COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Following the results of the 2022 Open Water National & Junior Championships, which took place April 1-3 in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., USA Swimming today announced the names of the 12 athletes who will represent the U.S. at the 2022 FINA World Junior Open Water Championships September 1-4 in Beau Vallon, Seychelles.

Competing for the U.S. in the 10K will be Joshua Brown (Highlander Aquatic Club), Brice Barrieault (Sandpipers of Nevada), Mariah Denigan (Indiana University) and Summer Smith (University of Tennessee). In the 7.5K, the U.S. will send out three Sandpipers of Nevada swimmers in Ilya Kharun, Luke Ellis and Tokyo Olympian Katie Grimes, along with Fast Lane Aquatics’ Claire Stuhlmacher. The 5K will see Samuel Marsteiner (New Wave Swim Team), Nathan Szobota (NOVA of Virginia), Claire Weinstein (Sandpipers of Nevada) and Abigail Miller (Mission Viejo Nadadores) wearing the American flag cap.

The various events at the 2022 FINA World Junior Open Water Championships will be broken down into age groups, with 18-19-year-old athletes taking on the 10K, while the 16-17-year-old division tackles the 7.5K and the 14-15-year-old division competes in the 5K.

“I’m excited to have this opportunity back on our schedule,” USA Swimming National Team Open Water Director Bryce Elser said. “We have not had a major international open water competition at the junior level since 2018, so this will be a great opportunity for our best swimmers to race the best athletes in the world in their respective age groups. Our junior athletes have been successful on the domestic stage in open water swimming for years, and I am looking forward to watching them display their talents on the international stage again.”

The 2018 competition took place in Eilat, Israel, seeing the U.S. capture three medals (two gold, one bronze) across the three individual events. Tokyo Olympians Michael Brinegar and Erica Sullivan represented the U.S. at the competition, as did the 15-year-old Denigan, who is the lone member of the 2018 U.S. roster to compete again in 2022.

Evansville, In.: After taking a 3-1 lead into the third period, the Ice Bears managed to come back with four goals to defeat the Thunderbolts 5-3 on Friday night at Ford Center. The Thunderbolts first home playoff game at Swonder Ice Arena will be on either Friday, April 15^th or Saturday, April 16^th at 7:00pm CST, exact date and opponent to be determined.  For tickets, call (812)422-BOLT (2658), buy online at EvansvilleThunderbolts.com, or buy tickets in person at the Ford Center Box Office.

Derek Osik opened the scoring at 15:54 of the first period, assisted by Connor Chatham and Scott Kirton to give Evansville the first lead of the night.  In the second period, Coy Prevost scored at 3:33 from Mike Ferraro and Austin Plevy to give Evansville a 2-0 lead, however the Ice Bears struck back as Andrew Bellant scored at 5:42 to make it a 2-1 game.  With 1 minute left in the period, Plevy deflected a shot from Cooper Jones into the net to give Evansville a 3-1 lead, also assisted by Mike Pellegrini.  The Ice Bears countered with early third period goals from Brady Fleurent and Chris Jones to tie the game, the go-ahead goal from Dean Balsamo at 14:41, and an empty net goal from Bellant to win it for Knoxville, 5-3.

Plevy finished with a goal and assist, while Prevost and Osik scored one goal each.  Chris Janzen stopped 20 of 24 shots faced.  The Thunderbolts and Ice Bears meet again once more this Saturday night in Knoxville to conclude the 2021-22 regular season.

Tournament set for Monday and Tuesday

 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Next up for the University of Evansville men’s golf team is a trip to Old Hickory, Tennessee for the Tennessee State University Big Blue Intercollegiate.

The Presidents Course at Hermitage Golf Club will host the tournament on Monday and Tuesday.  Day one consists of 36 holes with the second day set for one round of 18.  The full participant list and tournament par will be added when available.

Last time out, the Purple Aces competed at the Butler Spring Invitational.  Isaac Rohleder completed the final day with a 70 to improve to a tie for 8^th in the final individual standings with a 2-round tally of 142.  Dallas Koth and Caleb Wassmer tied for 34^th on the final leaderboard with totals of 148.  Koth recorded a 77 on Tuesday while Wassmer carded a 78.

Henry Kiel and Carson Parker both made a large jump in the final round.  After scoring an 80 on Monday, Kiel scored a 74 and finished with a total of 154 strokes.  Parker made a 10-stroke jump, dropping his score from an 85 to a 75.  He finished with a 160.  Nicholas Gushrowski improved on the individual side, going from an 81 to a 77 to score a 157.

Aces are tied for second entering the final round

 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Fresh off a second-place finish earlier this week at Indiana State, the University of Evansville women’s golf team opened the Murray State Jan Weaver Invite by finishing the opening round in a tie for the second position.

Weather limited the teams to 18 holes on Friday with the final 18 set for Saturday morning at Miller Memorial Golf Course.

Allison Enchelmayer led the Purple Aces with a 3-over 75.  Her effort has her tied for third entering the final round.  One behind her was Alyssa McMinn.  Her 4-over score of 76 is tied for 5^th place.  Ranking third for the Aces is Magdalena Borisova.  She carded a 79 on Friday and sits in a tie for 14^th.

Mallory Russell completed the opening 18 holes with an 82 while Caitlin O’Donnell scored an 85.  The pair rank in a tie for 29^th and 44^th, respectively.  Carly Frazier wrapped up the opening round with an 88.

Evansville is right in the thick of the battle and enters Saturday’s final 18 in a tied for second place, just three strokes off the lead.  UE is tied with North Carolina A&T with a score of 312.  Samford leads the way in the team standings with a 309.  Belmont (313) and Murray State (319) round out the top five.

Sophie Membrino of Samford leads the individual standings.  She carded a 1-over 73 in round one and leads teammate Bailey Dunstan by one.  Enchelmayer is tied for third, just two shots behind the leader.

Aces stand at 5-4 in Valley action

 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Looking to secure its third Missouri Valley Conference series victory in the opening four weeks, the University of Evansville softball team travels to Illinois State for a 3-game set this weekend.  Saturday’s doubleheader opens the weekend at noon with Sunday’s finale set for a 12 p.m. start; all three games will be on ESPN3.

 Last Time Out

– Taking to the road for the first time in Valley play, the Aces took two out of three games last weekend at Loyola

– Trailing 2-1 heading to the seventh inning of game one, UE rallied to score three times on its way to a 4-2 win

– Mackenzie McFeron had the game-tying single before Jessica Fehr added the game-winning double

– Sydney Weatherford also added an RBI single in the inning to cap off the win; the freshman made the start in game two, tossing a 2-hit shutout to lead UE to a 4-0 win

– Monday’s finale saw the Ramblers hit a walk-off home run in a 4-3 victory

Another Stellar Performance

– Alyssa Barela continued to put up strong offensive numbers in the Aces’ trip to Chicago last weekend

– She went 1-3 in the opener before posting a 2-3 effort in game two with a home run, double and three RBI

– With one out and two runners on in the bottom of the 9th on March 27, Barela belted a 3-run walk-off home run to give the Aces a 6-3 win over UNI

– She entered the March 4 home opener with four hits in her first 30 at-bats of the season before rebounding to hit .444 in the opening four home contests

Finishing Strong

– Mackenzie McFeron is putting up the top offensive numbers of her career – she has 11 RBI in her career with eight of them coming this season

– She connected on one of the biggest hits of the season, hitting the game-tying double in the 7th inning of the opener at Loyola

– Four of those RBI came in the doubleheader sweep over Drake in March

– In game one, her triple in the sixth inning proved to be the game-winner in a 5-3 UE win that evened the weekend series

– McFeron did even better in the finale, belting a base-clearing walk-off double to seal a 12-3 victory and a series win

Dual Threat

– Freshman Sydney Weatherford is off to an impressive start to her college career, ranking in a tie for 7th in the MVC with 20 RBI while sitting 5th with her season ERA of 2.51

– She is coming off the best start of her career at Loyola, throwing a 2-hit shutout while tossing her fourth complete game in the last five starts

– Weatherford recorded a hit in both games of Sunday’s doubleheader at Loyola and registered an RBI single in the 7th inning rally in game one