“I’m really happy for the way the guys swam tonight; we had some great performances,” said head coach Rickey Perkins. “They really stepped up to the challenge today. It’s been a tough week of training. To see them come out and race the way they did was very exciting, especially going into conference championships in about five weeks. We’re hoping for good things. We’re just going to continue on doing what we do best, and that’s training hard and working on technique. We’ll rest and see what happens. Next week is Southern Illinois, and then a couple weeks after that, the MAC Championships.”
The men kicked off the afternoon with a victory in the 200 Medley Relay. Freshmen Credence Pattinson and Ryan Wood, sophomore Paul Cozzens, and junior Matt Duke teamed up to clock in a 1:36.51.
Freshman Pete Lingo earned a hard-fought 10:04.81 in the 1000 freestyle, edging out Ball State’s Isaac Walling for a 1st place finish.
Sophomore Brandt Hudson was next up with a win in the 200 freestyle. He touched in at a clean 1:44.00, nearly 2 seconds ahead of 2nd place.
Pattinson kept the winning momentum up in the 100 backstroke, with a 1st place finishing 51.69. Senior Brendan Ninneman followed in 3rd place with a 55.91, and freshman Austin Davidson recorded a 56.95 for 4th.
Cozzens earned his own win in the 200 butterfly, clocking a 1:56.51. Senior Prescott Marcy finished in 3rd with a 2:00.84.
Junior Jared Sutphin took a decisive 100 freestyle victory with a 47.72 finish, while sophomore Zack Sagan swam a 49.63 for 4th.
In the 200 backstroke, Credence Pattinson topped the event at a 1:54.71, and Hudson took the runner up with 1:55.35. Ninneman placed 4th at 2:02.28.
The Aces did that one better in the 200 breaststroke with a sweep of the event. In 1st place with a 2:12.23 was Paul Cozzens, followed by freshman Eli James in 2nd and junior Derek Stauder in 3rd at 2:15.01 and 2:18.78 respectively.
Pete Lingo earned himself another distance win in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:54.71. Sophomore Samad Abu-Shanab took 4thwith a 5:05.25.
Cozzens took one last individual victory before the day was over with a 4:12.42 in the 400 IM. Ninneman scored a 4:34.44 for 3rd.
Pattinson, Hudson, junior Matt Duke, and Sutphin took to the pool in the 400 freestyle relay to clock in a 3:11.78 for the last win of the day.
On the diving side, senior Cory Barnes took the sole victory on the boards but led the sweep in the 1-Meter. He scored 233.62 points, while junior Miguel Marcano earned a close 2nd at 227.85. Barnes placed 2nd on the 3-Meter with 234.15 points, and Marcano followed in 3rd at 197.17.
Evansville has one last regular season meet on February 3rd at SIU before both the men and women prepare for the MVC and MAC championship meets later in the month.
