ELKHART, Ind.—The University of Evansville swimming and diving teams wrapped up their 2022 season in fine fashion on Saturday, as the Purple Aces posted a pair of Top 10 finishes at the CSCAA National Invitational Championships in Elkhart, Indiana.
“This weekend was a great ending to a great season by both the men and women,” said UE head swimming coach Stuart Wilson. “They have set the bar high for future classes, and we will continue to improve as a team as we get even stronger. I expect ‘baby steps’ to turn into ‘big accomplishments’ for both the men and the women going forward. I could not be prouder of both teams right now.”
Sophomore Alon Baer (Gesher Haziv, Israel) qualified individually for the ‘A Final’ in the 200-yard Breaststroke and finished ninth out of 36 swimmers in the event with a final time of 2:00.88. His final time ranked as the fourth-fastest 200 Breaststroke time ever at UE, and he has set all four of those top times during the month of March for UE.
UE then placed 10th overall in the men’s 400-yard Freestyle Relay to end the meet. The quartet of senior Oskar Menkhaus (Davidson, N.C./William A. Hough), junior Riccardo Di Domenico (Johannesburg, South Africa), and freshmen Jakob Grundbacher (Long Beach, Calif.) and Daniel Santos Lopez (Madrid, Spain) teamed up to post a time of 2:59.64, just 0.08 seconds off of the school record time set at the Mid-American Conference Championships last weekend.
Freshman Patrik Vilbergsson (Kopavogur, Iceland) also was able to place 16th overall in the men’s 200-yard Backstroke, as he made the ‘B Final’ and posted a time of 1:49.56 to rank as the fifth-fastest male swimmer in UE history in the event. Senior Zeke Metz (Topeka, Kan./Seaman) also narrowly missed the ‘B Final’ in the 200-yard Butterfly, as he placed 22nd overall with a time of 1:52.43.
On the women’s side, senior Jessie Steele (Houston, Texas/Klein) wrapped up a strong sprint freestyle career at UE by posting a time of 52.02 in the 100-yard Freestyle. She will leave UE ranked in Evansville’s career top five in terms of fastest swimmers in both the 50- and 100-yard Freestyle events. Junior Sage Moore (Lexington, Ohio/Lexington) also wrapped up her 2022 season on Saturday with a time of 2:21.37 in the 200-yard Breaststroke.
The CSCAA National Invitational Championships featured over 56 schools, including various “Power Five” conference teams. The UE men finished 15th as a team, scoring just ahead of Virginia Tech and UNLV in the team standings. The UE women, meanwhile, placed 41st overall. Tennessee’s men and Ohio State’s women won the overall team scoring titles.
The NIC meet concluded a record season for Evansville, which broke school records on 25 different occasions throughout the course of the year on both the men’s and women’s sides. Evansville will return 26 swimmers and divers next season, including 14 on the men’s side and 12 on the women’s.
