CHICAGO, Ill. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis men's and women's swimming teams had a strong showing on the first day of the 2025 Phoenix Fall Classic hosted by the University of Chicago at the Ratner Athletic Center on Friday.

The Triton men racked up 290.5 points on the first day of the meet and sit in fourth place while the UMSL women scored 276 points and are in fifth overall.

On the men's side, the 200-yard free relay team of Lathan Parks, Joan Cortadellas Llubera, Gabriel Wells and Kaleb Suitor finished third with a time of 1:21.24 to earn 70 points while the team of Gentry Comstock, Mattia Nardi, Maxwell Wetteland and Aaron Wicklund finished 14th at 1:25.00.

Wicklund and Nardi recorded top 10 finishes in the 200-yard individual medley with Wicklund placing fifth with Division II provisional qualifying time of 1:49.57 and scored 33 points with Nardi taking 10th at 1:50.76 and picked up 28 points.

Parks had the men's highest individual finish placing third in the 50 free with a time of 20.38 and was only 0.02 of a second off provisional qualifying time. He also picked up 35 points for the team. Cortadellas Llubera took seventh in the "B" final of the 50 free at 21.01 seconds and Wells finished second in the "C" final at 21.01 seconds.

UMSL's 400-yard medley relay squad of Wetteland, Nardi, Suitor and Parks finished eighth overall with a time of 3:20.44.

On the women's side, Justice Beard won the 500 free and lowered her provisional qualifying time to 4:51.29 which is less than two seconds away from an automatic time to the national meet in March. She scored 40 points in the event. Lilly Smith took third in the "B" final at 5:09.06.

Romina Itzkovich won the 200-yard IM with a provisional qualifying time of 2:03.41 to pick up another 40 points. Stella Garrison was fourth in the "C" final at 2:10.10.

Audrey Lantz scored 35 points with her third place finish in the 50-yard freestyle securing a provisional time for nationals at 23.20 seconds.

UMSL's 200-yard free relay squad of A. Lantz, Itzkovich, Beard and Madison Bottorff finished sixth overall with a time of 1:35.71 to earn 65 points. The Triton foursome of Kayla Rampala, Kelsey Roth, Ella Lantz and Aeri La finished 16th at 1:39.46. UMSL's 400-yard medley relay consisting of E. Lantz, Garrison, A. Lantz and Beard finished fifth overall in a time of 3:50.41 and the team of La, Uxue Ortiz de Pinedo, Callie Clinton and Bottorff came in 16th overall at 3:57.97.

The 2025 Phoenix Fall Classic continues Saturday with preliminary races in the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast and 100 back starting at 10 a.m. Finals for those events along with the 200 medley relay 800 free relay start at 5:30 p.m.