ELKHART, Ind. – For the third straight day, the McKendree University men's swimming and diving team continued to win medals at the 2022 Great Lakes Valley Conference Swimming & Diving Championships as they added three more medals to its tally here Friday at the Elkhart Health and Aquatics Center.
 
Through three days of the four-day championship meet, the Bearcats have now earned nine overall medals, including six gold medals, a silver and two bronze medals, including winning two golds and one bronze medal in Friday's third day of competition.
 
Heading into Saturday's final day of the championship meet, Indianapolis continues lead the way as the No. 1 ranked Greyhounds have collected 1,455.50 points, while No. 4 ranked McKendree sits second with 1,066.50 points and trails by 389 points. No. 3 Drury remains third with 1,055 points and 20th-ranked Missouri S&T is fourth with 943 points.
 
In Friday's third day of action, the Bearcats and the other nine men's teams competed in six event finals and in those six finals, McKendree won two of those six events and finished third in another event and fourth in 3-meter diving. Along with winning two events, the Bearcats also set two new school records, two new conference records, had one NCAA automatic qualifying time, one NCAA Provisional time and 15 total NCAA 'B'-cut times in both the finals and preliminaries.
 
McKendree's gold medal on the third day of the championships came in the fifth event of the night as freshman Jackson Lustig (Milwaukee, Wis./Pius XI) won the 200-yard butterfly in a new school and conference meet record time of 1:44.46. It was the second time on the day Lustig broke the conference record in the event as he recorded a time of 1:44.72 in the preliminaries and swam even faster in the finals. Lustig's time, which was an NCAA automatic qualifying time, bettered the old school mark of 1:44.72 Lustig set at this year's Purdue Invitational. Lustig earned his second medal of the championship meet as he earned a bronze medal in the 100-yard butterfly on Thursday.
 
Along with Lustig, senior Noah Javens (West Lafayette, Ind./William Henry Harrison) finished fifth with an NCAA 'B'-cut time of 1:48.36.
 
The second gold medal for the Bearcats came in the final event of the night as McKendree's 800 freestyle relay team recorded both a school record and conference record time of 6:30.66 to capture its third relay gold medal in three days. The time, which was an NCAA Provisional mark, bettered the old school record of 6:31.90 set at the 2020 GLVC Championships and eclipsed the conference record of 6:31.38 set by Missouri S&T in 2017. The members of the gold medal relay team were graduate student Xander Skinner (Namibia, Africa/Windhoek Afrikaans Private School), freshman Alireza Yavari (Isafahan, Iran/Shayestegan), freshman Filip Cigic (Zagreb, Croatia/Sportska Gimnazija) and freshman Arthur Souza (Belo Horizonte, Brazil/Colegio Saber).
 
McKendree's final medal of the night came in the 100 breaststroke as sophomore Filipe Pinheiro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/Colegio Ao Cubo) as he took home a bronze medal after recording an NCAA 'B'-cut time of 53.23 to win his third medal of the championship meet.

In the 3-meter diving competition, senior Ethan Larson (Anchorage, Alaska/PAIDAIE Cooperative School) recorded a fourth-place finish with a score of 504.30.
 
The only other swimming events that McKendree didn't medal in on Friday was in the 500 freestyle and 100 backstroke.
 
In the 500 freestyle, Cigic was ninth in the event with an NCAA 'B'-cut time of 4:28.78, while senior Charlie Fraser-Allen (London England/Highgate Wood Secondary School) was 11th with an NCAA 'B'-cut time of 4:31.14.
 
Meanwhile, in the 100 backstroke, the top Bearcat finisher was freshman Patryk Rozenek (Radlin, Poland/Zsoms Raciborz), who finished sixth with an NCAA 'B'-cut time of 48.12. In addition to Rozenek, the Bearcats also had three other swimmers finish in the Top 15 as junior DaVante Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Queens College) was ninth with an NCAA 'B'-cut time of 47.36, while freshman Emilio Perez (Milwaukee, Wis./Greenfield) was 13th with a 'B'-cut time of 48.92 and sophomore Colton Grimes (Champaign, Ill./Champaign Centennial) was 14th with a time of 49.31.
 
All first and second-place finishers earn first and second-team All-GLVC honors.
 
Here are McKendree's first and second-team All-GLVC honorees following the first three days of the GLVC Championships.
 
First Team
DaVante Carey – 200 Medley Relay, 400 Medley Relay
Filip Cigic – 800 Freestyle Relay
Caleb Law – 200 Medley Relay
Gregg Lichinsky – 200 Medley Relay, 50 Freestyle, 100 Butterfly, 400 Medley Relay
Jackson Lustig – 200 Butterfly
Filipe Pinheiro – 200 Medley Relay, 400 Medley Relay
Xander Skinner – 200 Freestyle, 400 Medley Relay, 800 Freestyle Relay
Arthur Souza – 800 Freestyle Relay
Alireza Yavari – 800 Freestyle Relay
 
Second Team
Law – 200 Freestyle Relay
Lichinsky – 200 Freestyle Relay
Emilio Perez – 200 Freestyle Relay
Xander Skinner – 200 Freestyle Relay
 
On Friday morning, the league held prelims in the 500 freestylem 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 200 butterfly and in those prelims, the Bearcats recorded eight NCAA 'B-cut times and Lustig set a conference meet record in the 200 butterfly as he and Javens went first and fourth in qualifying.
 
The fourth and final day of the GLVC Championships begins Saturday morning with preliminaries in the 100 freestyle, 200 backstroke and 200 breaststroke, beginning at 10 a.m. ET. The women's 1-meter diving prelims are set to begin at 12:30 p.m. ET, with the finals taking place shortly after the conclusion of the prelims. Additionally, seven heats of the 1,650 freestyle will start at 2:45 p.m. ET, while the diving finals are finishing.
 
At the conclusion of Saturday's competition, postseason honors will be awarded for Swimmer, Diver, Freshman and Coach of the Year, as well as the team honor of the James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award and the trophy presentation for the 2022 GLVC Champions.