NEW ORLEANS, La. -- The University of the Incarnate Word men's and women's swimming and diving teams begin road schedules this week, traveling first to Louisiana to face Loyola New Orleans on Jan. 8. Competition is set to begin at 5 p.m. (CT).
 
UIW is coming off solid swims against three strong Division I teams in San Diego (Jan 3). Loyola New Orleans is coming into Tuesday from a loss, 150-76, against Southern Methodist University (Jan. 4). The Cardinals are slated to face SMU in February.
 
CARDINALS IN THE WOLF DEN
 
Last time out, the Cardinals held their own against San Diego State University, Wyoming and San Jose State University, producing solid swims to improve upon for the rest of the competition season. Based off these times, as compared to Loyola New Orleans' last time out, UIW hopes to find success at this meet.
 
Hector Ruvalcaba Cruz looks to continue his dominance coming into this competition. His most recent swim in the 400 IM brought him not only a gold placement, but he also set a new pool record and made a "B cut" qualification with a time of 4:00.41.
 
Also extending her reach on the competition, as well as showing off her family name, sophomore Mariana Ruvalcaba Cruz won the 100 Breaststroke with a time of 1:04.77 (Jan. 3), which was an improvement on her seeded time coming into finals. She also struck gold in the women's 200 Breaststroke finals with a finishing time of 2:23.00.
 
Oleksandr Karpenko came out of UIW's latest meet with solid 100 and 200 Breaststroke swims, placing fifth in the 100, going 59.48, and fifth in the 200 with a time of 2:10.10. Karpenko also contributed with quickness to the 400 Medley relay team to secure second place with a group time of 3:26.70 (Aaron Moran, Karpenko, Bryce Kuchan and Carter Wallace). C. Wallace impressed in the men's 50 Freestyle, taking second with a time of 21.08.
 
Natasha Fung is slated to find success against Loyola's women in the 100 Backstroke, coming out of this past week going 1:00.22.
 
UP NEXT
The Cardinal men's and women's teams continue on the road to face Florida State University Jan. 10. Diving competition is set to begin at 10 a.m. (ET), while swimming events will be at 2 p.m. (ET) in Tallahassee.

 
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