OXFORD, Ohio – Only two relay races were competed in by the University of Evansville men’s swimming team on Wednesday, but that didn’t stop the Purple Aces from breaking three school records on the first day of the 2023 Mid-American Conference Swimming & Diving championships hosted by Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
The 200-Yard Medley Relay team opened the meet by breaking the school record in the event for the second-straight year with a time of 1:28.41, while placing fourth overall. Then, in the 800 Freestyle Relay, UE lowered the school record with a time of 6:39.32, while senior Riccardo Di Domenico (Johannesburg, South Africa) absolutely destroyed the individual 200-Yard Freestyle record with a lead-split time of 1:36.59, which broke UE’s previous record by over a full second.
“What a great start for the week!” said UE head coach Stuart Wilson. “We got the jitters out of the way early tonight, and the team knows that they are going to step up after tonight’s swims.”
In the 200 Medley Relay, sophomore Patrik Vilbergsson (Kopavogur, Iceland) opened with a 50-Back split time of 22.79. Junior Alon Baer (Gesher HaZiv, Israel) then turned a split of 24.40 in the Breaststroke, while sophomore Daniel Santos Lopez (Madrid, Spain) posted a time of 21.24 in the Butterfly. Freshman Daniil Goncharuk (Kyiv, Ukraine) then came home with an anchor-leg time of 19.98 in the 50-Free to help UE place fourth overall. Ball State’s 200 Medley Relay team took home first place with a time of 1:26.35.
In the 800 Freestyle Relay, Di Domenico dominated the first 200 yards, as he had over a body length lead when he touched the wall with a time of 1:36.59. Because that time came from a standard start as the lead leg of the event, it was eligible for a school-record time, and it was easily over a second faster than UE Hall of Famer Nikola Kalabic’s school-record time of 1:37.66, which was set in 2001. From there, sophomores Jakob Grundbacher (Thalwil, Switzerland) and Carlos Souto (A Coruna, Spain) and junior Grant Kay (Ellicott City, Md./Hebron) teamed up to post a time of 6:39.32 overall, which bettered the previous UE school record in the event set in 2020.
The two relay events were the only two events contested on Wednesday, and UE currently sits in fourth place in the league standings with 58 points. The MAC Championships will continue on Thursday with both preliminary-round and finals action in the 500-Yard Freestyle, the 200 IM, the 50-Yard Freestyle, and the one-meter diving competition. Thursday night’s final will also feature the 200-Yard Freestyle Relay competition. Preliminary-round swims will begin at 9:30 a.m. central time, with the finals beginning at 5 p.m.
