Lynchburg, Va. (TheCCSA.com) – The Incarnate Word Men's swimming and Diving team remains in first-place with 709.5 points after day three of the 2019 CCSA Swimming and Diving Championship at the Liberty Natatorium on the campus of Liberty University.
Florida Atlantic claimed second with 532.5 points, Old Dominion sits at third with 477 points, followed by Gardner-Webb with 452.5 points. NJIT is in fifth at 265 points, Howard checks in at sixth with 191.5 points and Mount Saint Mary's finished seventh with 187 points.
Tim Bennett of Gardner-Webb grabbed the first victory of the night in the 100-yard butterfly with a swim of 48.00 seconds flat. Last year's champion Filip Svedburg of Old Dominion followed closely in 48.07. Incarnate Word Cardinal Bryce Kuchan rounded out the top three with his finish of 48.52. Then in the next event, fellow Cardinal Hector Ruvalcaba Cruz secured his third straight CCSA Championship title in the 400-yard individual medley. He won in convincing fashion at 3:49.10, a time good enough for an NCAA B-cut final. He was followed by Calvin Lillo of Florida Atlantic, where he secured a time of 3:58.31. Gardner-Webb's Chase Mattingly secured the last spot on the podium at 3:58.82.
Incarnate Word junior Leonardo Sanchez took the 200-yard freestyle title in 1:39.14. He was followed by fellow Cardinal Beau Fusilier with his finish of 1:39.34, and NJIT snagged its first podium spot of the night with Joshua Franco finishing in third-place at 1:40.34. In the 100-yard breaststroke, Jordan Mintz took first for the Runnin' Bulldogs, it's second win of the night at 54.70. Last year's champion Oleksandr Karpenko finished in second-place at 54.75, and Will Twizell claimed Mount St. Mary's first podium spot of the night after a time of 55.23.
Tim Bennett then won his second race of the day in the 100-yard backstroke with a 49.01 swim. Incarnate Word teammates Aaron Moran and Vlad Chumak finished in second and third with finishes of 49.37 and 49.41, respectively. In the only diving final of the day, Florida Atlantic's Logan Downey took the top spot in the 1-meter dive after a final score of 364.45. Incarnate Word teammates followed him, with last year's champion Dawson Martinez in second at 334 points and Tim Newton at a 305.75 total.
Incarnate Word's 400-yard medley relay team won the last swimming event of the day in a time of 3:17.21. The Cardinal team was comprised of Vlad Chumak, Oleksandr Karpenko, Jared Wallace and Beau Fusilier.
All of the day three results can be found here. The CCSA Championship will conclude Saturday, February 23 at 10:00 a.m., with the 200-yard backstroke preliminaries. The event finals for the final day of competition will begin at 6:00 p.m.