Carbondale Reporter

The Southern Illinois swim and dive team achieved notable success on the second day of the Men's Missouri Valley Conference Championships in Oxford, Ohio. The team secured four medals, placing them in second position overall, just behind Miami (OH).

Alex Santiago claimed a gold medal in the 50-yard freestyle and contributed to another gold with the 400-yard medley relay team. Santiago set new conference and MVC records twice in the 50-yard freestyle during both prelims and finals. The relay team also established a new record.

Benedek Andor and Donat Csuvarszki added to SIU's medal tally by securing podium finishes in their respective events.

During preliminaries, Tomáš Peciar and Joshua Aceves advanced to the A-finals for the 500-yard freestyle. Rodrigo Ramos Chávez qualified for the B-finals. In the 200-yard IM, Andor and Henrique Pacheco Januario moved to the A-finals while Juraj Barcot made it to the B-finals.

Santiago's performance in the 50-yard freestyle was outstanding, setting a new record with a time of 19.27 seconds. He was joined by Csuvarszki, Aj Terry, and Willem Huggins in advancing to the A-finals. Tiago Faleiros proceeded to the B-finals.

In diving, Oliver Mebs reached the A-finals with an eighth-place finish, while Lucas Lauzon and AJ Stone secured spots in the B-finals.

During finals, Aceves narrowly missed a podium finish in the 500-yard freestyle with a fourth-place result. Andor took third place in the 200-yard IM with a time of 1:46.23.

In another strong showing for SIU, Santiago captured gold again in the 50-yard freestyle with a record-breaking time of 19.18 seconds, followed closely by Csuvarszki who finished at 19.83 seconds.

Mebs placed fourth in one-meter diving with a score of 289.20 points. The day's events concluded with SIU's relay team winning gold in the 400-yard medley relay at a record-setting pace of 3:07.79.

The championships will continue on Friday with preliminaries beginning at 10:30 a.m., followed by finals at 6 p.m.

Fans can follow updates on social media platforms such as X (@SIU_SwimDive), Instagram (@siu_swimdive), Facebook (facebook.com/SIUSwimDive), or through downloading "Salukis" Mobile App available on App Store or Google Play Store.