San Antonio – The Tiger men's swimming & diving team improved its lead following the second day of action at the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships on Friday evening.
Trinity extended its lead to more than 150 points after day's action, finishing the day with a total of 745 points. Southwestern (TX) University is second with 579 points, followed by Colorado College and Centenary (LA) College in third and fourth. Affiliate members McMurry (TX) University and the University of Ozarks (AR) are fifth and sixth, followed by Austin (TX) College in seventh.
"Our men brought a ton of energy to the second day's events, beginning with our divers getting us started on the right note" revealed Head Coach Scott Trompeter. "Our medley relays were faster than last year by a large margin and only a fraction off the SCAC record. We have a lot of young talent that really shined the past couple of days and should give us a lot of fast swimming and depth in the future as well!"
The defending SCAC Diver of the Meet in senior Anthony Liva (Arlington Heights, Ill. / Prospect) also defended his 3-meter championship to start off the men's action today, as diving competed for the first time this season. Liva won back-to-back titles and has earned All-SCAC honors on the 3-meter board each of his four seasons at Trinity. Joining Liva as an All-SCAC performer today was first-year Konstantine Partalas (San Antonio, Texas / Reagan) who finished second in the event.
The swim sessions began with the 200 medley relay, which Trinity won for the third time in the last four seasons. First-year Michael Kohl (Missouri City, Texas / Ridge Point), junior Spencer Steward (Kearney, Mo. / Kearney), first-year Nathaniel Early (Austin, Texas / Westwood), and sophomore Nolan Anthony (Missouri City, Texas / Missouri City) combined to take top honors. The Tigers also won the "B" final with the third-fastest time of the day, produced by sophomore Matteo Lanzara (Moraga, Calif. / Campolindo), first-year Kendal Southwell (Rio Rancho, N.M. / Calvert Online Academy), junior Daniel Sarman (Austin, Texas / Vandegrift), and senior Shamzi Alkaff (Ft. Collins, Colo. / Fossil Ridge).
The end of the night came with another Tiger victory in the 800 freestyle relay, marking the sixth Trinity win in this event over the last eight championship meets. It was also the first time Trinity won consecutive 800 free relay races since 2015 and 2016. Kohl, Sarman, and Early were joined by sophomore Omar Shahatit (Austin, Texas / Westlake) for the win.
Between the two relays, Trinity manufactured three individual event winners and six All-SCAC performances in the pool.
Early and Shahatit took gold and silver in the 200 free, giving Trinity back-to-back wins in this event for the first time since 2004 and 2005. Sarman also finished fifth after earning All-SCAC recognition in the event each of the last two years.
Southwell became Trinity's first 100 breaststroke champion since 2018 after winning today's event. Jamie Warren (Heath, Texas / Rockwall Heath) was fourth, while Steward swam to a fifth-place finish.
Kohl and Lanzara were both All-SCAC in the 100 backstroke on Friday. Kohl won the event to put Trinity in the gold spot for the sixth time in the last seven years. Lanzara was last year's SCAC Champion in the 100 back and finished third this season for another All-SCAC performance.
First-year John Fontenot (Austin, Texas / St. Andrew's) earned All-SCAC honors with his third-place finish in the 100 butterfly. He led a pack of four Tigers in the top six of the finals event, which included fellow first-year Andrew Crosley (San Antonio, Texas / Alamo Heights) in fourth, Alkaff in fifth, and junior Ben Adams (Lubbock, Texas / Monterey) in sixth.
The Tiger men will wrap up the three-day SCAC event on Saturday, beginning with the 1-meter men's diving event at 2:00 p.m. The final day of swimming at the Bill Walker Natatorium gets underway at 2:30 p.m.
