“Our focus for tonight was to be the teammate you want others to be,” said head coach Rickey Perkins.  “We did that tonight and ended up having a pretty good session.”

A number of Aces returned to this evening’s finals round. The session began with the 400 IM, in which both Evansville representatives participated. Sophomore Paul Cozzens and senior Brendan Ninneman clocked 3:58.86 and 4:14.56 respectively for 11^th and 15^th places. Additionally, Cozzens broke the school record set by Dave Nel in 2000.

In the preliminary round of the 100 backstroke, freshman Credence Pattinson qualified for the A-Final with a time of 48.79, while breaking a 19 year-old school record of 48.88, set by Olympian Nikola Kalabic. Pattinson went on to clock in a 48.44 to take his place on the podium for 3^rd. Pattinson is the first individual men’s swimmer to take a top 8 championship finish since 2012. His time was also an NCAA B-Cut Qualifier. Sophomore Brandt Hudson competed in the consolation final. He clocked in a season best time of 49.96 to place 13^th.

The Evansville 400 Medley Relay placed 5^th with a final time of 3:21.83. The team of Pattinson, Cozzens, senior Prescott Marcy, and Hudson managed to outtouch the Ball State relay by nearly two and a half seconds.

In this morning’s preliminary round, freshman Zack Sagan recorded a personal best time of 51.24. In the same event, junior David Stoddard clocked his own personal best 51.63. In an official time trial for the 50 freestyle, Sagan gained yet another personal best. Stoddard participated in a time trial as well, earning a best time of 47. 90 in the 100 freestyle.

“We have one more day,” said Perkins. “I am excited to see what may happen.”

Tomorrow’s preliminary session will begin at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Events will include the 100 freestyle, 200s of the strokes, and the 1650 freestyle.