CHICAGO/GENESEO, N.Y. – The Trinity University swimming and diving men's team had a very successful weekend in the Midwest and Northeast United States. The team was split between the D3 Shootout held at the University of Chicago against nine other Division III teams and a Tri-meet in New York against the Rochester Institute of Technology and SUNY Geneseo.
D3 Shootout Results
The men fought hard on the final of two days of the D3 shootout and earned fourth place with a total of 500 points scored over the two days of competition.
The session began with the 400 medley relay, which consisted of
Jack Hester (Round Rock, Texas / Cedar Ridge),
Daniel Apostol (Billings, Mont. / Central Catholic),
Nate Perez (Alpharetta, Ga. / Johns Creek), and
Luke Fender (Jackson, Miss. / St. Andrew's Episcopal). The quartet got seventh place with a time of 3:23.50. Hester led off the relay with a 49.82 100 backstroke, just a hundredth of a second shy of his lifetime-best and landing him at fourth on the Trinity top 10 time list. The rest of the relay followed with some exceptional swims to start off the meet and energize the team for the rest of the day.
Fender recovered from his anchor on the relay to compete in the 500 freestyle with
Theodore Ho (Sugar Land, Texas / Clements). Fender got second in this event, fighting off a swimmer from the University of Chicago who was just on his tail, and his time of 4:32.80 nearly earned him an NCAA B cut in this event. Ho also had an incredible swim, touching just shy of his lifetime-best with a time of 4:36.38 and becoming the eighth-fastest Trinity swimmer ever in this event.
Will Walker (Houston, Texas / Westside) and Perez followed them and competed in the 100 butterfly, getting ninth and sixteenth respectively.
John Key (El Paso, Texas / Franklin) and Apostol then raced in the 200 breastroke to earn sixth and fourteenth place, and Apostol's time sneaks him into tenth place in Trinity history.
After the first round of swims,
Max Rolla-Mullis (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Pioneer) dove on the 3-meter board to earn sixth place with a score of 210.95. This is one place higher than he received last night on the 1-meter board. After men's diving came the 400 freestyle mixed relay, consisting of Key, Ho, Kaya Alvegaard-Stuble, and
Emme Penry. Key and Ho both tapped into their sprint energy to help the relay to seventh place, going times of 48.12 and 48.10, respectively.
Following this relay came the 200 backstroke, where Hester and
Grant Bibza (Southlake, Texas / Carroll) raced into fourth and seventeenth place. Hester's time of 1:51.21 places him sixth in Trinity history, and Bibza's time of 1:58.31 was a new lifetime best for him. Walker and Fender swam the 100 freestyle next and earned tenth and fifteenth place. Bibza then made a quick turnaround from his 200 backstroke to swim the 200 IM with Key, earning thirteenth and seventh respectively. Both pulled out incredibly impressive swims at the end of this tough meet.
The Trinity men closed out this meet with a strong 200 freestyle relay consisting of Apostol, Hester, Walker, and Perez. They finished in seventh place with a time of 1:24.90, which is a time almost two seconds faster than last year's finish.
"Finishing fourth was a total team effort for the men," revealed Head Coach
Cathleen Pruden. "We did a great job of looking outside ourselves and our individual performances and fighting to score for the team.
Grant Bibza tackled a challenging double. Luke and Theo stepped outside their comfort zones and raced the 100 free. Jack and Daniel put up season best 50s on the relay. John continues to be an incredibly reliable back half racer. Max tackled his least favorite board. Nate and Will both put together stronger fly swims today. I am so proud of their efforts today and very happy with the outcome."
Results- RIT and SUNY Geneseo:
The Tigers also put up some fast races in Rochester this weekend. This Tri-meet was scored as two dual meets for Trinity, and the men won against the Rochester Institute of Technology (148:109), but came up short to SUNY Geneseo (186:102).
The meet began with the 200 medley relay, where the men's relays earned 4th and 5th place.
Apollo Aceves (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. / Trabuco Hills) led off the 4th place relay in a lifetime best 50 backstroke (24.92), and all eight of these Tigers gave it all they had in these races to get the team started on the right foot.
One of the highlight swims of the meet was the 1000 freestyle, where
Sean Easley (Allen, Texas / Lovejoy) fought hard and got second place to Lucas Peterson of RIT, who is the younger brother of Trinity's own
Erica Peterson.
Jason Allen (Springfield, Mo. / Springfield) additionally had an exceptional swim in the 200 freestyle, beating the rest of the field with a time of 1:45.36.
Nickolas Rotolo (Houston, Texas / Cairo American College) was also an event winner in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1.55.20. The 200 backstroke was also won by Aceves, with a lifetime-best of 1:56.77. In the 500 freestyle, Easley got his revenge on Lucas Peterson and won with a time of 4:47.41. Aceves kept his momentum going in the 200 IM, winning yet again with a time of 1:57.01.
In the 200 freestyle relay, the men got fourth and fifth place to end out the swimming portion of the meet.
Ash Meckel (Austin, Texas / The Griffin School) was the lone male diver at this meet and came in 6th place.
"This meet was an important test for our team, as we'll be flying for our championship season and we wanted to give it a go now," revealed Coach Pruden. "There were several standout performances today. We'll carry what we learned this weekend into one more week of hard work before we rest for Tiger Invite!"
Looking Forward:
Starting November 21st, Trinity will compete in their last meet before Thanksgiving break: the Tiger Invite, which will be hosted by Trinity at the Alamo Heights Natatorium. This is a meet against many other nearby teams and serves as the final race before the team heads into winter training.
