Southern Illinois University
MAC Men's Championships
MAC Championships: Day Four Finals
03/05/2016 | 12:00:00 | Swimming & Diving
By Elizabeth Robinson
SIUSalukis.com
YPSILANTI, Mich. -- The Salukis concluded the 2016 MAC Men's Swimming and Diving championships on Saturday night with a fourth place finish and SIU's fourth MAC title of the week. Southern finished with 528 points, 13 more than the team totaled in last year's fourth place finish. Overall, SIU came away with 10 new school records, including several additions to SIU's record book.
"What a great championship this was for us," SIU head coach Rick Walker said. "I am so proud of this group. We certainly had our ups and down, but way more ups, in what was a very tight race."
The highlight of the night was Filippo Dell'Olio's first-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly, earning the Salukis yet another MAC title. Dell'Olio dropped two seconds from his prelim time, finishing with the fourth fastest time in SIU history at 1:46.54. Dell'Olio competed in A Finals three times, with a fourth place finish in the 200-yard IM, a third place finish in the 400 IM and tonight's MAC title in the 200 butterfly. Dell'Olio was one of four Salukis to be named MAC first-team All-Conference.
Andre Brilhante, Joao Facciotti and Till Pallmann also earned first-team MAC All-Conference accolades. This is the fourth consecutive year Pallmann has been named first-team All Conference. Sophomore Michael Wolfe was also recognized as a second-team All-MAC honoree. Each of SIU's All-Conference swimmers came away with impressive swims on Saturday night, finishing with six additions to the SIU record book.
The Salukis were just two-hundredths of a second away from breaking another school record at the conclusion of the night in the 400-yard freestyle relay, finishing the race in third place at 2:56.99. Tonight's finish ranks second all-time behind last year's record-breaking 2:56.97 finish. Senior Till Pallmann swam the second-fastest time in SIU history for the 100-yard freestyle with his lead-off leg of the race, finishing in 43.91.
"Our Salukis handled the pressure very well, and my hat's off to the efforts these guys put forth and continued through the very last relay," Walker said.
Earlier in the night, Pallmann finished the 100-yard freestyle in third place overall. His 43.76 finish ranks third in SIU history. Brilhante followed in fourth place at 44.42.
Bobby Wood also finished with the second-fastest time in SIU history in the 200-yard breaststroke. Wood's 1:59.86 finish earned him 10th place overall in the B Final, followed by Andy Ross and Alex Martinez in 13th and 15th places, respectively. All three dropped time from their finishes in today's prelims.
Junior Lucas de Aquino followed Filippo Dell'Olio's 200-yard butterfly title with a third place finish in the same race, adding his name to SIU's record book with the fifth fastest time in school history at 1:47.04. Michael Wolfe finished tenth overall in 1:50.11.
Wolfe had a top finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle to start the night, coming in at 15:30.10 for fifth place overall. Trevor Jones and Chris Cole followed in sixth and ninth places, respectively.
Alex Crawford and Alex Netzel also added points for the Salukis with fourth and seventh-place finishes in the 200-yard backstroke, respectively.
Players Mentioned
