Elkhart, Ind. - The Quincy University men's swim program scored a record 417 points at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Swim and Dive Championships last week (Feb. 11-15). The Hawks saw two podium-worthy competitors in
Wyatt Walsh and Borna Kisasondi and gained points from young talent throughout the week. The Hawks finished eighth overall.
The event kicked off Tuesday night with the 800 free relay. Quincy's top quad on the men's side broke their own record for the second time this season, improving on their latest swim by six seconds (6:41.33). This helped the men hop three places from their estimated finish, gaining some team points with a sixth place spot.
Denislav Koykov,
Wyatt Walsh,
Victor Abram, and
Lucca Arantes were a part of this speedy group.
Walsh led the Hawks on the men's side in the 200 IM, finishing at 1:49.29 and taking a 13th seed for the finals rounds later in the evening. Walsh improved his time to a 1:48.07, finishing 11th in the finals heat. Koykov swam his fastest in the event, 1:53.02, just seconds behind the cutoff for the finals.
Borna Kisasondi tied for the ninth seed in the 50 freestyle at 20.33 seconds.
Martiniano Montero was the other lone Hawk who qualified for the finals heat, placing 21st at 20.74 seconds.
Ian Caballero and
Jordan Settumba finished back-to-back with 21.34 and 21.39 times. Kisasondi swam a 20.40 come the finals while Montero dropped his time to 20.57.
Wojciech Chalat was the fastest Hawk on the men's side in the distance event, swimming a 9:45.43, topping
Victor Abram's record from last season by three seconds. A duo of Hawks followed closely behind him with Arantes finishing at 9:45.76 and Abram came to the wall at 9:52.61.
The quad of Kisasondi, Walsh, Montero, and Caballero finished 8th in the 200 medley relay with a 1:29.97 time. At the end of day two, the men's team sat eighth out of eleven teams with 127 points.
Thursday began with the 100 butterfly, dominated by Kisasondi whose 47-second swim earned him a fourth-place spot on the podium, the highest a Hawk has ever been, and an NCAA B cut in the event. Montero was the next Hawk near the top, missing the finals by .20 seconds.
Walsh dominated the 400 IM, shaving down his preliminary time of 3:54.79 down to 3:54.27, good for a fifth place finish overall and an NCAA B cut.
Koykov rounded out the Hawks' individual competition with the 200 freestyle on Thursday evening, swimming a 1:39.94 time in the 200 freestyle in the C-final. Koykov had a quick turnaround for the 400 medley relay. The quad of Kisasondi,
Juri Bauer, Montero, and Koykov broke the standing medley record and swam a 3:19.88 on Thursday evening.
Friday's events started off with the 500 freestyle with Walsh leading the pack at 4:34.92 in the morning swim, improving to 4:29.51 in the finals. Arantes made it through to the C-final of the event with a 4:41.74 with Chalat just missing the cutoff less than a second behind. Koykov found himself in the mix at 4:43.70.
Kisasondi swam a 49.21 in the 100 backstroke in the C-final of the evening session, missing a qualifying B cut by half a second.
Jeronimo Augurusa Franco swam a 50.68 in the preliminary round, putting himself in the C-final as well, but dropped .20 seconds in the final to finish at 50.84.
Bauer broke the Hawks' record in the 100 breaststroke on Friday, swimming a 54.74 time. Bauer gained 14 key points for the Hawks. Quincy's Friday night ended on a sour note with a disqualified 200 freestyle swim due to an early takeoff.
Kisasondi started the final day of swimming off with a bang with a broken record in the 100 freestyle, swimming a 44.84 in the preliminaries and dropping the time down o 44.50 in the B-final.
Brendan Worster followed Kisasondi with a broken record in the 200 backstroke with a 1:51.01 time in the C-final.
Wyatt Walsh rounded out the individual events with a 2:03.91 in the preliminary round, and finished 22nd in the group after swimming a 2:06.49. The quad of Koykov, Kisasondi, Montero, and Walsh rounded out the Hawks with a 400 freestyle relay record broken, swimming a 3:01.55, good for 6th place.
The Hawks showed improvement in almost every swim this week, and made multiple provisional marks for the NCAA Championships in March. Quincy will soon find out if the Hawks will be competing in Indianapolis in March when the final heats are released.
