Southern Illinoise University Athletics
MAC Championships: Day Four Prelims
03/05/2016 | 12:00:00 | Swimming & Diving
By Elizabeth Robinson
SIUSalukis.com
YPSILANTI, Mich. – The Salukis will have 10 swimmers competing in the the last finals session of the 2016 MAC Championships on Saturday night after a series of season-best performances in Saturday's prelims. Six SIU men will swim in tonight's A Finals with four in B Finals.
Alex Crawford and Alex Netzel started the action for SIU, both coming away with top-eight finishes in the 200-yard backstroke to qualify for the A Final. This is Crawford's second A Final appearance this week after finishing sixth in the 100-yard backstroke last night. This is Netzel's first A Final appearance. Both Netzel and Crawford ranked in the top-10 in the MAC entering this weekend, Netzel in eighth and Crawford in ninth.
A Final veterans, Till Pallmann and Andre Brilhante finished second and eighth, respectively, in the 100-yard freestyle. This marks the third appearance in A Finals during this year's championships for both swimmers. Pallmann's 44.01 finish is a new season-best time for the Salukis by nearly a second. Coming into the weekend, the two ranked second and third in the MAC with Brilhante less than two-tenths of a second behind Missouri State's Uvis Kalnins. Kalnins finished the prelim in third place behind Pallmann.
In his debut at the MAC Championships, junior transfer Filippo Dell'Olio continued to impress on Saturday with his third A Final finish, earning fourth place in the 200-yard butterfly at 1:48.43. Dell'Olio shaved nearly five seconds off his previous season-best time for the fastest 200-yard butterfly for SIU this year. Lucas de Aquino, last year's 200-yard butterfly champion, will also compete in tonight's A Final, finishing at 1:48.77 for sixth place.
Four Salukis will add points for SIU in B Finals tonight in the 200-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard butterfly. Bobby Wood, Andy Ross and Alex Martinez each qualified for the 200-yard breaststroke B Final, finishing in 11th, 13th and 16th, respectively. All three competed in last night's finals as well, Wood in the 100-yard breaststroke A Final, Ross in the B Final and Martinez in the 400-yard individual medley B Final. All three dropped at least three seconds from their previous season-best times with this morning's prelim finishes.
Michael Wolfe just barely missed the cut for the 200-yard butterfly A Final, finishing in ninth place overall at 1:49.62, just over two-tenths of a second behind Eastern Michigan's eighth place finisher.
Saturday night's finals will open with the 1,650-yard freestyle, in which Michael Wolfe ranks first in the conference. Wolfe is nationally ranked in two freestyle distance events: 22nd in the 1,500-yard freestyle and 89th in the 1,000-yard freestyle. The night will continue with final races from each of today's prelims, and will conclude with the 400-yard freestyle relay. Live results from the final night of the MAC Men's Swimming and Diving Championships can be found here.
Players Mentioned
