Trinity Men Win Seventh Straight SCAC Men's Swimming & Diving Title

Trinity Men Win Seventh Straight SCAC Men's Swimming & Diving Title

THE COLONY, Texas - The Trinity University men picked up individual victories in four events as well as the meet-concluding 400 free relay to pull away and earn the program its seventh-straight conference championship Saturday evening at the East Side LISD. Official Website | Complete Meet Results | Photo Gallery

The Tigers finished with 974.5 points to defeat second-place Southwestern University, who ended the event with 813.5 points. Colorado College was third with 529 points, followed by Centenary College with 483 points, Austin College with 324 points, McMurry University with 186 points and the University of the Ozarks with 149 points. The conference title is the 11th overall for the Trinity men.

Trinity swept both Diver- and Swimmer-of-the-Meet honors as freshman Daniel Valmessei completed his sweep on the boards with Saturday's victory on the 3-meter apparatus. He posted a final score of 449.80 to defeat teammates Duncan MacAskill (424.70) and Anthony Liva (414.35). 

Sophomore Jacob Hurrell-Zitelman earned his second consecutive SCAC Swimmer-of-the-Meet award after sweeping his three individual events, including Saturday's victory in the 1,650 free. Hurrell-Zitelman finished in a NCAA 'B' cut time of 15:58.45. He won the 500 free on Thursday and the 400 IM on Friday to complete a three-for-three individual sweep in those events for the second consecutive year.

Trinity's Charles Clark picked up his second gold of the meet with a victory in the 200 backstroke. The junior earned the victory with a NCAA 'B' cut qualifying time of 1:50.07. Peter Robinson of Southwestern was second in a time of 1:52.60 and Eamon Morris was third in 1:53.50.

Michael Glover of Southwestern also earned his second victory of the 2018 championships with a win the 100 free after taking the 50 free on Thursday. Glover finished in a time of 46.65 to squeak past Colorado College's Walker Martin who finished second in 46.66. Trinity's Shamzi Alkaff ws third in a time of 46.97.

The Pirates' Alek Argueta made it two consecutive wins for Southwestern as he took gold in the 200 breaststroke. The freshman bested the field with a finishing time of 2:05.75. Trinity teammates Elliott Fleming and Noah Stopkotte finished second and third, respectively, in times of 2:08.09 and 2:08.48.

Freshman Beau Tipton of Trinity just missed a SCAC meet record in the 200 butterfly, finishing with a winning time of 1:51.80. The Tigers completed the all-conference sweep on the awards stand with second and third-place finishes by James Warren (1:53.79) and Nate Borchers (1:54.67). 

Trinity wrapped up the evening with its fourth victory in the last five years in the 400 free relay. The team of Clark, Eamon, Cole Rezsofi and Shamzi touched in a winning time of 3:05.41. Southwestern was second in a time of 3:07.96 and Colorado College finished third in 3:08.77.

Following the meet, the Trinity University staff - led by first-year head coach Scott Trompeter, along with head diving coach Stan Randall, assistant coach John Ryan and assistant coach Kimberly Jones - earned SCAC Men's Coaching Staff-of-the-Year honors. It was the first honor for the program on the men's side since the 2014 season and the fifth overall.