SAN ANTONIO, Texas – A year after having its consecutive conference championship streak snapped, the Trinity University men regained the team title - its eighth in nine years - Saturday night at the 2020 SCAC Swimming and Diving Championships held at the Josh Davis Natatorium. Official Website | Final Team Scores | Saturday's Complete Results | Complete Meet Results | Photo Gallery | Video Interviews Playlist
The Tigers finished with 945 points to defeat second-place Southwestern University, who ended with 859.50 points. Colorado College was third with 631.50 points, followed by Austin College with 357 points, Centenary College with 305 points, University of the Ozarks with 233 points and McMurry University with 158 points.
Swimmer-of-the-Meet honors went to Trinity's Beau Tipton who won titles in the 800 free relay, 500 free, 400 medley relay, and 200 fly. He took second in the 200 free. Tipton tied for Swimmer-of-the-Meet honors with his teammate Grayden Nelson and Colorado College's Eric Dallesasse, but his NCAA 'B' cut and SCAC record swim in the 200 fly provided the tiebreaker point.
Diver-of-the-Meet went to Anthony Liva who won SCAC titles on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards.
The Trinity University staff - led by third-year head coach Scott Trompeter, along with assistant coach John Ryan, assistant coach Kimberly Jones, and diving coach Stan Randall - earned SCAC Men's Coaching Staff-of-the-Year honors. It marked the second honor for Trompeter since he took over prior to the 2017-18 season.
Trinity's Liva swept the diving competitions as he followed up his win in the 1-meter with a victory in the 3-meter this afternoon. He totaled 576.40 points to beat out Colorado College's Mac O'Brien (418.35) and Austin College's Colton Baker (333.65).
Grayden Nelson of Trinity took top billing in the 1650 free as he touched the wall in 16:17.63. Nelson narrowly missed out on an NCAA 'B' cut time by 0.98 seconds. Topher Shepherd of Colorado College was second with a time of 16:31.59 while Southwestern's Matt Oevermann rounded out the top three with a mark of 16:34.78.
The Tigers of Trinity dominated the 200 back as they took the top four spots. Daniel Sarman won the event with a time of 1:50.84, which now stands as the fourth-fastest time in SCAC championship history. Matt Lanzara was second in 1:52.48, Eamon Morris was third in 1:54.20 and Joseph Kelly was fourth in a time of 1:54.34.
Southwestern secured two of the top three finishers in the 100 free. Keith Gill defended his league title in the event by touching the wall in 45.85 seconds. Trinity's Shamzi Alkaff was second in 46.85 seconds followed by Gill's teammate, Todd Coachman who was third with a time of 47.01 seconds.
In perhaps the race of the night, just 0.63 seconds separated the top three in the 200 breast. Alek Argueta of Southwestern won the SCAC title in 2:04.22 while Ethan Nguyen of Austin College finished in second with a time of 2:04.59. Trinity's Spencer Steward was third after touching the wall in 2:04.85. Both Argueta and Nguyen earned NCAA 'B' cut times while Steward was just 0.05 seconds from a 'B' cut standard.
Tipton broke his own SCAC championship record when he claimed the title in the 200 fly. He touched the wall in an NCAA 'B' cut time of 1:48.60. He also became the third swimmer in league history to win the event three consecutive years joining Trinity's Ryan Van Der Kar of Trinity (2002-2004) and Southwestern's Matt Sluss (2015-2017). Eric Dallesasse of Colorado College placed second with a time of 1:54.19 while Southwestern's Dylan Neumann rounded out the top three with a time of 1:55.38.
Southwestern closed out the night and the championship with a win in the 400 free relay. The quartet of Sam Anderson, Todd Coachman, Caleb Pfiefer, and Gill set a Josh Davis Pool record with a time of 3:04.28. Trinity's team of Sarman, Leon Faulk, Nelson, and Alkaff took second after touching the wall in 3:05.47. Colorado College took third when Walker Martin, Shepherd, Baker Casagrande, and Dallesasse finished in 3:08.41.
