CARBONDALE, Ill.- University of Southern Indiana Men's Swimming and Diving concluded competition at the three-day A3 Performance Invitational in fifth place, hosted by Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. The Screaming Eagles broke four school records, qualified for seven A Finals, and earned four top three event finishes.
 
Each event featured prelims in the morning to qualify for A, B, C, or D finals in the evening slate to earn points for the squad. Furthermore, A Finals after prelims gives the top eight swimmers in each event opportunities to earn 11-20 points for their squad.
 
The Screaming Eagles made a 14.5-point improvement from their showing in 2023. The final standings included SIUC (1,023 pts), University of Nebraska Omaha (745 pts), Bellarmine University (475 pts), University of Evansville (426.5 pts), USI (380.5 pts), and Eastern Illinois University (194 pts).
 
Thursday
Junior Jack Hannon and sophomore Sam Smith energized the Eagles as both qualified for the A Finals in the 500 freestyle. Smith placed sixth with a stronger prelim time (4:36.86). Hannon placed eighth contributing consistent performances (4:40.37). The two distance competitors added 23.5 combined points to the board. Smith exceeded his seed time by nearly 15 seconds.
 
Freshman Jude Winnington missed the A Finals by a narrow margin. However, the freshman shinned in the B Finals with a school record performance in the 200 IM (1:53.41). After day one, USI ranked fourth at 130.5 points only eight points behind Bellarmine in third.
 
Friday
Sophomore Nathan Deputy carried his momentum from his record-breaking performance at Evansville with a strong three-meter prelim performance (267.65 pts). Deputy delivered a clutch encore in the A Finals with a podium third-place finish (270.55). Sophomore Lane Pollock finished behind Deputy in fifth place (258.50). The duo finished the three-meter event with a combined 30 points. Pollock led the Eagles in the one-meter event with a podium third-place finish, averaging 251 points.
 
Winnington emerged with the highlighting performance for the Eagles, placing second among the field in the 400 IM (4:00.82). The second-place finish marked the Eagles best place of the weekend and a school record. Freshman Justin Knauf turned in a strong compliment in fifth place in the A Finals (4:06.06). Both underclassmen have proved to be pivotal additions to the squad this fall.
 
Junior Caleb Davis qualified for the A Finals and earned 11 points for the Eagles with an impressive prelim 100 breaststroke time (57.35). The junior outperformed his seed time by 2.90 seconds.  
 
Saturday
Sophomore Camden Richardson shinned in the B Finals of the 200 Backstroke (1:53.12), adding seven points. Freshman Luke Rich broke a school record in the B Finals of the 200 Breaststroke (2:07.89).
 
Smith capped off his second A3 Performance with a podium third place finish in the 200 butterfly (1:49.76), recording a school record. This marked the fourth top three performance for the Eagles on the weekend.
 
Next up for the Eagles
USI takes a few weeks off before the U.S. Open in Greensboro, North Carolina on December 4-7.