LEWISVILLE, Texas -- Trinity University led wire-to-wire in winnings its fifth consecutive Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference men's swimming & diving championship on Saturday night. Official Website | Complete Meet Results | Team Scores | All-SCAC Team
Trinity finished the four-day meet with 1,018 points to outpace runner-up Southwestern University's 871 points. Centenary College (La.) finished third with a score of 614. Colorado College placed fourth with 346 points as Austin College finished fifth with a score of 327 while McMurry University rounded out the field with 195 points.
Trinity senior Andrew Thiesse was named SCAC Swimmer-of-the-Meet. Thiesse broke both the SCAC championship meet and open records and earned an NCAA 'B' cut time in the 200-yard back with a time of 1:49.22. He also won the 500-yard freestyle (4:41.05) and the 400-yard medley (4:04.26).
First-year Duncan MacAskill of Trinity earned SCAC Diver-of-the-Meet. MacAskill became the first Trinity men's diver in eight years to sweep both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards. He led off Saturday's scoring with a dominating win on the 3-meter board, scoring 375.25 points to defeat John Rodriguez of Southwestern (265.45 points) and Parker Adams of Austin College (225.15 points).
In Saturday's first contested swimming final, Southwestern's Justin Milner earned gold in the 1,650 free with a winning swim of 16:39.63. He was followed by Trinity teammates David Doyal and Samuel Cordova who finished second and third respectively in times of 16:42.51 and 17:09.76.
Thiesse picked up his third victory of the 2016 championships with this record-breaking performance in the 200 back. Teammate Charles Clark finished second with a time of 1:51.70 - also good for a NCAA 'B' cut - and Centenary's Juan Tapia was third in a time of 1:55.45.
Trinity's Andre Newlands kept the Tigers' win streak rolling as he earned a first-place finish in the 100 yard free. His winning time of 45.39 was good for a NCAA 'B' cut. Colorado College's Crane Sarris was second in a time of 45.83 and Trinity's Jonathan Hoffman was third with a time of 46.23.
Southwestern's Mickey Scharbrough defended his 200 yard breaststroke title with a NCAA 'B' cut qualifying time of 2:04.64. He was followed on the podium by Centenary's Anthony McDonald (2:09.78) and Trinity's Thomas Jones (2:10.32).
The Pirates kept it rolling with a 1-2-3 sweep in the 200 yard butterfly. Matt Sluss defended his title in the event with a NCAA 'B' cut qualifying time of 1:52.71 and Shelby Hall also posted a NCAA 'B' cut finish with a time of 1:53.63. Teammate Evan Jones completed the All-SCAC sweep with a third-place finish of 1:54.12.
in the final event of the evening, Trinity put a bow on its 2016 title as the quartet of Gordon Allan, Isaac Johnson, Thiesse and Newlands touched the wall in 3:04.81 to give the Tigers their third straight win in the meet-closing event. Southwestern was second in a time of 3:06.07 and Centenary was third in a time of 3:09.73.
The SCAC coaches also voted on the Staff-of-the-Year award and Jon Duncan and his coaching staff at Southwestern earned the honor for the second-consecutive year.
Thomas Jones won the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 50.82 while his Trinity teammate Gordon Allan claimed victory in the 200-yard freestyle by touching the wall in 1:41.42. Johnson, Jones, Jonathan Hoffman and Andre Newlands won the 400-yard medley relay with a SCAC record time of 3:24.86. Duncan MacAskill, competing in his first SCAC championship, won the men's 1-meter diving title with a mark of 4:13.25.
Centenary's Juan Tapia earned "B" cut consideration as he finished second to Thiesse in the 400 IM with a time of 4:04.81. Mickey Scharbrough won the 100-yard breast with a "B" cut time of 57.32.
Southwestern's Matt Sluss broke his previous school record in the 200-yard individual medley with a winning time of 1:53.35. The time also marked the second fastest time in SCAC history. In earning the win, Sluss became just the third man in league history to win the event in consecutive years.
Competition continues on Friday with preliminaries beginning at 10:30 a.m., while the championship concludes with the finals set for 6:30 p.m. Click here for the complete schedule of events.
