HOUSTON – The Trinity University men's swimming & diving team opened its season with a dominating performance against the University of St. Thomas (TX) on Saturday, winning all 13 events in the meet.

The Tigers had four swimmers win twice individually, with three others winning individual events. Trinity also swept both relays to bookend the meet. Sophomore Nickolas Rotolo (Houston, Texas / Houston Christian) and first-years Daniel Apostol (Billings, Mont. / Central Catholic), Jimmie Hester (Round Rock, Texas / Cedar Ridge), and Theodore Ho (Sugar Land, Texas / Clements) all won twice to lead the way for Trinity.

The meet began with the 400 free relay and the Tigers took the top two spots to set the tone for the day. Apostol, sophomores Luke Fender (Jackson, Miss. / St. Andrew's Episcopal) and Enzo Fiorese (McKinney, Texas / Heritage), and senior William Walker (Houston, Texas / Westside) won in 3:12.10. Just over three seconds behind was the team of Hester, first-year Sean Easley (Allen, Texas / Lovejoy), junior Chase Hays (Austin, Texas / Anderson), and Rotolo that finished second in 3:15.23.

The first individual event was the 200 breaststroke and the Tigers continued to show their depth by taking the top four spots in the race. Ho won his first by a narrow margin over senior John Key (El Paso, Texas / Franklin), finishing in 2:10.17 to beat his teammate's 2:10.65 time. Junior Ryan O'Leary (Austin, Texas / Austin) was third in 2:15.73 and senior Owen Flynn (Guthrie, Okla. / Heritage Hall) finished fourth in 2:19.23.

Hester grabbed his first win with a time of 52.72 seconds in the 100 backstroke, with Fiorese finishing as the runner-up in 55.19 seconds. Junior Caleb Del Rosario (Sudbury, Mass. / Lincoln-Sudbury) took fourth in 58.76 seconds to give the Tigers three of the top four spots in the race.

Trinity took four of the top five spots – including first and second – in the next race, which was the 100 freestyle that was ultimately won by junior Nathan Perez (Alpharetta, Ga. / Johns Creek) with a time of 48.67 seconds. Fellow junior Trace Briones (San Antonio, Texas / Health Careers) was second in 49.04 seconds. First-years Jason Allen (Springfield, Mo. / Springfield) and Easley were fourth and fifth with times of 49.33 and 49.55 seconds, respectively.

The 200 individual medley was another 1-2-3-4 finish for the Tiger swimmers, led by sophomore Grant Bibza (Southlake, Texas / Carroll) and his time of 1:57.48. Ho earned his second individual medal of the meet by taking silver in 1:57.74. Third place went to first-year Alejandro Aceves (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. / Trabuco Hills) and his time of 1:59.71, while O'Leary rounded out the Trinity contingent in fourth in 2:05.27.

Walker's individual win was a time of 1:47.98 in the 200 free, with three Tigers also taking fourth, fifth, and sixth. Easley was the fourth in 1:50.61, followed by fellow first-year Nathan Lumsdaine (Brentwood, Tenn. / Brentwood Academy) with a time of 1:50.94 that was fifth, and Allen's time of 1:51.11 that earned him sixth place.

The 100 butterfly was the first win for Rotolo's night, finishing in 52.27 seconds to lead a group of five Tigers in the top five spots. Second place went to sophomore Ian Truong (Tulsa, Okla. / Jenks) and his time of 54.38, followed by Aceves in third with a mark of 54.67 seconds. Key was fourth in 54.96 and Perez was fifth in 55.44.

Apostol's first win of the day came next as he won the 50 free with a time of 21.42 seconds. Two Tigers also tied for fourth in the race as both Fiorese and Hays finished in 22.30 seconds.
Ho, Fender, and Easley swept the top three spots in the 500 free, with Hester, Key, and Aceves doing the same in the 200 back. Ho won the 500 in 4:44.66 to beat out Fender's time of 4:47.85, and Easley finished third in 4:59.75. Hester's win in the 200 back came with a time of 1:57.27, followed by Key in 1:59.92, and Aceves with a time of 2:00.24.

The 100 breast was another win for Apostol with a time of 58.88 that was the only swimmer to break one minute. Bibza was second in 1:00.84, followed by Del Rosario in fourth (1:02.88) and Truong in fifth (1:02.89). Trinity also took sixth, seventh, and eighth in the event, giving the team seven of the top eight times.

The final individual event was the second win of the day for Rotolo, who finished in 1:57.27. Walker picked up his second medal of the meet with a time of 2:02.83 that was good for third place.
The Tigers finished the day much like they started it by taking the top two spots in the 200 medley relay. Trinity also had two more relay teams that finished fourth and fifth, showcasing more of the overall depth of the squad. Hester, Apostol, Perez, and Briones won the race in 1:36.07 just ahead of the runner-up team of Fiorese, Del Rosario, Rotolo, and Fender and their time of 1:39.62.

Coach Speak
"This meet was a great way to kick off the season," said Head Coach Cathleen Pruden. "The goal was just to get some data points and better understand where we are in our training. I loved the way we finished most of our races. We'll work on our front-end speed as we gain more confidence in training. I'm excited to see this group go up against a competitive UTPB team next month!"

Up Next
Trinity will host its annual Alumni Meet during Trinity's Alumni Weekend on Saturday, October 25, at 10:00 a.m. The Tigers will face off against the University of Texas-Permian Basin on Saturday, November 1.