course, breaking a school record seven different times, with two of those records going all the way back to 2001. It was another great day in the pool today!"
Sophomore Patrik Vilbergsson (Kopavogur, Iceland) started the day with a school record for UE in the day's first event – the 500-Yard Freestyle prelims. Vilbergsson tied the school record held by former teammate Oskar Menkhaus of 4:31.60 to advance to Thursday night's finals. He then lowered that mark again in the finals with a time of 4:31.22 to finish second in the consolation final and post the eighth-fastest time of Thursday night's action.
Junior Alon Baer (Gesher HaZiv, Israel) then followed Vilbergsson's preliminary round record Thursday morning with a new school-record time of 1:49.91 in the 200-Yard IM. Baer's time topped UE Hall of Fame swimmer Dave Nel's mark of 1:50.94, set in 2001.
Sophomore Daniel Santos Lopez (Madrid, Spain) then broke the third school record of the preliminary round on Thursday morning with a time of 20.32 in the 50 Free. It snapped a three-way tie for the record between Santos Lopez, Menkhaus and Nel. Santos Lopez then equaled that time of 20.32 in Thursday night's "A Final" to place seventh overall in a tightly-contested race, as just 0.87 seconds separated first from last in the 50 Free final.
Santos Lopez's record in the 50 Free would not last long though, as senior Riccardo Di Domenico (Johannesburg, South Africa) continued an amazing start to his MAC Championships by posting a time of 20.31 as the lead-leg of UE's 200-Yard Freestyle Relay team. Di Domenico teamed with Santos Lopez, freshman Daniil Goncharuk (Kyiv, Ukraine) and sophomore Benjamin Hasanovic (Innsbruck, Austria) to also break the 200 Free Relay record with a combined time of 1:21.29.
Overall, Evansville has broken a school record 10 different times through the first two days of the MAC Championships. Di Domenico has helped lead the charge, by being a part of two relay school records, as well as breaking two individual records in the 50 and 200 Freestyle events as the lead-off man on those relays.
Evansville also had juniors Jackson Caudill (Mt. Sterling, Ky./Montgomery County) and Grant Kay (Ellicott City, Md./Hebron) both make the consolation final in the 500 Free on Thursday. Caudill turned in a personal-best mark of 4:32.34 to place 12th overall, while Kay narrowly missed his personal-best time in the preliminary round with a season-best time of 4:36.21. Sophomore Carlos Souto (A Coruna, Spain) and senior Max Dehen (Ramsey, Minn./Anoka) both turned in personal-best times in the 200 IM, with marks of 1:51.75 and 1:55.95, respectively, in the preliminary round. UE also had multiple swimmers post personal-best marks in the 50 Free on Thursday.
The MAC Championships will continue on Friday, with action in the 100 Fly, the 400 IM, the 200 Free, 100 Breaststroke, 100 Back, 400 Medley Relay, and the three-meter diving competition scheduled to take place. Preliminary round swims will begin at 9:30 a.m. central time, with finals scheduled for 5 p.m.
