SAN ANTONIO – The Trinity Tiger Invitational is off to an incredible start this weekend, with the first day consisting of the 500 freestyle, 200 IM, and 50 freestyle, as well as the 200 freestyle relay and 400 medley relay in the evening session.

There might have only been three individual events today, but there was a lot going on," exclaimed Head Coach Cathleen Pruden. Jack Hester had some huge performances, splitting 19.88 on the 200 free relay and destroying the 100 back school record to lead off the 400 medley relay. The men's team set 15 lifetime best times today. We made some really nice improvements from prelims to finals. There's a lot of competing left to go this weekend and I'm excited to continue to watch these guys."

Day One Recap:
One of the most outstanding men in this session was Jimmie Hester (Round Rock, Texas / Cedar Ridge). He began the meet with a 200 free relay, accompanied by Daniel Apostol (Billings, Mont. / Central Catholic), Nate Perez (Alpharetta, Ga. / Johns Creek), and Trace Briones (San Antonio, Texas / Health Careers), where he split a 19.88 off a relay start, the fastest time in the field. Apostol swam a 21.17 to lead off the relay, a college best for him. This relay itself additionally won the event, adding to the list of accomplishments by this quartet. Hester followed this relay with the individual 50 free, where he went a 20.77, a personal best time that not only earned him a win in the event, but was also the seventh best time in Trinity history. He was accompanied by Perez, Apostol, and Briones in this heat, where Perez tied the new personal best of 21.14 that he set in the morning. To finalize Hester's incredible performance, he led off the 400 medley relay where he was joined by Apostol, William Walker (Houston, Texas / Westside), and Perez, who worked hard and won the event. Hester's leadoff time of 48.55 is a new school record in the 100 back by nearly a second, and he obtained the NCAA B cut and invited time in this race. The relay's cumulative time is already nearly two seconds faster than the best time of last year's season, highlighting the team's great success thus far.

Aside from the wins that Hester helped the team win in this session, the men also won every other event of the evening, beginning with the 500 free. Luke Fender retained his dominance in this race with a 4:27.18, his second-best time ever and both an NCAA B cut and invited time in this event. Theodore Ho (Sugar Land, Texas / Clements) closely followed him in this race, earning a personal best by over a second with a time of 4:33.97. Nickolas Rotolo (Houston, Texas / Cairo American College) and Sean Easley (Allen, Texas / Lovejoy) also fought hard in this heat, touching within a second of one another and earning the men valuable points for their respective 6th and 7th place finishes. John Key (El Paso, Texas / Franklin) led the team to victory in the 200 IM, edging his teammate Grant Bibza (Southlake, Texas / Carroll) with a season best for the senior. Ryan O'Leary (Austin, Texas / Austin) and Caleb del Rosario (Sudbury, Mass. / Lincoln-Sudbury) earned fourth and eighth respectively.

Looking Forward:
Tomorrow the Trinity men will hope to increase their successes with day two of the meet. This session will consist of the 100 butterfly, 400 IM, 200 free, 100 breast, and 100 back, and the 200 medley relay in the evening.