EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Evansville divers Madison Rollett (Evansville, Ind./Reitz) and Levi McKinney (Boonville, Ind./Boonville) both posted NCAA Zone qualifying marks on Saturday against Southern Indiana, while the UE swimmers took home eight individual titles in a dual meet against the Bellarmine Knights in Louisville, Kentucky.
Rollett posted her first Zone qualifying mark of her UE career with a personal-best score of 279.90 on the one-meter board to win the individual competition against USI. Rollett is trying to be the first UE female to advance to NCAA Zone Championships since Courtney Coverdale in 2017. McKinney, meanwhile, posted his second NCAA Zone score of the year with a personal-best mark of 308.85 on the one-meter board. He also cracked the 300-point barrier in the season’s first meet of the year.
Rollett swept both the one-meter and three-meter competitions against USI, winning the three-meter competition by over 30 points with a score of 251.18.
Swimming-wise, UE got five individual titles on the men’s side and three titles on the women’s side in a dual meet against Bellarmine. UE swept all four relay races, with senior Jackson Caudill (Mt. Sterling, Ky./Montgomery County) and juniors Daniel Santos Lopez (Madrid, Spain) and Patrik Vilbergsson (Kopavogur, Iceland) taking home individual titles on the men’s side, and freshman Rebecca Lago (Tezze sul Brenta, Italy) winning the women’s 50-Yard Freestyle with a time of 25.11.
Caudill captured the title in the men’s 1,000-Yard Freestyle with a time of 9:43.25. Santos Lopez, meanwhile, won the 200-Yard IM with a time of 1:54.44, besting the field by over three seconds. Vilbergsson then cruised to the title in the 200-Yard Backstroke by over five seconds with a winning time of 1:51.66.
The UE swimming and diving teams will return to action next weekend at Eastern Illinois. The women’s team will compete against EIU, while the men will battle both Eastern Illinois and Wabash. The meet is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
