SAN ANTONIO – The 19th-ranked men's swimming & diving team concluded this year's Tiger Invitational with a big win, scoring a decisive victory with 1,130.50 points to just 857.50 points for second place UTPB.
"This team has an amazing ability to put their feelings and exhaustion aside and get the job done in a final session," exclaimed Head Coach
Cathleen Pruden. "The energy was so high and the results followed! The 400 freestyle relays were impressive across all 16 swims and a phenomenal way to end a great meet."
One of the standout performances of this concluding session came from
Chase Hays (Austin, Texas / Anderson), who won the 100 freestyle tonight with a time of 45.98. His time of 45.88 in the morning session was also a personal best. Joining him in the A final of this event was
Nathan Perez (Alpharetta, Ga. / Johns Creek), and
William Walker (Houston, Texas / Westside), who earned third and sixth place. Hays got a second opportunity for success in his 100 freestyle in the 400 free relay, where he was joined by
Jimmie Hester (Round Rock, Texas / Cedar Ridge), Perez, and
Luke Fender (Jackson, Miss. / St. Andrew's Episcopal) to bring home the win. Hester's leading time of 45.47 ties him with Perez for sixth all-time at Trinity.
Fender's anchor position in this relay was not his only success of the evening, either. He won the mile with a time of 15:45.84 that was just shy of matching his time at NCAAs last spring.
Theodore Ho (Sugar Land, Texas / Clements) came in second in this event with a time of 16:13.87, placing him sixth in Trinity history in this event.
Hester continues to rewrite the record book with record-breaking performances in both the prelims and finals of the 200 back, and his time of 1:48.84 in the finals was a personal best.
Apollo Aceves (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. / Trabuco Hills) joined Hester in the final, and Aceves went a lifetime best of 1:53.80 and earned fourth place – not to mention landing in the Tiger record book with the tenth-fastest time in school history. In the 200 breast,
John Key followed his success in the 200 IM with a win in the 200 breastroke. His time, 2:04.66, edged out
Caleb del Rosario (Sudbury, Mass. / Lincoln-Sudbury),
Grant Bibza (Southlake, Texas / Carroll),
Daniel Apostol (Billings, Mont. / Central Catholic), and
Nathan Lumsdaine (Brentwood, Tenn. / Brentwood Academy), who earned second, fourth, fifth, and seventh respectively. Apostol's time places him ninth in Trinity history. All of the Tiger swimmers fought hard and stacked up loads of points for the men's team in this Trinity-stacked race. On the opposite side of the spectrum,
Nickolas Rotolo (Houston, Texas / Cairo American College) fought hard solo and earned second place in finals in the 200 fly. His time in prelims was a huge personal best at 1:51.68, which places him third all-time at Trinity.
Looking Forward
After such a successful meet, the Tigers are looking forward to finals season and winter training, where they will get stronger in and out of the pool. Their next meet will be against TCU on January 3rd, 2026.
