DALLAS, Texas -- The University of the Incarnate Word men's swimming and diving team topped SMU in Saturday's matinee meet, besting the Mustangs 151-148.
UIW won nine of the day's 16 events with a hefty amount of top-three finishes to rack up enough points to edge out SMU.
#THEWORD ON THE ROAD
The Cardinals came into the meet hot, straight away putting up points in the 200 Medley relay. The squad of
Fernando Ruvalcaba Cruz,
Oleksandr Karpenko,
Hector Ruvalcaba Cruz and
Christopher Lestage maintained a strong lead during relay exchanges and thwarted Mustang advances to take the lead, resulting in a UIW win with a time of 1:32.66.
Sergio Duran switched up the pace to move the meet into the 1,000 free distance event, but followed suit to swiftly take first with a time of 9:25.44.
Oscar Cardenas came in second with a time of 9:43.70.
The UIW men swept the podium in the 200 fly, but it was H. Ruvalcaba Cruz who clinched the top spot in 1:49.27 (Second-
Bryce Kuchan 1:52.48; Third-
Jared Wallace 1:56.55). H. Ruvalcaba Cruz notched another comfortable win in the 200 IM, leading by close to three seconds for a time of 1:50.60.
Kuchan and Wallace later came out on top in the 100 butterfly, with Kuchan busting out an impressive last 50 to finish in 49.83, while teammate Wallace finished just after in 51.04.
Garrett Hollcroft capped out the top-five finishers bt touching in 51.64.
In the 200 freestyle,
Leonardo Sanchez recovered from a fourth-place spot after the first split to pull ahead, surpassing the close-packed group to win in 1:40.78. Sanchez tallied another victory in the 100 free, where he closed out the race with a finals time of 46.22.
Lestage showed out in the 50 free sprint, proving to be the fastest off the blocks and first to touch with a speedy winning time of 20.89. He took third later in the 100 freestyle with a margin of less than half a second (46.49).
Back in distance territory,
Alvaro Ibarra was the top finisher in the 500 free, earning the victory in 4:36.17.
Sergio Duran and
Oscar Cardenas came in second and third, respectively, with finals times of 4:36.60 and 4:41.50.
Dawson Martinez held through diving rounds against the Mustangs' squad to finish fourth, both on 1M with 270.53 points and on 3M with 305.70 points.
F. Ruvalcaba Cruz finished third in the 100 back in 50.59. A second-place finish came to
Fernando Ruvalcaba Cruz later in the 200 backstroke, finishing in a time of 1:51.23.
Oleksandr Karpenko also fought in a close race in the 100 breast, narrowly being out-touched in the last split to take second in 56.89. Karpenko's back half of the 200 breaststroke also led to a heartbreaking second-place finish in 2:04.31.
The afternoon concluded with the 400 freestyle relay, where Sanchez, Lestage,
Alex Garriga and H. Ruvalcaba Cruz battled, but ultimately fell to a second-place finish with a time of 3:07.19.
UP NEXT
The Cardinals men and women align their schedules once again when they come back to San Antonio on Jan. 31 to host Trinity University for Senior Day. The meet, which is the Cardinals' last meet before the CCSA conference meet, is set to begin at 3 p.m. CT.
FOLLOW ALONG
For the most up-to-date information on UIW Athletics, visit
uiwcardinals.com, follow the Cardinals on Twitter @UIWAthletics and like UIW Athletics on Facebook.
Follow the team on Twitter @UIWSwimAndDive and on Instagram @uiwswimanddive.
