The first day of competition at the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving National Championships saw Incarnate Word's Cardinals collecting a second place finish and a third position.
Nikita Belousov in event four got the second place touch in the 200-individual medley. His time of 1:47.87 broke his previous UIW school mark of 1:49.80 which he set a year ago in the NCAA meet. Jun Han Kim of Drury won this year's 1,000 in 1:46.08.
Not too much later in the evening Justin McDonald gave the Cardinals a third place finish. In the three-meter diving event McDonald was third with 536.50 points. Those points shattered his previous Incarnate Word school mark of 314.55 set in January. Clarion's Logan Pearsall won the three-meter with 565.15.
Elsewhere on the night's slate Conrado Chede finished eighth in the 1,000-freestyle. His time was 9:21.59. And in the final event, the 200-medley relay the Cardinals were one of two teams disqualified for early entry.
At the end of the first day UIW rested in a seventh place tie in team competition. The Cardinals accumulated 44 points as did Wingate. The day's leader was defending champion Drury with 127 points.
The championships continue Thursday at Palo Alto Natatorium with preliminaries at 10:30 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m.
