Men’s; Women’s Swim and Dive dominate with huge win vs Eagles in Southern Indiana Invite

By Joseph Bernard, Sports Editor|January 23, 2023

Team members gather around to chant Saturday, Jan. 27, 2018, before the start of the Salukis’ meet against Indiana State at the Dr. Edward Shea Natatorium. (Reagan Gavin | @RGavin_DE)

Both the Men’s and Women’s Swim and Dive teams competed against Southern Indiana on Saturday, with both teams winning big against the Eagles. The Men’s team took the win with a 154-75 final score, while the women’s win was a bit bigger of a margin at 194-46.

The Men’s side saw wins in 11 of the 13 events involved throughout the meet. Senior Sam Flessner took home first in two different solo events. In the 500-yard Freestyle, he just edged out a first-place finish by less than a second at a 4:47.64 time, and in the 1000-yard free he did the same with a 10:06.42 time.

In the 100-yard freestyle, four different Salukis finished in the top four to take the top points in the event. Alex Cimera finished first in the 200-yard free with a 1:42.70 time. The Men’s 200-yard medley relay teams both finished 1 and two with the A team consisting of Ruard Van Renan, Tiago Faleiros, Nicolas Barrio Lanuza, and Mykyta Terentiev. Selim Hassan also earned first in the 200-yard Intramural with a 1:56.43 time.

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As for the Women’s team, they took wins in every event throughout the event. Junior Fernanda Sanchez Gongora led the way with two wins in the 500 free with a 5:14.28 time and a 1:54.77 time in the 200 free. Freshman Olivia Herron earned first in the 100-yard free with a 54.34 time. Farida Moussa dominated the diving competition with a 259.57 score in the three meter round, more than 20 points higher than the second-place finish. She also dominated the 1 meter round with a 273.45 score, almost 45 points more than her runner-up.

Senior Maria Torres Nole narrowly won the 100 backstroke with a 1:00.81 time, only .2 seconds in front of the second-place finisher. Sophomores Jules Atkinson won the 200 Intramural with a 2:12.44 time and Morgan Dietzel earned first in the 50-yard freestyle by a tenth of a second at 25.79.

The Salukis will look for another dominating performance with a trip to Charleston on Thursday against Eastern Illinois. The Invite will start at 1 pm that afternoon.

Sports editor Joseph Bernard can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @Jojobernard2001.

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