KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The University of the Incarnate Word men's and women's swimming and diving teams closed out the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) Championships on Saturday where the men secured their three-peat winning title with a point total of 874.5.
SATURDAY'S BROKEN RECORDS
DAY FOUR RECAPPED
In the women's 1,650 freestyle,
Ximena Conde and
Brenda Diaz maintained a strong pace for their splits throughout each hundred of the event, finishing the distance event on the podium in second and third with finals times of 16:38.96 and 16:46.22, respectively.
On the men's side of the event, late pushes in the end of the race drove
Alvaro Ibarra and
Sergio Duran to vie for the top spot. In the end, it was Ibarra that was able to break away, setting a new school record with his first-place time of 15:12.25, setting a new CCSA record along the way. Duran took the second-place spot with a time of 15:16.14.
After notching a new school record in the 100 backstroke the day prior, junior
Kristen Straszacker took on the 200 backstroke with equal intensity, placing fourth in the A final and also setting a program record time of 1:59.06.
Christina Vergara and
Natasha Fung put up times of 2:04.03 and 2:05.08, respectively, in the B final.
Fernando Ruvalcaba Cruz and
Erek Nelson pushed through near the end of the men's 200 backstroke to secure first and second in A finals with times of 1:45.48 and 1:45.97. It was their back-half push that secured their win and edged out a threatening FAU competitor from the top-spot on the race.
Lauren Gray was the top-finisher for the Cardinal women of the 100 free to tack a time of 52.26 in finals.
Leonardo Sanchez broke a six-year record in the men's 100 freestyle A finals in the evening, winning gold with a swift time of 44.23.
Christopher Lestage came in shortly after, earning third-place with a time of 44.78.
Norbert Aranyi (45.10) and
Garrett Hollcroft (45.80) capped out the A final.
In the women's 200 breaststroke, it was
Mariana Ruvalcaba Cruz who represented the Cardinals in the A final to put up a 2:19.11 for fourth place.
On the men's side of the 200 breast,
Oleksandr Karpenko's dominance on the heat notched an NCAA B cut and a gold in a time of 1:56.86.
Alex Garriga came fourth with a time of 2:00.86.
Sophie Taylor took fourth in the A final of the women's 200 fly with a time of 2:03.47, which also broke and set a new program record that was set in 2012.
Hector Ruvalcaba Cruz's 200 fly also set a new UIW record-- beating his own record from last year—for a first-place prelims time of 1:44.49. This time, and his later finals time of 1:46.00, also qualified as a NCAA B cut.
Bryce Kuchan put up a personal-best time of 1:47.58, coming in third in the A final, with
Jared Wallace coming behind in 1:47.85.
The meet day concluded with the men's and women's 400 free relay, with the women's squad of
Ximena Conde,
Mariana Ruvalcaba Cruz,
Hannah Rowley and
Lauren Gray notching a time of 3:28.76.
A nice ending to a successful championship, the men's 400 free relay beat out the Gardner-Webb squad in a time of 2:58.74. The quartet who slated gold were
Leonardo Sanchez,
Christopher Lestage,
Norbert Aranyi and
Garrett Hollcroft.
NOTABLES OF THE MEET
- UIW men's three-peat win is the second time a CCSA accomplishes the feat (UIW's first), following UMBC's reign from 2015-17 before leaving the CCSA for the America East Conference.
- The Cardinals broke 11 program records over the course of the meet, three of which were also CCSA meet records.
- Alvaro Ibarra was named the Most Outstanding Freshman Male Performer.
- Ibarra and Leo Sanchez were both named as the Most Outstanding Male Swimmers of the Meet.
- Head Coach Phillip Davis was recognized as Male Coach of the Year (shared with Howard University's head coach) and Female Coach of the Year (shared with UNC- Asheville).
- The women's team maintained a third-place finish, after first notching the bronze spot last year for the first time in program history in 2019.
- Hector Ruvalcaba Cruz became the third person in CCSA history to win an event four years in a row.
- Dawson Martinez is the first diver in conference history to three-peat in an event at the CCSA Championship.
- Ximena Conde was named Co-Freshman Female of the Championship
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.
