Southern Illinoise University Athletics
MAC Championships: Day Three Prelims
03/04/2016 | 12:00:00 | Swimming & Diving
By Elizabeth Robinson
SIUSalukis.com
YPSILANTI, Mich. – The Saluki men's swimming and diving team built on the momentum from last night's record-breaking performances with all-time SIU records broken in four of the five events in this morning's preliminary session at the MAC Swimming and Diving Championships.
SIU's chart-topping swims resulted in 14 swimmers qualifying for Friday night's finals session, compared to only five the night before. The Salukis are set to have seven swimmers competing in Friday's A Finals and seven in B Finals.
Friday's action started with the 400-yard individual medley, where junior transfer Fillipo Dell'Olio finished the race in 3:52.46, breaking a more than 30-year-old SIU record by less than a second. Former SIU All-American swimmer Roger Von Jouanne set the previous record, 3:53.19, in the 1982-83 season.
Alex Martinez and Chris Cole qualified for the 400-yard individual medley B Final, each dropping around six seconds from their previous season-bests to finish in 15th and 16th places, respectively.
The second race of the morning continued in the record-breaking fashion with Joao Facciotti taking the top spot in the 100-yard butterfly. Facciotti is the reigning champion in the 100 fly and entered the week ranked first in the MAC with a 47.85 season-best time. Facciotti dropped to 47.02 in Thursday's prelim race, finishing with a MAC meet record, a Jones Natatorium record and a new all-time SIU record. SIU's Justin Wolfe held the previous record at 47.29, set in 2012.
Junior Lucas de Aquino just barely missed the A Final mark, coming just a tenth of a second short, but will represent the Salukis in the 100-yard butterfly B Final with a 49.09 preliminary finish.
Though the 200-yard freestyle race did not result in a broken record, two-time defending champion Till Pallmann swam his fastest time of the season, finishing the prelim race in second at 1:37.71. The Salukis saw their second tie of the MAC Championships as Andre Brilhante tied for fourth place with Missouri State's Kacper Cwiek. SIU faced a tie in yesterday's prelims session as well, with Joao Facciotti tying for fourth in the 50-yard freestyle. Sophomore Trevor Jones rounds out the Salukis' 200-yard freestyle finalists with a B Final qualification at 1:39.39.
Bobby Wood earned SIU's next record of the day with a sixth-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke at 54.94. His all-time best finish tops Calvin Kolar's 55.21 time, a record that he set in the preliminary race at last year's MAC Championships. Patrick Hesse and Andy Ross will add points for the Salukis, both qualifying for tonight's B Final.
Joao Facciotti earned yet another SIU all-time record as the day came to a close, finishing the 100-yard backstroke in 48.28 for second place. The previous school record of 48.61, set in 2005, qualified Marcelo Possato for the NCAA Championships as the 29th fastest time in the nation that year. Alex Crawford swam his fastest time of the season to join Facciotti in the A Final at 49.41 for sixth place. Christian Taylor took 15th overall and will swim in the B Final.
Friday night's session will include final events for all of this morning's races and will wrap up with the 400-yard medley relay. SIU enters the night in fourth place overall with 181 points. Live results of Friday's finals can be found here.
Players Mentioned
