CARBONDALE, Ill. – The University of Evansville swimming and diving teams wrapped up competition in the A3 Performance Invitational hosted by Southern Illinois in record fashion on Saturday, as the Purple Aces broke three school records en route to a second-place finish on both the men’s and women’s sides.
Sophomore Jackson Caudill (Mount Sterling, Ky./Montgomery County) made history in both the 1,000- and 1,650-yard freestyle record books with a single swim, as he broke both school records on the afternoon. Caudill’s 1,000-yard split of 9:35.58 lowered his own school record in the distance, while he became the first Purple Ace to go below 16 minutes in the mile swim with a mark of 15:57.49. Junior Sarah Jahns (Lilburn, Ga./Parkview) also lowered her own school record in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:00.17. In all, Evansville broke six school records at the A3 Invite.
“This was a very successful week for our program,” said UE swimming and diving head coach Stuart Wilson. “We had over 25 Top Ten swims recorded and six school records were broken, and as a coach, I can’t ask for much more.
“Up and down the roster, we had different people step up and perform really well against some very good competition. This was a good barometer of where we are at, and it is looking good for the championship season coming up after winter training.”
On top of the records set today, freshman Marianne Mueller (Aschaffenburg, Switzerland) moved up UE’s career Top 10 in the women’s 200-yard breaststroke, becoming the fifth-fastest Ace in the event with a time of 2:21.80. Freshman Carlos Souto Vilas (A Coruna, Spain) and sophomore Alon Baer (Gesher Haziv, Israel) both moved into UE’s Top 10 on the men’s side in the 200 breasts, as Souto Vilas became the second-fastest Ace with a time of 2:02.78, while Baer now ranks third with a mark of 2:03.14.
In the women’s 200 butterflies, freshman Sveva Brugnoli (Rome, Italy) moved into fifth place on UE’s career chart, with a time of 2:06.44, as she finished just seconds behind teammate and school record-holder Maya Cunningham (Yakima, Wash./Eisenhower) in the event, as UE went second and third overall.
Freshman Daniel Santos Lopez (Madrid, Spain) also finished the meet by moving into third place on UE’s career Top 10 for the 100-yard freestyle, as he opened the men’s 400 free relays with a blistering split time of 45.48.
Overall, Evansville finished second as a team on both the men’s and women’s sides, as the UE men scored 612.5 points, while the UE women totaled 728 points. The A3 Performance Invitational wraps up the fall portion of the 2021-22 schedule for the Purple Aces, as UE will now train until January 15 when they travel to Louisville, Kentucky to race against the Bellarmine Knights.
