FOOTNOTE: EPD DAILY ACTIVITY REPORT information was provided by the EPD and posted by the City-County-County Observer without opinion, bias, or editing.
Deputy breaks three-meter dive record in loss at Evansville
EVANSVILLE, Ind.- University of Southern Indiana Men’s Swimming and Diving fell short in the crosstown battle on the campus of University of Evansville on Friday evening, 83.5-152.5.
Highlighting the night was sophomore Nathan Deputy‘s monstrous performance in the three-meter dive event. The Evansville native continues to shine in the crosstown battle shattering the three-meter school record, scoring 278.33. Deputy broke his own record from the diving only meet against the Purple Aces last spring where he scored 271.88. Junior Lane Pollock delivered another consistent day off the one-meter dive board with a score of 264.38.
Another huge moment came from junior Jack Hannon who’s been a Screaming Eagle for all three years of the programs existence. Hannon placed first in the 1000 freestyle (10:26.83) as the pool deck roared in support.
Freshman Luke Rich continued to improve with a second place finish in the 200 freestyle (1:48.13), marking a personal best. Freshman Justin Knauf showcased a similar story, posting a personal best in the 200 IM (2:01.34).
Freshman Jude Winnington earned another personal best in the 100 butterfly (53.27). Sophomore Sam Smith trailed right behind the freshman with a third place 100 butterfly finish (53.47).
What’s Next
The Eagles will return to the pool on Nov. 14-16 at the A3 Performance Invitational hosted by Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.
Lady Blazers fall in season opener at Moberly Area Classic
MOBERLY, Mo. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers opened their season Friday afternoon at the 2024 Orscheln Classic hosted by Moberly Area Community College in Missouri.
The Lady Blazers opened their season against Mineral Area College and came out on the wrong end of an 87-69 final score to the Lady Cardinals.
Vincennes got the season off to an excellent start, opening the game and quickly building an 8-3 lead in the first quarter.
Mineral Area battled back and closed out the quarter on an 11-2 run to take an 18-13 lead after the first 10 minutes of play.
The Lady Cardinal lead continued to grow in the second quarter, getting the lead to double digits at 29-19 before closing out the first half of action with eight straight points, giving Mineral Area a 43-28 lead going into the halftime break.
The Lady Blazers battled into the second half but were unable to get the lead back to single digits, with Mineral Area leading 69-53 heading into the fourth quarter of play.
Vincennes would gain some momentum early in the fourth quarter, opening the final period of play with an 8-3 run to cut the deficit to 11 before the Lady Cardinals swung the momentum back with a 9-2 scoring run of their own.
The two teams traded baskets down the stretch with Mineral Area holding off the Lady Blazers and coming away with the 87-69 victory.
The Lady Blazers were led offensively by a big double-double by sophomore Kennedy Johnson-Corley (Clarksville, Tenn.) who led VU with 29 points and 11 rebounds in her Trailblazer debut, while also coming away with three steals and two blocks.
Freshman Netala Dixon (Dyersburg, Tenn.) had a good all-around game, finishing with 13 points, three rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks.
Freshman Ahmya Thomas (Phoenix, Ariz.) was the third Lady Trailblazer in double figures, coming off the bench to score 13 points, grab five rebounds and dish out three assists.
The Lady Trailblazers will regroup and look to get in the win column when they return to Moberly Area C.C. tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 2, for the final day of the Orscheln Classic.
Vincennes will close out their opening weekend slate against host Moberly Area Community College. Tip-off time is set for 6 p.m. eastern.
No. 4/6 Hoosiers Fall to No. 2/2 Texas
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – No. 4/6 Indiana men’s and women’s swimming and diving fell to No. 2/2 Texas in early-season dual meet action on Friday (Nov. 1) inside the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin, Texas.
Indiana’s day, split in two sessions, was highlighted most-of-all by its veteran men’s divers. Seniors Carson Tyler and Quinn Henninger finished 1-2 on both springboards. Tyler posted scores of 407.03 on 1-meter and 441.60 on 3-meter. Henninger was right behind him with scores of 353.78 and 408.98. Freshman Joshua Sollenberger placed fourth on 1-meter (339.23) and junior Maxwell Weinrich was fourth on 3-meter (375.45). On the women’s side, senior Skyler Liu was the runner-up on the 1-meter board (301.05) and third on 3-meter (312.93).
Sophomore Miranda Grana continued her fast form, winning the backstroke double. In the morning, Grana posted an NCAA A cut in the 200-yard backstroke with a 1:50.50, the fastest time in the nation this season. She followed it up in the evening with a 51.04 in the 100 back to become the second-fastest woman in program history.
IU swept the 200 back thanks to Grana and junior Owen McDonald’s program record and NCAA A cut 1:38.13 in the morning. McDonald toppled Brendan Burns’ 1:38.18 from the 2023 NCAA Championships.
Like Grana, junior Kristina Paegle won two events. Paegle outpaced Texas Olympian Erin Gemmell in the 50-yard freestyle (21.92) and 100-yard freestyle (48.11) and posted the meet’s best anchor splits in the 200 freestyle relay (21.42) and 200 medley relay (21.48).
Junior Zalán Sárkány posted Indiana’s second program record of the day in the 1,000-yard freestyle. His 8:39.44 was 10 seconds quicker than IU’s previous standard and finished second Friday by nineteen hundredths.
TEAM SCORES
Men: No. 2 Texas 97, No. 4 Indiana 89
Women: No. 2 Texas 123, No. 6 Indiana 63
HOOSIER WINNERS
Men
Luke Barr – 200 freestyle relay (1:16.57)
Finn Brooks – 200 freestyle relay (1:16.57)
Mikkel Lee – 200 freestyle relay (1:16.57), 50 freestyle (19.32)
Owen McDonald – 200 backstroke (1:38.13)
Dylan Smiley – 200 freestyle relay (1:16.57)
Carson Tyler – 1-meter (407.03), 3-meter (441.60)
Jassen Yep – 200 breaststroke (1:51.94)
Women
Miranda Grana – 200 backstroke (1:50.50), 100 backstroke (51.04)
Kristina Pa
No. 18 Trailblazers erase second half deficit in season opener overtime win
VINCENNES, Ind. – The No. 18-ranked Vincennes University Trailblazers opened their 2024-25 campaign Friday night inside the Physical Education Complex with day one of the 2024 Kiwanis Classic against East Mississippi Community College.
The Blazers were able to battle back from a 13-point second half deficit to force overtime and come away with an 80-73 victory over the Lions.
Vincennes got off to a slow start in the season opener, with East Mississippi scoring the first seven points of the game, which VU immediately answered with a 7-0 run of their own.
VU broke away midway through the first half with a 13-2 scoring run to take a 28-18 advantage over the Lions before EMCC answered back with a late first half 12-0 scoring run to regain the lead at 35-32.
The teams would trade baskets going into the break with East Mississippi holding a 37-33 lead over the Trailblazers going into the locker room at halftime.
Coming out of locker room in the second half EMCC looked determined to put the game away early, building the largest lead of the game at 53-40 with 15 minutes remaining on the clock.
The Lion lead would remain at double digits before the Blazers got the crowd back into the game with an 8-0 run to cut the East Mississippi lead to 60-57.
VU would even the score at 61-61 with 3:30 to play before the Lions answered back with five straight.
Vincennes refused to go away, closing out regulation with a three-point play by sophomore and 2024 NJCAA All-American Lebron Thomas (Bishopville, S.C.) and a basket by sophomore Bryan Akanmu (Paris, France) evening the score again at 66-66 with 28 seconds left.
The VU defense would hold, sending this game into overtime.
In the overtime period, the two teams began by trading shots back and forth, with VU getting a spark off of a three by freshman Christian Andrews (Asheville, N.C.) before Lebron Thomas sealed the game late at the free throw line, closing out the victory for the Blazers by the final score 80-73.
“We just made more solid plays,” VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. “I thought we fought on the defensive end pretty well except for the last five minutes of the first half. Those last five minutes we gave in to a little bit of the ‘we’re ahead and I’m tired’ mentality and we were a little slow on close outs, a little soft on post defense. We got a little loose and we gave them a chance to get momentum and then it was a heck of a thing to get it away from them.”
“I thought we were fighting and trying to get traction the first 10 minutes of the second half,” Franklin added. “We just couldn’t quite finish plays and make the little shots. Of course they throw up one at the shot clock from about 40 feet. But we showed a lot of toughness tonight. We didn’t do anything special. We just said we need to get solid and get stops. We know what we need to do to get stops.”
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Aces men’s soccer unbeaten streak snapped at Missouri State
The Purple Aces shot with 60% accuracy on Friday
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – An early lead didn’t last for the University of Evansville men’s soccer team in a 6-1 loss to the Missouri State Bears.
Redshirt freshman midfielder Jacopo Fedrizzi (Guilia, Italy) scored his fourth goal of the season at Betty & Bobby Allison South Stadium in the seventh minute. But six unanswered goals from Missouri State resulted in UE’s first loss since September. Senior midfield Jose Vivas (Teruel, Spain) was the only Evansville player with multiple shots on Friday with two.
“We were beat by the better team tonight,” said Head Coach Robbe Tarver following the match. “We asked the team to press and they punished us for it. We won’t let one game define us. We will be ready for Belmont on Wednesday.”
It was a fast start to Friday’s match as the Bears had the first shot in the third minute. But it was the Aces who struck first as Fedrizzi had the first shot for UE and the team’s only goal. Fedrizzi found his way to the six and shot the ball past Missouri State’s goalkeeper into the middle of the net. Evansville held onto the lead for the next 27 minutes as the Bears racked up eight shots. Missouri State found the equalizer in the 34th minute as the first half ended with the match tied 1-1.
It was all Bears out of the gate in the second half with two goals in the first four minutes. The Aces pressed shortly after with back-to-back shots including a chance for senior forward Nacho Diaz Barragan (Almeria, Spain) in the 63rd minute that was saved in the middle of the net. UE had a third shot on net in the 75th minute from freshman midfielder Håkon Edstrøm (Baerum, Norway) took an attempt from just inside the 18 that was also saved.
Evansville’s final shot came from Vivas in the 76th minute to the left of the penalty area. The shot sailed just high over the crossbar. In the final 10 minutes of the match Missouri State netted three more goals starting in the 82nd minute. The Aces didn’t find the offensive end again as the Bears handed UE its first loss in over a month.
Evansville returns home for its final match of the regular season on Wednesday evening. The Aces welcome Belmont to Arad McCutchan Stadium to try and get a home win against the Bruins for the first time since 2017. Kickoff for UE’s final MVC match of 2024 is set for 7 p.m. on Wednesday November 6th.
Aces complete successful day against USI
UE splits Friday meet
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Friday afternoon saw the University of Evansville swimming and diving teams split their meet against USI at Wyttenbach Pool. Evansville’s men picked up a 152.5-83.5 win while the ladies dropped a close 137-99 decision.
Patrik Vilbergsson, Carlos Souto, Daniel Santos Lopez, and Benjamin Hasanovic opened the day with a win in the 200-medley relay, finishing in 1:34.13. Joseph Capo earned a solid win in the 200-free. Registering a time of 1:46.36, he won by just under two seconds. He picked up his second victory of the day in the 500-free. His 4:51.32 was over five seconds in front of teammate Wyatt Gallas.
In the 50-free, the Purple Aces swept the top four positions with Hasanovic posting a 21.72 to best Sammy McCall’s 22.01. Brendan Ulewicz was third with a 22.05 while Boris Tavrosky’s 22.30 was good for 4th. Santos Lopez earned top honors in the 200-IM. With a 1:55.63, he was six seconds in front of the runner-up. Joao Gulherme was third, posting a 2:03.71. In the 100-fly, Santos Lopez swam a 50.96 to best the competition by 2.31 and finished his day with a win in the 100-breaststroke, recording a 57.91. Hasanovic was second, finishing in 1:00.37.
The top six positions in the 100-free belonged to the Aces, led by Michael Pruett’s 47.60. McCall came in just 0.16 behind while Jakob Grundbacher took third with a 48.81. Vilbergsson led a top three UE sweep in the 100-backstroke, finishing in 52.29. Logan Tenison was second, 1.50 behind while Logan Anderson came in third at 55.33. The men completed the meet with a close win in the 200-free relay. Tenison, Pruett, McCall, and Mohammed Rashed combined to swim a 1:27.41, finishing less than a half second in front of USI.
Highlighting the day for the women was another stellar performance by Maddie Rollett. After earning the top spot in the 1-meter with a 265.35, Rollett swept the dives with a score of 255.90 in the 3-meter. Leah Gardner was fourth in both events, earning a 189.75 in the 1-meter before registering a 194.63 in the 3-meter.
Sveva Brugnoli took top honors in the 200-IM. Her 2:10.17 was two seconds in front of second place while Mari Mueller took third with a 2:17.20. Evelyn Chin led a 1-2 finish for the Aces in the 100-fly. Chin’s 58.53 was just 0.29 in front of Brugnoli. Ane Madina was the top finisher in the 100-backstroke. With a 59.98, Madina bested the competition by 1.49.
Madina, Brugnoli, Rafaela Markarewicz and Rebecca Lago took second in the 200-medley relay. The group finished in 1:48.83, just 0.31 behind the top time. Hannah Krings was the runner-up in the 500-free. Krings completed her race in 5:31.99. Markarewicz and Mueller came in second and third, respectively in the 100-breaststroke. Finishing in 1:09.42, Markarewicz took second while Mueller checked in with a 1:09.65.
Next up for the Aces is a trip to Carbondale, Ill. for the A3 Invite. It runs from Nov. 14-16.
BARNABY REMAINS HOT FOR THUNDERBOLTS DESPITE LOSS TO HAVOC
Evansville, In.: Matthew Barnaby continued his hot streak in his second stint as a Thunderbolt, scoring his fourth goal in four games for Evansville. However, it was not enough for the Thunderbolts, who fell 3-1 to the Huntsville Havoc on Friday at Ford Center. The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Saturday, November 9th against the Macon Mayhem at 7:05pm CT.
Barnaby’s goal came 13:01 into the first period, assisted by Scott Kirton and Derek Contessa. Despite some strong looks at extending the lead in the second period, the door was shut on the Thunderbolts, before Robbie Fisher tied the game for Huntsville with only 11 seconds remaining in the second period. The Havoc stormed ahead with two quick goals from Matt Allen and Benito Posa in the third period’s first half, and the Thunderbolts were unable to come back despite some great late chances, with the Havoc coming away with the 3-1 win.
Barnaby scored Evansville’s goal, while Ty Taylor finished with 34 saves on 37 shots. The Thunderbolts and Havoc meet once again on Saturday, November 2nd at Von Braun Center.
UE Volleyball rallies for 5-set win over Illinois State
Volleyball rallies for 5-set win over Illinois State
UE trailed 2-0 to open the night
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Trailing 2-0 on Friday, the University of Evansville volleyball team staged a furious rally to defeat Illinois State by a 3-2 final inside Meeks family Fieldhouse.
Leading the way for the Purple Aces was Giulia Cardona. She accumulated 34 kills while hitting an unbelievable .453. Chloe Cline and Angelica Gonzalez finished with 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Kora Ruff registered 47 assists, 23 digs, and four service aces while Ainoah Cruz totaled 19 digs.
Set 1 – ISU 25, UE 23
After Kora Ruff opened the night with a service ace, Illinois State came back to take a 3-1 lead. A pair of kills by Chloe Cline helped UE tie the game at 7-7 before a block from Madisyn Steele and Giulia Cardona put the Aces in front, 14-12.
The Redbirds battled back as they went up by a 21-19 score before the 7th kill of the night from Cardona was part of a run that put UE back on top at 23-22. ISU had one final run left, scoring the final three points to take the set.
Set 2 – ISU 25, UE 19
Things were back-and-forth throughout the early moments as Cardona quickly reached double figures in kills as the score was tied at 7-7. Illinois State was the first to establish a multi-point lead, scoring three in a row to go up 13-10. From there, they slowly added to their advantage before winning by six points.
Set 3 – UE 25, ISU 19
Madisyn Steele picked up a pair of early solo blocks as UE jumped out to a 7-4 lead. UE opened by scoring four of the first five before extending its lead to three. The Redbirds countered with a 4-0 run to take their first lead at 8-7 and would extend it to 11-8.
Kora Ruff recorded her second ace of the night as the Aces rallied to tie it at 12-12 but three in a row by ISU put them back in front. UE clawed its way back as a solo block by Chloe Cline was followed by an ace from Ainoah Cruz and a Cardona kill to put UE on top at 20-17. After the Redbirds scored a pair, it was a kill from Cardona that reestablished a 2-point lead. It was her 22nd kill of the night that clinched the game and forced a fourth set.
Set 4 – UE 25, ISU 17
Steele opened the set with a kill while Cruz recorded her second ace of the match to put Evansville in front at 5-1. ISU got within a pair, but the Aces kept the pressure on. Cardona moved past the 25-kill mark as her team took a 15-10 advantage.
It was Cardona’s serving that extended the lead even more as an ace helped UE take an 18-10 lead. The Redbirds did not go down without a fight as they fought back as the bounced back to get within four at 21-17. Two more Cardona kills set the Aces back on track and they would force a fifth set.
Set 5 – UE 15, ISU 7
Evansville scored the opening two points and Cardona continued the rally with three early kills to put her team in front at 4-2. Cline added a kill that pushed the edge to 8-4. Illinois State was unable to cut into the deficit as UE cruised to the 15-7 victory to clinch the match. The Aces will look to sweep the weekend when they face Bradley on Saturday at 5 p.m.
UE cross country finishes 10th and 12th at MVC Championships
UE cross country finishes 10th and 12th at MVC Championships
The Purple Aces ran in Iowa for the first time since 2016
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — Six runners set personal records on the University of Evansville cross country teams at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships on Friday.
Senior runner Adam Oulgout (St. Paul, Minn. / Central HS) led the Purple Aces with a PR and a program Top 15 time at the MVC Championships. Oulgout ran a PR of 25:08 to lead the UE men’s team to a 10th place finish, improving on their 2023 finish by one place. On the women’s team, Evansville’s top three runners set PRs in sophomore Avery Stephens (Newburg, Ind. / Castle HS), freshman Lauren Bradley (Russiaville, Ind. / Western HS), and senior Hannah Bryan (Evansville, Ind. / Reitz HS) for a 12th place finish.
Oulgout’s PR on Friday at the Championships was the 15th best 8K time in program history right behind former runner Nick Waninger 25:06 8K from 2003. Right behind Oulgout was sophomore runner Samuel Lea (Worchester, England) with a time of 25:13.3. The Aces had three other runners who finished with sub 27-minute times in sophomore Rafael Rodriguez (Sergovia, Spain) at 25:26.6, sophomore Cedrik Flipo (Beloil, Quebec) at 25:57.3, and sophomore Woody Burrell (Ceaderburg, Wis. / Ceaderburg HS) at 26:22.1. Also scoring for the UE men was freshman Kadin McAllister (Lilburn, Ga. / Parkview HS) at 27:40.4 and freshman Andrew Potter (Warsaw, Ind. / Warsaw Community HS) at 27:47.2.
On the women’s side Stephens led the way with a PR of 23:07.3. In total five of Evansville’s women runners set 6K PRs while in Cedar Falls. Behind Stephens was Bradley with a PR of 24:28.5 while Bryan also set a PR in her final 6K as an Ace with a time of 24:31.4. Also setting PRs for the UE women was freshman Megan Allgeier (Batesville, Ind. / Batesville HS) with a time of 26:28.9 and junior Olivia Pennington (Fort Branch, Ind. / Gibson Southern HS) with a time of 26:56.2. Evansville had three other runners score on Friday morning in sophomore Kyndall Anthis (Pakota, Ind. / Princeton Community HS) at 24:45.9, sophomore Chase Hayes (Noblesville, Ind. / Western HS) at 25:51.8, and freshman Skyler Dickenson (Brownsburg, Ind. / Brownsburg HS) at 26:48.8.
The Aces women’s team ran their final race of the season at the MVC Championships. While the men’s team will race again on Friday, November 15th at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional in Akron, Ohio hosted by the MAC. The men’s 10K race on the 15th is set to start at 12 p.m.