CHICAGO – The University of Missouri-St. Louis men's and women's swimming had a strong final day at the 16th Annual Phoenix Fall Classic setting two school records, a pool record, earned an automatic qualifying time and a provisional qualifying time on Sunday at the Ratner Athletic Center in Chicago.
The Triton women finished fifth out of nine teams with 888 points and the men also finished fifth out of nine teams with 1,002.5 points.
On the women's side,
Justice Beard won the 1650 freestyle with Ratner Athletic Center pool record breaking time of 16:29.98. She broke the previous record by more than 20 seconds and earned an automatic qualifying time in the event for the national championships in March.
Libby Smith finished sixth in the 1650 at 17:38.84.
Uxue Ortiz de Pinedo won the 200 breast in a school record breaking time of 2:17.05.
Ella Lantz and
Aeri La finished first and fifth in the 'B' Final of the 200 back with times of 2:04.00 and 2:10.03 respectively.
Audrey Lantz was third in the 'B' final of the 100 free at 52.37.
UMSL's 400-yard free relay quartet of E. Lantz,
Romina Itzkovich, A. Lantz and Beard finished seventh in a time of 3:30.93.
On the men's side,
Aaron Wicklund was the top finisher, placing second in the 200 breast in school record breaking and provisional qualifying time of 1:59.07.
Mattia Nardi was fourth in the 200 fly at 1:50.37.
Lathan Parks and
Gentry Comstock finished first and ninth in the 'B' final of the 100 free with times of 45.69 and 46.39 seconds respectively.
Mikael Larsson came in second in the 'B' final of the 200 back with a time of 1:51.34.
UMSL's 400-yard free relay foursome of Comstock,
Joan Cortadellas Llubera, Wicklund and Parks finished sixth at 3:01.97.
The Tritons return to the pool on Saturday (Dec. 6) traveling to Quincy to take on the Hawks in a dual meet starting at 12 p.m.