Mustangs Set 12 New Program Records at KCAC Championships

HOBART, Ind. – Morningside set the tone early at the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Men's Swimming and Diving Championship, setting a program record in the first event while setting 12 program records and claiming two championship event titles on the week. 

John Spicer was Morningside's lone individual champion, taking the title in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:41.19. He joined Santiago Vilches, Justin Bay, and Pedro Fernandes to take the conference title in the 200-yard medley relay with a winning time of 1:32.69.

The Mustangs' meet got started with a third-place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay, where Vilches, Melle van Veen, Spicer, and Alejandro Plaza recorded a time of 6:54.29. The relays stayed strong throughout the meet, as Morningside took second in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:24.07 - Spicer, LaRue, Fernandes, Justin Bay), second in the 400-yard medley relay (3:24.01 - Vilches, Bay, Fernandes, Spicer), and second in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:04.23 - Spicer, LaRue, Bay, Vilches).

Spicer added second-place finishes in the 50-yard freestyle (20.87 seconds) and the 100-yard freestyle (45.47 seconds). Vilches was second in the 200-yard backstroke in 1:51.00, second in the 100-yard backstroke in 50.86 seconds, and fourth in the 200-yard individual medley in 1:55.76. Alessandro Zoccolan took second in the 400-yard individual medley in 4:11.79 and fourth in the 400-yard freestyle in 4:49.74. Fernandes took third in the 100-yard butterfly in 50.17 seconds, LaRue was fifth in the 100-yard butterfly in 51.31 seconds, and Jacob Bolda was fifth in the 1,650-yard freestyle in 16:54.12.

Morningside will now await the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics' release of national qualifiers, due out on February 20.