Championship Central | Results | Photos
Indianapolis, Ind. – The Cincinnati men scored 966 points through 21 events to capture their second-straight American Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving title at the IUPUI Natatorium Saturday. The Bearcats took home 10 gold medals, collecting 24 podium finishes through the four-day meet. Cincinnati became the second team in American history to clinch back-to-back swimming and diving championships.
ECU, which won three conference championships (2017, 2016 and 2015), finished in second place for a second-consecutive season with 820 points. The Pirates took home eight gold medals and had 20 trips to the podium. UConn placed third with 10 podium finishes and 647 points, while SMU placed fourth after winning two diving titles. The Mustangs registered 613 points.
Cincinnati junior Din Selmanovic was the highest scorer (57 points) among the men and became the first Bearcat to be voted Most Outstanding Swimmer by the league’s four head coaches. Selmanovic captured two individual titles (200 and 500 free) and had a runner-up finish in Saturday’s 1,650 free. He also swam the anchor leg of the Bearcats’ first-place 800 freestyle relay team. Cincinnati head coach Mandy Commons-DiSalle earned her second Men’s Coach of the Year honor in as many years.
Parker Hardigree kept the streak alive for SMU, becoming the third Mustang to take home The American’s Most Outstanding Diver award. Hardigree finished second overall in points (56) and was also voted Co-Men’s Swimming and Diving Freshman of the Year. The rookie took home gold in the 1 and 3-meter dives and had a podium finish in the platform dive Saturday. SMU head diving coach Darian Schmidt collected his second-straight Men’s Diving Coach of the Year award. ECU’s Marek Osina won the 400 IM, placed second in the 200 IM and swam as part of ECU’s runner-up 800 freestyle relay squad en route to earning Co-Freshman of the Year honors.
Cincinnati’s Dominic Polling and UConn’s Will Kearsey each finished with 54 points. Polling had six podium finishes, including two gold medals (200 IM and 400 free relay), while Kearsey won the 50 freestyle and placed second in the 100 backstroke and 100 freestyle events.
The meet concluded in an exciting fashion with Cincinnati winning its first 400 freestyle relay to seal its second-straight title. Swimming the anchor leg, Alex Fortman reached for the wall 0.01 seconds faster than ECU’s Blaz Demsar to defeat the two-time defending champions in the event with a time of 2:56.01. Polling, Alberto Garcia and Justin Crew joined Fortman atop the podium. The Pirates placed second with the team of Victor Dos Santos, Eric Hinderup, Gavin Erdmann and Desmar clocking 2:56.02. SMU clinched third place with Carson Klein, Matthew Nutter, Matan Segal and Lucas Schenke swimming the race in a season-best time of 2:57.85.
The Bearcats put two more swimmers on the podium in the 200 backstroke, as Blake Hanna touched the wall first in front of ECU’s Magnus Anderson, who also finished as the runner-up a year ago in this event. Hanna (1:43.93) and Anderson (1:44.09) each clocked B-Cut times. After finishing sixth place a year ago, Cincinnati’s Joseph Puglessi placed third (1:45.04) for a second B Standard mark in this event for the Bearcats. Cincinnati finished with three in the top seven.
ECU’s Hinderup led four Pirates in the top eight of the 100 freestyle prelim round, while five SMU swimmers punched tickets to Saturday’s final race. However, it was Cincinnati’s Fortman who won the event with a personal-record B-Cut time of 43.69 seconds. Fortman improved from a seventh-place finish a year ago. UConn’s Kearsey finished second (43.93 seconds), while ECU’s Dos Santos took third in 44.26 seconds. Dos Santos was an All-Conference finisher in this event in 2018. The Pirates captured the fourth, fifth and sixth-place spots in the 100 free.
The top-three 200 men’s breaststroke finishers from a year ago qualified for Saturday’s finals. ECU sophomore Jarek Arentewicz won back-to-back titles after clocking a B-Cut time of 1:54.74. Cincinnati’s Polling moved up a spot from last year to finishing second in 1:56.85. For a second-consecutive year, UConn’s Markus Hunter earned a 200 breast podium finish, medaling in third place (1:58.50). Cincinnati and SMU each had four swimmers in the top-11 final.
SMU placed three swimmers in the top nine of the 200 butterfly. Cincinnati’s Parker Saladin clocked 1:44.97 in the prelims for an NCAA B-Cut time. The only 200 fly All-Conference returner from a year ago was ECU’s Gustavo Santos, who finished third place in 2018. Saladin improved his time to a personal-record 1:44.74 on the way to ending the Mustangs’ four-year streak of taking gold in the 200 fly. Coming off a fifth-place finish last year, SMU senior Garrett Carson moved into the runner-up spot this season with a lifetime-best time of 1:46.90. UConn junior Cooper Knapp finished just behind him and earned the final 200 fly podium spot in 1:46.92.
After sweeping the podium in the 1,650 freestyle in 2018, Cincinnati claimed the top two spots in the mile race again. Last year’s fifth-place finisher, Tyler Jones, shot atop the podium after tying his personal record (15:91.01). Selmanovic retained his runner-up spot, swimming 15:24.35. Both Bearcats swam NCAA B-Cut times. UConn junior Karl Bishop clocked 15:31.26 to move three spots up from last year and finished third. The Huskies saw five distance swimmers finish in the top 12.
In the second-to-last event of the 2019 meet, the excitement made its way to the diving board, as Torrington Wagner of UConn and Cincinnati’s Louie Hunt battled for first place. On his final attempt, Wagner briefly moved into the top spot with 250.60 points. However, Hunt leaped off the 10-meter platform on his final dive, using a back 1 1/2 somersault 2 1/2 twist free to move into first place for good with 277.80 points. Hunt reclaimed his title as a senior after winning in 2016 as a freshman. Hardigree placed third with 248.80 points.
Men’s Teams Scores
1. Cincinnati – 966
2. ECU – 820
3. UConn – 647
4. SMU – 613
Men’s Most Outstanding Swimmer
Din Selmanovic, Cincinnati
Men’s Most Outstanding Diver
Parker Hardigree, SMU
Men’s Co-Swimming and Diving Freshman of the Year
Parker Hardigree, SMU & Marek Osina, ECU
Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year
Mandy Commons-DiSalle, Cincinnati
Men’s Diving Coach of the Year
Darian Schmidt, SMU
All-Conference performers are top-three finishers in each event.