ST. GEORGE, Utah – The University of the Incarnate Word swim team made history, finishing its second Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Conference Championship and their first under head coach Reed Robelot.
 
Head coach Reed Robelot said, "First, congratulations to our student-athletes and all of the swimmers and divers in the MPSF. We watched some outstanding performances to include a number of them from our men and women. Overall, the Cardinals raced hard, dove well, and did a fantastic job of supporting each other through it all. We look forward to seeing what the 2024-2025 season will hold for us."
 
The men's team has several podium finishes and had their highest MPSF team finish at third. The women's team also had the most student-athletes score in finals since joining the MPSF.
 
The Cardinals came out swimming fast. The relay team of Fernando Ruvalcaba Cruz, Fabio Fasolo, Trevor Smith, and Amechi Nwaeze broke the UIW record in the 200-medley relay by .08 seconds in the first session of the meet. After night one the Cardinals had firm position in second place with great points carrying over from diving the week before.
 
Day two started with some familiar faces making waves at the meet. Three Cardinals, Amechi (19.99), Mykyta Kolesynkov (19.93), and Fabio (19.92), all made the huge step breaking 20 seconds in the 50 freestyle. Panos Vlachogiannakos started his dominance with a 4:22.30 minute swim to take first place in the 500 free.
 
Day three was more of the same. The UIW 400 medley relay squad made up of Fabio, Mykyta, Maksym Holubnychyi, and Fernando swam a 3:12.24, earning third. Panos once again dominated, winning the 400 IM with a 3:48.59. While the Cardinals continued to perform well, they had fallen to third place.
 
In the final day of competition came to play and had their most successful day. Panos placed second in his final event of the meet with a 15:17.92 in the mile. Fabio broke his own school record and placed second in the 100 free with a 43.28. Maksym had a thrilling race. Heading into the final turn of the 200 breaststroke he was in fifth place, in the final yards he made a push all the way to second place earning big points for the Cardinals, finishing with a time of 1:58.19.
 
With one race left in the meet UIW was two points out of third place in the team completion. Mykyta, Fabio, Trevor, and Amechi set a new UIW 400 freestyle relay record, 2:55.04, placing third and earning the Cardinals the third-place spot in the team competition.
 
You can find full results and stay up to date on Cardinals qualifying for NCAA Championship meets on the swim & dive schedule pages.
 
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