Salukis Finish Fifth to Conclude MAC Championships

Saturday, March 4

Carbondale, Ill.

TBA

Southern Illinois University

Men's MAC Championships

03/04/2017 | 10:35:00 | Swimming & Diving

By: By Danny Valle, SIUSalukis.com

The Southern Illinois University men's swimming and diving team finished with a team score of 489 to place fifth at the 2017 Mid-American Conference swimming and diving championships.

SIU added another individual title Saturday night with senior Filippo Dell'Olio winning the 200-yard butterfly title for the second year in a row with a MAC meet record-time of 1:45.55.

Senior Bobby Wood narrowly missed a first-place victory in the 200-yard breaststroke finals, finishing second with a time of 1:57.13. Wood placed 0.06 seconds behind Missouri State's Phillip Willett.

Senior Andre Brilhante had a close finish of his own in the 100-yard freestyle finals, placing second in the championship heat with a time of 44.56, missing out on his second title of the meet by 0.53 seconds.

The final day of the MAC championships began with the third heat of the 1650-yard freestyle timed finals. Southern placed four swimmers in the top-eight with Michael Wolfe pacing the Salukis in 4th place with a NCAA 'B' qualifying time of 15:27.62.

Kevin Kluge (15:43), Nolan Fahey (15:48.56) and Christopher Cole (15:55.71) all finished sixth through eighth, respectively, in the event.

In the 200-yard backstroke 'A' heat final, Alex Crawford placed sixth for the Salukis in 1:48.15, while Alex Netzel finished fourth (1:50.02) and Ryan Lehane placed seventh (1:50.84) in the 'B' heat final.

Sophomore Reilly Garman clocked in his best time of the season in the 100-yard freestyle consolation 'B' finals, finishing third in 46.03.

In the 200-yard breaststroke 'B' final, senior Andy Ross placed fourth in the hear with a season best 2:01.65 in the event, while freshman teammate Chris Phillips finished seventh in 2:02.77. Wolfe placed fifth with a time of 1:51.63.

In the final event of the championships, Southern's 400-yard freestyle relay team of Brilhante, Dell'Olio, Wood and Joao Facciotti placed fourth in the event with a team time of 3:00.90.

Brilhante was recognized prior to the start of the finals portion of the championship meet as the recipient of the 2017 MAC senior swimmer of the year award.

Three Salukis earned all-conference honors at the conclusion of the meet. Brilhante and Dell'Olio were both awarded All-MAC First Team honors, while Wood was named to the conference's second team.

Freshman diver Kai Hoffmann-Dussomme also took home post-meet honors, being recognized as the MAC's freshman diver of the year.

All-MAC First Team

Antonio Thomas- Missouri State

Arthur Osvath- Missouri State

Mason Miller- University at Buffalo

Alex Chan- Eastern Michigan

Phillip Willett- Missouri State

Itai De La Vega- University at Buffalo

Andre Luiz Brilhante- Southern Illinois

Hudson Caroll- University at Buffalo

Tosh Kawaguchi- Eastern Michigan

Filippo Dell'Olio- Southern Illinois