Carbondale Reporter

Southern Illinois University hosted the A3 Performance Invite in Carbondale from Thursday to Saturday, welcoming teams from Bellarmine, Eastern Illinois, Evansville, and Nebraska-Omaha. The Southern Illinois Salukis won both the men's and women's competitions, with the men scoring 825 points and the women 943.

The event began on Thursday with SIU victories in both the men's and women's 200-yard freestyle relays. Lívia Munkácsi-Nagy secured a win in the women's 500-freestyle, while Tomáš Peciar won the same event for the men. Olivia Herron took first place in the women's 200-yard individual medley (IM), followed by Benedek Andor winning the men's event. Zaria Terry nearly broke SIU's record in the women's 50-yard freestyle before Willem Huggins claimed victory in the men's race. Both SIU squads also won the 400-yard medley relay.

On Friday, Southern Illinois continued its success as the women's team claimed gold in the 200-yard medley relay. Munkacsi-Nagy repeated her earlier performance by winning the women's 400-yard IM. Juraj Barcot earned his first win of the invite in the men's 400-yard IM. Terry added another gold medal in the women's 100-yard butterfly, and Carter Ruthven won on the men's side. Susy Hernandez took first place in the women's 200-yard freestyle.

Herron set a pool record and achieved an NCAA "B" rating with her time of 1:00.60 in the 100-yard breaststroke; Maddax Thompson won this event for SIU's men. Liseska Gallegos Gutierrez won her second-year campaign's latest race by taking first place in the women's 100-yard backstroke, while Huggins closed out Friday finals with a win for SIU's men.

Saturday opened with wins for both SIU teams in the 800-yard freestyle relay. Munkacsi-Nagy and Peciar each took gold again in their respective heats of the 1650-yard freestyle. Gallegos secured another victory for SIU women in the 200-yard backstroke before Barcot did so for SIU men.

Hernandez and Andor finished first in their respective heats of the 100-yard freestyle. Herron broke another pool record and posted an NCAA "B" time of 2:09.09 to win her second breaststroke title; Thompson matched that feat for SIU’s men. Tamara De la Torre earned her first win of this meet by taking top honors in women’s 200-yard butterfly just before Ruthven completed another victory for SIU’s men.

After all events concluded, Herron was named Women's Swimmer of the Meet and Andor was named Men's Swimmer of the Meet.

SIU will continue its competition schedule at next week’s Mizzou Invite from November 20 through November 22.

For updates on Southern Illinois swimming and diving, fans can follow @SIU_SwimDive on X or Instagram or visit facebook.com/SIUSwimDive.