Watch Thursday's Preliminary Round Swims
Watch Thursday's Final Round Swims
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – For the second-straight year, the University of Evansville swimming program will participate in the post-season, as 14 Purple Aces – 10 men and four women – will compete in the CSCAA National Invitational Championships in Elkhart, Indiana beginning on Thursday.
The NIC meet is college swimming's equivalent to basketball's NIT, and each of the 14 UE swimmers who are competing had to meet qualifying time standards or had to be an individual champion at the conference meet to qualify. It marks the second time in program history in which UE will send competitors to the National Invitational Championships.
"I am extremely proud of the hard work that all of our swimmers and divers put in this season," said UE head coach Stuart Wilson. "They have helped take this program to another level this year, and to be able to qualify 14 swimmers for the post-season meet is a tremendous accomplishment."
From the UE men's team, Mid-American Conference 200-Yard Breaststroke champion Alon Baer (Gesher HaZiv, Israel) headlines a group of 10 Purple Aces who qualified for the NIC meet. He is joined by seniors Max Dehen (Ramsey, Minn./Anoka) and Riccardo Di Domenico (Johannesburg, South Africa), junior Grant Kay (Ellicott City, Md./Hebron), sophomores Jakob Grundbacher (Thalwil, Switzerland), Benjamin Hasanovic (Innsbruck, Austria), Daniel Santos Lopez (Madrid, Spain), Carlos Souto (A Coruna, Spain) and Patrik Vilbergsson (Kopavogur, Iceland) and freshman Daniil Goncharuk (Kyiv, Ukraine) on the men's side. Baer led UE in scoring at last year's National Invitational Championships with 18 points, and he finished in the top 20 in both the 100- and 200-Yard Breaststroke events at last year's meet.
On the women's side, 100-Yard Backstroke school-record holder Iryna Tsesiul (Minsk, Belarus) will lead a pack of four Purple Aces at this year's NIC meet. She is joined by sophomores Sveva Brugnoli (Rome, Italy), Mari Müller (Zurich, Switzerland) and senior Allison McDonald (Cape Girardeau, Mo./Central) on the women's side. Three of the four UE women competing this week qualified for last year's NIC meet as well, with Tsesiul posting a top 20 finish in the 50-Yard Backstroke to lead the way last March.
The CSCAA National Invitational Championships will begin at 8:30 a.m. central time on Thursday with preliminary swims in the 50-Yard Backstroke, the 500-Yard Freestyle, the 50-Yard Butterfly, the 200 IM, the 50-Yard Breaststroke, the 50-Yard Freestyle, and the 400-Yard Medley Relay. Main event and consolation finals will begin Thursday night at 5 p.m. central time with all of the above events, as well as the competition in the 200-Yard Freestyle Relay. The CSCAA National Invitational Championships will continue on both Friday and Saturday as well.
