ELKHART, Ind. – McKendree University men's swimming and diving got off to a strong start here on the first day of action at the 2022 Great Lakes Valley Conference Swimming & Diving Championships held at the Elkhart Health and Aquatics Center.
 
In Wednesday's opening day of action, the No. 4 ranked Bearcat men took home two gold medals and recorded one automatic NCAA Division II qualifying mark, two NCAA provisional marks and eight NCAA 'B' qualifying standards.
 
The two event wins for the Bearcats came in the first event of the evening finals, the 200-medley relay and also by senior Gregg Lichinsky (West Des Moines, Iowa/West Des Moines Valley) as he repeated as the champion in the 50 freestyle with a new championship meet record.
 
McKendree didn't waste any time in earning its first gold medal of the 2022 championships as they took home first place in the first event of the evening finals as they set a new GLVC meet mark in winning the 200-medley time in an NCAA provisional time of 1:25.53. That bettered their old meet record by about a second as the old mark of 1:26.31 was set in 2020.
 
The members of the gold medal winning 200-medley relay team were junior DaVante Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Queens College), sophomore Filipe Pinheiro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/Colegio Ao Cubo), Lichinsky and junior Caleb Law (Anchorage, Alaska/Robert Service).
 
While the Bearcats won the gold medal in the 200-medley relay, McKendree's 'B' relay team of freshman Emilio Perez (Milwaukee, Wis./Greenfield), senior Garrett Schrock (Peoria, Ill./Peoria), freshman Jackson Lustig (Milwaukee, Wis./Pius XI) and senior Taras Zherebetskyy (Alghero, Sardegna, Italy/ITS "Angelo Roth") recorded a time of 1:29.69 to finish third in the B-Finals.
 
In the third final of the first night session, Lichinsky, continued to show his dominance in the 50-yard freestyle as he captured his second consecutive gold medal in the event after recording a new meet record time of 19.68. The time of 19.68 bettered Lichinsky's old meet record of 19.70 set at last year's championship meet. Additionally, the time was also an NCAA Division II automatic qualifying time.
 
Along with Lichinsky, the Bearcats also went fourth, seventh and eighth in the event to score 102.5 points in the event. In the event, graduate student Xander Skinner (Namibia, Africa/Windhoek Afrikaans Private School) was fourth with a 'B' cut time of 19.92, while Perez was seventh with a 'B' time of 19.95 and Law was eighth with a 'B' cut time of 20.14.
 
Carey was fifth in the B-Final with a 'B' cut time of 20.31 and freshman Arthur Souza (Belo Horizonte, Brazil/Colegio Saber) tied for second in the C-Final with a 'B' cut time of 20.71.
 
Along with taking home two gold medals, the Bearcats also earned a silver medal in the 200-freestyle relay as McKendree recorded an NCAA provisional time of 1:18.67, which was one-tenth of a second off the old meet record of 1:18.66 set by Drury in 2021. UIndy won the gold medal in the event with a new meet record time of 1:18.10.
 
The members of the silver medal 200-freestyle relay team were Perez, Skinner, Law and Lichinsky.
 
McKendree's 'B' relay team of Zherebetskyy, Souza, senior Noah Javens (West Lafayette, Ind./William Henry Harrison) and freshman Alireza Yavari (Isfahan, Iran/Shayestegan) was eighth with a time of 1:22.24.
 
Pinheiro turned in an NCAA 'B' cut time and a new record in the 200 IM as he swam a time of 1:49.58 to place sixth in the A-Final of the event. The time of 1:49.58 bettered the old school record time of 1:49.89 that Pinheiro recorded earlier this season at the Purdue Invitational.
 
Senior Charlie Fraser-Allen (London, England/Highgate Wood Secondary School), Lustig and freshman Filip Cigic (Zabreb, Croatia/Sportska Gimnazija) went sixth, seventh and eighth respectively in the 1,000 freestyle as they all recorded 'B' cut times of 9:23.90, 9:24.89 and 9:26.91.
 
McKendree's final points on the first day of the championships came in 1-meter diving as senior Ethan Larson (Anchorage, Alaska/PAIDAIE Cooperative School) finished sixth in the A-Final with a mark of 424.50. Senior Kenneth Glidden (George Town, Cayman Islands/Triple C School) was fifth in the B-Final with a mark of 235.25.
 
Thanks to its two gold medals and one silver medal performance on Wednesday, the Bearcats finished the first day of the championships in second place with 428 points. No. 2 ranked Indianapolis, who won four events on Wednesday's first day of action, sits in first place with 482.5 points. No. 6 Lindenwood is in third place with 350 points and top-ranked Drury sits fourth with 345 points.
 
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 day of the GLVC Championships.
 
First Team
DaVante Carey – 200 Medley Relay
Caleb Law – 200 Medley Relay
Gregg Lichinsky – 200 Medley Relay, 50 Freestyle
Filipe Pinheiro – 200 Medley Relay
 
Second Team
Law – 200 Freestyle Relay
Lichinsky – 200 Freestyle Relay
Emilio Perez – 200 Freestyle Relay
Xander Skinner – 200 Freestyle Relay
 
The second day of the four-day championships meet begins with preliminaries of the 100 butterfly, 400 IM and 200 freestyle beginning at 10 a.m. ET on Thursday. The women's 3-meter diving begins at 12:30 p.m. ET, with the finals taking place shortly after the conclusion of the prelims. On Thursday evening, the league will conduct championship finals in 100 butterfly, 400 IM, 200 freestyle and 400 medley relay.