Trinity Men Extend Lead Heading Into Final Day of SCAC Men's Swimming & Diving Championship

ROCKWALL, Texas -- The Trinity University men, behind individual wins in four of five events, extended its lead as the third day of competition at the 2015 SCAC Swimming and Diving Championships concluded Friday evening at the Rockwall ISD. Official Website | Friday's Complete Results | Team Scores | Video Recap

Leading by 23 points heading into today's events, Trinity almost quadrupled its lead after a huge Friday night performance. With only Saturday's session remaining, the Tigers hold a 90-point lead over second-place Southwestern University (675-585). Rounding out the standings, Centenary College moved up a place to third with 389 points followed by Colorado College in fourth with 373 points. Austin College is fifth with 217 points and McMurry University is sixth with 160 points.

In the afternoon diving session, Colorado College senior Austin Howlett crusied to the 3-meter individual crown, crushing the league's longest-standing swimming and diving record in the process. His score of 595.05 disposed the old mark of 535.45 set by Sewanee's Jon Morris from the 1999 championship. After winning the 1-meter board on Wednesday, Howlett finishes his career with six individual SCAC diving titles - the second-most from any diver in conference history.

The Trinity duo of freshman Adrien Lhemann and senior Nicholas Van Bemmelen finished 2-3 on the 3-meter board with scores of 254.00 and 231.85, respectively. 

Trinity junior Andrew Thiesse set the tone early for the Tigers as he opened Friday's evening session with a victory in the 400 IM, touching the wall first in a NCAA 'B' cut qualifying time of 4:06.20. The win was his second of the championships (500 free). Southwestern freshman Alex Villarreal was just behing in second in a time of 4:06.89 - which was also good for a NCAA 'B' cut. Southwestern senior Ty Lapinski finished third with a time of 4:12.48.

Stephen Culberson of Trinity also earned his second individual win of the 2015 championships and did it in grand style - besting both the SCAC meet and open record in the 100 butterfly with a winning time of 49.39. It was his second consecutive 100 butterfly individual title at the SCAC championships and the stellar performance also earned the senior a NCAA 'B' cut. Senior Beau Montgomery of Centenary finished second with a finishing time of 50.39 and junior Tom Jones of Trinity was third in a time of 50.56.

Freshman Matt Sluss of Southwestern put the Pirates back atop the awards podium with a first-place finish in the 200 freestyle and became the third consecutive man to earn his second individual win of the 2015 championships. The first-year swimmer out-touched in the field in a time of 1:41.78. Trinity freshman Spencer Adickes finished second in a time of 1:42.75 and freshman Michael Glover of Southwestern was third in a time of 1:42.87.

The evening's next event produced another individual title for Trinity as junior Tom Jones claimed first place in the 100 breaststroke. His winning time of 56.81 was good for a NCAA 'B' cut and gave the third-year swimmer his first SCAC individual championship. Freshman Mickey Scharbrough of Southwestern finished second in a time of 58.39 and Centenary junior Kellen Bullock was third in a time of 59.22.

In the final individual race of the evening, sophomore Isaac Johnson set the new SCAC meet and open record and also produced a NCAA 'B' cut with his 50.88 finish in the 100 backstroke. Freshman Julian Smith of Southwestern placed second in a time of 51.44 and Trinity freshman Charles Clark was third in a time of 52.61.

Southwestern closed the meet with a strong finish in the men's 400 medley relay as the Pirate foursome of Smith, Scharbrough, Sluss and sophomore Simmon Belaineh set the new SCAC meet and open record with a finishing time of 3:25.85. Trinity placed second in a time of 3:28.40 and Centenary finished third with a time of 3:30.91. 

Competition concludes on Saturday with preliminaris beginning at 10:30 a.m., and finals at 6:30 p.m. Click here for the complete schedule of events.