EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – McKendree University men's swimming get off to a strong start to the 2021-22 season here Saturday at the St. Louis Showcase held at the Chuck Fruit Aquatic Center on the campus of Edwardsville High School.
The Bearcats swam in 10 events and took home first place in all 10 events, including finishing 1,2 and 3 in two of the 10 events. In addition, the team also took all the top nine spots in the 100-meter freestyle.
McKendree got the meet started off by having its 200-meter medley relay team of junior DeVante Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Queens College), sophomore
Filipe Pinheiro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/Colegio Ao Cubo), freshman
Jackson Lustig (Milwaukee, Wis./Pius XI) and graduate student
Xander Skinner (Namibia, Africa/Windhoek Afrikaans Private School) swim a pool record time of 1:45.83 en route to finishing in first place.
In addition, McKendree's B, C, D and E relay teams finished third, fourth, seventh and ninth. The 'B' relay team of freshman
Patryk Rozenek (Radlin, Poland/Zsoms Raciborz), junior
Caleb Law (Anchorage, Alaska/Robert Service), freshman
Alireza Yavari (Isfahan, Iran/Shayestegan) and freshman
Arthur Souza (Belo Horizonte, Brazil/Colegio Saber) swam a third place time of 1:50.25. The 'C' team posted a time of 1:52.52, while the D and E teams recorded times of 1:54.51 and 1:57.56 respectively.
The Bearcats has a strong swim in the 50-meter butterfly as they had the top six of the Top 10 swimmers in the event. Senior
Gregg Lichinsky (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) took home first place with a time of 25.67, while Carey was thrid with a time of 26.02 and freshman
Nick Khatkovvy (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South) was fifth with a time of 26.97. Senior
Taras Zherebetskyy (Alghero, Italy/ITS "Angelo Roth") was seventh with a time of 27.22, while Rozenek was eighth with a time of 27.23 and senior
Noah Javens (West Lafayette, Ind./William Henry Harrison) was 10th with a time of 27.32.
Pinheiro and Lustig took home first and second place in the 200-meter IM as Pinheiro posted a time of 2:14.92 and Lustig swam a time of 2:15.13. Senior Gary Schrock (Peoria, Ill./Peoria) and senior
Macoy Neinas (Sturgeon Bay, Wis./Southern Door) were eighth and 11th overall with times of 2:24.39 and 2:28.90.
McKendree was also strong in the 50-meter freestyle as they placed in the top three spots overall and had six swimmers finish in the Top 10 of the event. Skinner placed first in the event with a time of 24.13, while Law was second with a time of 24.18 and Lichinsky was third with a time of 24.50. Other Bearcats that placed in the Top 12 were Souza, who was 5th with a time 25.07, senior
Robert Ross (Phoenix, Ariz./Boulder Creek) was seventh with a time of 25.79, Khatkovyy was eighth with a time of 25.95 and sophomore
Colton Grimes (Champaign, Ill./Champaign Centennial) was ninth with a time of 26.08.
The Bearcats went first, second and fourth in the 400-meter freestyle as senior
Charlie Fraser-Allen (London, England/Highgate Wood Secondary School) placed first with a time of 4:17.86 and Lustig was second with a time of 4:18.21. Freshman
Leo Gandaria-Hernandez (Milwaukee, Wis./Greenfield) was fourth with a time of 4:30.18.
McKendree also went first, third, fourth, fifth and seventh in the 500-meter freestyle relay as the 'A' team of Lichinsky, Skinner, Gandaria-Hernandez and Yavari posted a time of 4:45.50 to win the event. The 'C' team of Zherebetskyy, Schrock, Lustig and Fraser-Allen was third with a time of 4:55.43.The B, D and E teams posted times of 5:02.27, 5:07.76 and 5:11.16 respectively.
Carey and Rozenek went 1-2 in the 50-meter backstroke as they recorded times of 27.63 and 28.16 respectively.
Pinheiro, freshman Evan Hanson (Houlton, Wis./Hudson), Law and Schrock went first, second, fifth and ninth in the 50-meter breaststroke. Pinheiro's winning time was 29.95, which was 12 hundrenths of second off the pool record of 29.82. Hanson's second place time was 32.20, while Law went 32.35 and Schrock tallied a time of 32.74.
Perhaps the event of the day for the Bearcats was the 100-meter freestyle as McKendree had the top nine finishers overall in the event as Skinner led the way with a first place time of 53.40. Souza was second with a time of 54.05 and Yavari was third with a time of 54.48.
In the final event of the meet, the Bearcats went first, third, fifth and ninth in the mixed 200-meter freestyle relay. The 'A' team of Law, Skinner, freshman Karley Sonnenberg (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) and senior Abigail Rumpp (Knoxville, Tenn./L&N STEM Academy) recorded a time of 1:44.18. The 'B' team of Lichinsky, Souza, senior Haley Rey (Columbia, Ill./Columbia) and senior Hallie Dixon (Jeffersonville, Ind./Jeffersonville) posted a time of 1:46.3 to finish third.
McKendree is scheduled to return to the pool Friday, Oct. 8 as they travel to Carbondale, Ill., for a 2 p.m. dual match against Southern Illinois University.