Championship Central | Results | Photos
Indianapolis, Ind. – The ECU men set three American Athletic Conference records on Friday, but Cincinnati retained its lead through six more events with 649 points at the 2019 American Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships. The Bearcats look to clinch their second-straight title Saturday with prelims beginning at 10 a.m. ET and the finals starting at 5 p.m. ET at the IUPUI Natatorium.
The Pirates have won three conference championships (2017, 2016 and 2015) and ended the third day with 555 points. UConn had a pair of podium finishes and finished the day in third place with 444 points.
ECU stole the spotlight in Friday’s prelims session with two-time defending 100 butterfly champion Gustavo Santos re-setting his own American record in the event for a second-straight year. Santos clocked 45.86 seconds before recording 46.01 seconds in the finals to complete a three-peat in the 100 fly. The top eight featured three Bearcats and three Pirates. Cincinnati freshman Alberto Garcia (47.66 seconds) and junior Parker Saladin (47.71 seconds) finished second and third, respectively.
Another meet record fell at the hands of the Pirates in the 100 breaststroke with Jacek Arentewicz clocking 52.64 seconds to capture back-to-back titles in the event. The Pirates have won the 100 breast for the past five years. The top four finishers each registered B-Cut marks with Cincinnati’s Dominic Polling (52.98 seconds), ECU’s Lyubomir Epitropov (53.57 seconds) and SMU’s Aedan Lewis (53.96 seconds) finishing second, third and fourth, respectively. Arentewicz and Polling finished first and second, respectively, in the 100 breast at last year’s American title meet.
Each of the men’s four teams saw four of their swimmers qualify for the 200 free finals. Cincinnati junior Din Selmanovic, last year’s runner-up in this event, led the way in the qualifying round with a time of 1:36.49. The Bearcats placed two on the podium with Selmanovic becoming the second Bearcat in as many years to take home gold in this event. He swam for a personal-record B-Cut time of 1:35.86. Blaz Demsar of ECU also captured a B-Cut time, finishing second place after clocking 1:36.30. Cincinnati’s Alex Fortman earned the final All-Conference 200 free spot (1:36.53), while teammate Justin Crew placed fourth (1:36.81).
Six Cincinnati swimmers punched tickets to Friday’s 400 IM finals. However, it was ECU freshman Marek Osina who took home his first-career American gold medal in an individual event. Osina, the conference’s leader heading into the finals, swam a personal-record time of 3:48.15, becoming the second Pirate in three years to win the 400 IM. The Bearcats placed three in the top five with Blake Hanna taking second place (3:52.97) and Cooper Knapp of UConn finishing third (3:53.81).
Tristan Taylor used a powerful underwater and swam ahead two-time defending 100 backstroke champion Will Kearsey of UConn to touch the wall first in 47.38 seconds. Kearsey placed second in 47.62 seconds, while Cincinnati’s Joseph Pulgessi finished third (48.03 seconds). Taylor and Kearsey’s time met the NCAA B-Cut standards. SMU made its presence felt in the 100 back with five Mustangs clocking top-10 prelim times to advance to advance to the final round.
The Day 3 excitement continued through it’s the final event with The Pirates capturing their third meet record of the day, winning the 400 medley relay for a second-straight year. ECU’s team of Taylor, Arentewicz, Santos and Victor Dos Santos turned in a first-place time of 3:10.55. Cincinnati’s squad of Puglessi, Polling, Garcia and Fortman finished second place (3:11.81), while SMU’s team of Matan Segal, Lewis, Szymon Golczyk and Ralph Koo clocked 3:13.43 for the third podium spot.
For complete coverage of the American Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships, visit The American’s Championship Central page at www.theamerican.org/swimdive and follow @American_Swim on Twitter.
Men’s Teams Scores
1. Cincinnati – 649
2. ECU – 555
3. UConn – 444
4. SMU – 407
Championships Schedule:
FRIDAY, MARCH 1
SESSION 4 – 10:00 A.M. (SWIMMING PRELIMS)
12:30 P.M. (DIVING PRELIMS)
SESSION 5– 6:00 P.M. (FINALS)
Prelims – Women’s 3M Diving
Consols – Women’s 3M Diving
Women’s 400 Individual Medley
Men’s 400 Individual Medley
Women’s 100 Yard Butterfly
Men’s 100 Yard Butterfly
Women’s 200 Yard Freestyle
Men’s 200 Yard Freestyle
Women’s 100 Yard Breaststroke
Men’s 100 Yard Breaststroke
Women’s 100 Yard Backstroke
Men’s 100 Yard Backstroke
Finals – Women’s 3M Diving
Women’s 400 Yard Medley Relay*
Men’s 400 Yard Medley Relay*
SATURDAY, MARCH 2
SESSION 6 – 10:00 A.M. (SWIMMING PRELIMS)
12:30 P.M. (DIVING PRELIMS)
SESSION 7 – 5:00 P.M. (FINALS)
Prelims – Women’s Platform Diving
Prelims – Men’s Platform Diving
Women’s 1,650 Yard Freestyle^
Men’s 1,650 Yard Freestyle^
Finals – Women’s Platform Diving
Women’s 200 Yard Backstroke
Men’s 200 Yard Backstroke
Women’s 100 Yard Freestyle
Men’s 100 Yard Freestyle
Women’s 200 Yard Breaststroke
Men’s 200 Yard Breaststroke
Women’s 200 Yard Butterfly
Men’s 200 Yard Butterfly
Finals – Men’s Platform Diving
Women’s 400 Yard Freestyle Relay*
Men’s 400 Yard Freestyle Relay*
All times eastern