Mustangs enter national meet with confidence

SIOUX CITY, Iowa — The Morningside men's swim team will compete 13 times this week in Elkhart, Indiana, at the NAIA Swimming and Diving Championships.

The Mustangs have eight individual entries and five relays scheduled during the four-day meet, highlighted by seniors Pedro Fernandes, Santiago Vilches, and John Spicer.

Morningside opened the national meet Wednesday night with a 12th-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay, as the quartet of Justin Bay, Fernandes, Spicer, and Vilches clocked a time of 1:32.80.

"I have a lot of confidence in what they're capable of," head coach Bryan Farris said earlier in the season. "This is a very young team and they're just kind of figuring stuff out. We're just scratching the surface of what we're capable of, and it shows how well we've come together."

Vilches — one of three Mustang seniors this season — begins the individual events Thursday morning in the 200-yard individual medley preliminaries. His entry time of 1:55.73 ranks 31st in the field.

Later in the session, Fernandes and Spicer will compete in the 50 freestyle. Spicer enters with a seed time of 20.87 seconds (25th), while Fernandes is seeded 43rd (21.59).

If any of the three advance, finals are scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday.

Fernandes returns Friday morning for the 100 butterfly, where he is seeded 21st with a time of 50.17.

A few events later, Spicer will compete in the 200 freestyle, entering the meet 19th with a school-record time of 1:41.19.

Vilches will also swim the 100 backstroke Friday, seeded 24th at 50.86, before returning Saturday for the 200 backstroke, where he has his highest seed at 11th with a time of 1:51.00.

"I don't know who taught him his strokes when he was little, but he has got a great feel for the water, both on his front and on his back," Farris said.

Spicer will close out the individual events for Morningside in the 100 freestyle, entering with a seed time of 45.47 seconds.

"John's been a leader on this team for quite some time now," Farris said. "He has always been somebody who just loves to race. He hates to lose and he always loves a good race."

Morningside will also compete in several relays throughout the week. The Mustangs swim the 200 freestyle relay Thursday, entering the meet 12th with a seed time of 1:24.07.

The 400 medley relay will race Friday night with the 13th seed (3:24.01).

Morningside closes the meet Saturday with the 400 freestyle relay, seeded with a time of 3:04.23.