Thursday's Preliminary Round Results
Thursday's Final Round Results

ELKHART, Ind. –  The University of Evansville swimming & diving program posted three Top 20 finishes on Thursday on the first day of action at the CSCAA National Invitational Championships at the Beacon Health Aquatic Center in Elkhart, Indiana.

"Overall, it was a solid first day," said UE head coach Stuart Wilson.  "Obviously, with a meet of this size, there were some nerves, but we were able to get those out of the way, and I thought that there were some really good swims on both the men's and women's sides.  Hopefully, we can build on this effort the next two days."

On the women's side, junior Iryna Tsesiul (Minsk, Belarus) finished second in the consolation final of the 50-Yard Backstroke to place 12th overall with a finals time of 25.54.  It was a 0.17-second improvement from her preliminary round time of 25.71, as she placed 13th out of 93 competitors to advance to the consolation final.

The men's 400-Yard Medley Relay team of senior Riccardo Di Domenico (Johannesburg, South Africa), junior Alon Baer (Gesher HaZiv, Israel), and sophomores Patrik Vilbergsson (Kopavogur, Iceland) and Daniel Santos Lopez (Madrid, Spain) posted UE's best finish of the day, placing 11th out of 41 teams with a time of 3:15.23.  Santos Lopez also advanced to the consolation final in the 80-competitor 50-Yard Freestyle with a prelims time of 20:49, before posting an identical finals time to place 17th overall.

UE narrowly missed a top-20 finish in the 200-Yard Freestyle, as the Purple Aces' quartet of Santos Lopez, Di Domenico, sophomore Jakob Grundbacher (Thalwil, Switzerland) and freshman Daniil Goncharuk (Kyiv, Ukraine) posted a time of 1:22.38 to place 23rd overall.   

Baer also posted a 23rd-place finish in the men's 50-Yard Breaststroke with a time of 25.40.  Goncharuk was not far behind, placing 35th with a time of 25.64, with sophomore Benjamin Hasanovic (Innsbruck, Austria – 26.08), senior Max Dehen (Ramsey, Minn./Anoka – 26.16) and sophomore Carlos Souto (A Coruna, Spain – 26.43) all coming in shortly thereafter.
Di Domenico placed 33rd overall in the prelims of the 50 Free with a time of 20.64, with Goncharuk right behind him with a time of 21.21.  Vilbergsson also placed 34th in the men's 50-Yard Backstroke with a time of 23.21.

Santos Lopez placed 44th overall in the men's 50-Yard Butterfly with a time of 22.30.  On the women's side, sophomore Sveva Brugnoli (Rome, Italy) posted a time of 25.76 in the women's 50 Fly, while also posting a time of 2:07.60 in the 200 IM.  Junior Grant Kay (Ellicott City, Md./Hebron) also represented UE in the 500-Yard Freestyle, and posted a time of 4:43.67.

The National Invitational Championships will continue on Friday with preliminary rounds swims beginning at 8:30 a.m. central time, and the top 20 finishers from those races advancing to the finals at 5 p.m. central time.  Friday's action will consist of action in the 400 IM, the 100-Yard Butterfly, the 200 Free, the 100-Yard Breaststroke, the 100 Back, the 800-Freestyle Relays, and the 200-Yard Medley Relay.