COLUMBIA, Mo. – The McKendree University men's swimming & diving team concluded action here Friday evening on the final day of the Mizzou Invitational held at the Mizzou Aquatic Center.
 
On the final day of the three-day event, the Bearcats had three NCAA 'B' Times, a Provisional time in the 400 freestyle relay, a first place finish in the 100 freestyle and a school and meet record in the 200 butterfly by sophomore Jackson Lustig (Milwaukee, Wis./Pius XI). Lustig also recorded an NCAA automatic qualifying time in the 200 butterfly.
 
McKendree finished third out of four teams with a total of 458 points. Missouri won the event with 1,253 points, while Brigham Young was second with 911 points. McKendree is one of two Division II schools competing in the event as Missouri S&T was fourth with 424 points.
 
In the opening event of Friday's finals was the 1,650 freestyle as junior Chance Conde (Jacksonville, Fla./Indian River State College) as he finished fourth with a time of 15:44.15, while freshman Preston Troyer (Dayton, Ohio/Xenia Christian) was fifth with a time of 15:51.10 and freshman Caden Brooks (Princeton, Ill./Princeton) was sixth with a time of 16:04.12.
 
Sophomore Patryk Rozenek (Radlin, Poland/Zsoms Raciborz) was fifth in the 'A' Final of the 200 backstroke with an NCAA 'B' Time of 1:46.32.
 
The next event was the 100 freestyle as fifth-year Gregg Lichinsky (West Des Moines, Iowa/West Des Moines Valley) as he came in first with an NCAA 'B' Time of 43.35. In addition to Lichinsky, sophomore Arthur Souza (Belo Horizonte, Brazil/Colegio Saber) was fifth with a time of 44.13. In the 'B' Final of the event, sophomore Alireza Yavari (Isfahan, Iran) was second with a time of 44.63, while senior Caleb Law (Anchorage, Alaska/Robert Service) was third with a time of 44.70 and sophomore Leo Gandaria-Hernandez (Milwaukee, Wis./Greenfield) was third with a time of 45.19.
 
In the next event, the 200 breaststroke, junior Filipe Pinheiro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/Colegio Ao Cubo) was sixth with an NCAA 'B' Time of 1:58.03 and freshman Noah Tague (Hutchinson, Minn./Hutchinson) was eighth with a time of 2:02.43.
 
Lustig turned in perhaps the best performance of the night in the next event, which was the 200 butterfly. Lustig and Missouri's Clement Secchi both set a meet record in the event and Lustig also set a new school record in the event as he finished second with a time of 1:42.14. The old meet record was 1:42.28 set by Micah Slaton of Missouri in 2019, while the old school record was 1:43.66 set by Lustig at last year's NCAA Championships. Freshman Ty Miller (Arlington, Texas/Arlington) was eighth in the 'A' Final with a time of 1:54.84.
 
The final event of the meet was the 400 freestyle relay as McKendree's 'A' Team recorded an NCAA Provisional time of 2:55.43 to finish in second place. The members of the runner-up relay team were Yavari, Law, Souza and Lichinsky.
This meet concluded the first semester portion of its schedule and the Bearcats will send several swimmers to compete at the USA Swimming's Toyota US Open held in Greensboro, N.C., on Nov. 30-Dec. 3. The first meet of the second semester is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 13 as the Bearcats compete in a dual meet against Lindenwood at the St. Peters Rec Plex in St. Peters, Mo.

Here are the results from Friday's third day of the Mizzou Invitational.
 
1,650 Freestyle
4. Conde, 15:44.15
5. Troyer. 15:51.10
6. Brooks, 16:04.12
9. Colin Gibson, 16:26.14
 
200 Backstroke
'A' Final
5. Rozenek, 1:46.32 (NCAA 'B' Time)
'B' Final
13. Abram Hagedorn, 1:51.11
14. Colton Grimes, 1:51.18
 
100 Freestyle
'A' Final
1. Lichinsky, 43.35 (NCAA 'B' Time)
5. Souza, 44.13
'B' Final
10. Yavari, 44.63
11. Law, 44.70
12. Gandaria-Hernandez, 45.19
14. Mario Perez Torrado, 45.72
16. Finn Moseley, 46.71
 
200 Breaststroke
'A' Final
6. Pinheiro, 1:58.03 (NCAA 'B' Time)
8. Tague, 2:02.43
'B' Final
10. Ethan Hanson, 2:04.51
 
200 Butterfly
'A' Final
2. Lustig, 1:42.14 (School Record/Meet Record/NCAA 'A' Time)
8. Miller, 1:54.84
'B' Final
11. Nick Khatkovyy, 1:54.75
14. Neill Mauss, 2:02.24
 
400 Freestyle Relay
3. McKendree 'A' – 2:55.43 (NCAA Provisional Time) – Yavari, Law, Souza, Lichinsky
7. McKendree 'B' – 3:03.41 – Gandaria-Hernandez, Moseley, Perez Torrado, Kirk Brotherton
10. McKendree 'C' – 3:04.47 – Khatkovyy, Hagedorn, Colton Grimes, Filip Cigic
11. McKendree 'D' – 3:05.35 – Lustig, Conde, Kadence Griffin, Matthew Stooke
12. McKendree 'E' – 3:10.33 – Joey Ovanic, Troyer, Brooks, Gavin Wagner
15. McKendree 'F' – 3:17.71 – Ian Garwold, Tague, Mauss, Noah Fishel
16. McKendree 'G' – 3:19.51 – Owen Brubaker, Hanson, Gibson, Miller