CARBONDALE, Ill. – McKendree Men's Swim and Dive held its own against division one competition at Southern Illinois University last Friday at the Shea Natatorium.
Starting off with a strong showing in the 200-yard medley relay, the group of Joey Ovanic, Nojus Bertulis, Daniel de Oliveria and Tyson Upton narrowly missed on the top spot, finishing with a 1:27.79, only 0.7 seconds from tying first.
Jakub Rynkiewicz earned the first win for the Bearcats in the 1000-yard freestyle by a 12 second margin ahead of second with a time 9:12.62. Noah Brereton had a third-place finish in the event finishing with 9:30.99.
Miguel Carvalhosa had a good third-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle swimming 1:40.25 in the event. Caden Brooks followed that up with a second-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke. Brooks also went on to finish second in the 200-yard backstroke and 400-yard individual medley as well.
Newcomer, Tyler Bardak made an immediate impact in his first meet as a Bearcat. He got a third-place finish in both the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke with times of 56.67 and 2:03.06. Atticus Sternke finished right behind him with a 56.79 in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Phin Theall also had a third-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly finishing with a time of 1:49.97. Carson Olson swam 1:50.24, landing him fourth in the event.
Vova Gavrysh got another win for McKendree in the 50-yard freestyle finishing with a 20.23; de Oliveira earned a third-place finish in the event, stopping the clock at 21.16.
Upton had a third-place podium finish in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 44.65. It was a close race for first as the top three finishers all finsihed within 0.20 seconds of each other.
Rynkiewicz and Carvalhosa claimed the top two spots in the 500-yard freestyle with times of 4:29.34 and 4:30.11 respectively. De Oliveira followed that event with a second-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly.
To end the day the squad of de Oliveira, Theall, Patrick Cramer and Rynkiewicz came in with a third-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay, combining for a time of 3:04.78
Next, the team will have its senior day meet at the McKendree Metro Rec Plex at 1:30 p.m. They will be taking on Lewis University and UMSL on January 24th with the senior day festivities starting at 1:20 p.m.
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