THE COLONY, Texas - The Trinity Tigers swept the 1-meter diving competition which helped them hold the lead after three days of competition. Official Website | Friday's Complete Results | Photo Gallery
Freshman Daniel Valmessei took home the gold on his birthday with his score of 497.70 on the 1-meter diving board. Anthony Liva and Duncan MacAskill also took home all-conference honors in the event.
In the swimming portion of Friday's action, Trinity's Jacob Hurrell-Zitelman took home the gold in the first individual race of the night, the 400 IM. The sophomore defended his title in the event, touching first in a time of 4:04.43, the fourth-fastest time in the history of the event. Teammate Noah Stopkotte finished second in 4:06.42 and Southwestern's Matthew Oevermann as third in 4:12.47.
Colorado College's Eric Dellasasse broke the Tigers' win streak with his win in the 100-yard butterfly in 50.43 seconds. Trinity's Beau Tipton was second in 51.07 and Shamzi Alkaff of Trinity and Caleb Liles tied for the final all-conference position with a 51.62 finish.
Peter Robinson of Southwestern had an emotional finish in the 200-yard freestyle, one of the closest races of the night, with his time of 1:42.38. His was the third gold medal effort in the last four years in the event for the Pirate men's program. Walker Martin of Colorado College placed second in a time of 1:43.20 and Trinity's Eamon Morris was third in 1:43.49.
Trinity's Elliott Fleming earned an NCAA 'B' cut, broke the SCAC championship meet record and tied the league's open mark with a 56.20 finish in the 100 breaststroke. The open mark had been held since 2003 when Rose-Hulman's Matt Smith won the 2003 NCAA individual national title with the same time. Alek Argueta of Southwestern placed second (57.86) and Trinity's Colton Smith was third (58.47).
After setting a new SCAC championship mark in prelims (49.77), Trinity's Charles Clark closed the evening's individual competetion in style with a first-place finish and NCAA 'B' cut in the 100 backstroke in a time of 49.86.
In the evening's final race, Southwestern University took home gold in the men's 400 medley relay in a time of 3:31.30. Colorado College finished second in 3:34.50 and Centenary College was third in 3:34.69.
The team standings after the first 13 events is as follows:
1) Trinity University - 645.5
2) Southwestern University - 542.5
3) Colorado College - 362
4) Centenary College - 311
5) Austin College - 228
6) McMurry University - 142
7) University of the Ozarks - 113
Competition continues on Saturday with preliminaries beginning at 10:30 a.m., women's and men's finals at 6 p.m. The league's 37 senior student-athletes will be honored at 5:45 p.m. in the annual senior night celebration. Click here for the complete schedule of events.
