Caledonia, Mich. — The Aquinas men's swim and dive team traveled to the East Kentwood High School Natatorium for three days of competition in the Don Kimble Invitational. At the end of the final day, Aquinas had earned 293 points placing them in 5th. Behind the Saints was Bethel with 152, Wayne State took the contest with 1051.

Day one highlights:

The men's A 200 freestyle relay of Matt Dumbsky, Luke Martin, Collin Alward and Titus Smith finished in eighth place, setting a new school record with the time of 1:27.68. They out-touched rival Bethel's relay by nearly half a second.

Freshman standout Ben Szydlowski led the Saints in the 1650 freestyle, dropping nearly a full minute to finish in 19th place with a personal best time of 17:46.04. Sophomore Conrad Eichbauer finished in 20th place with the time of 17:50.01. Junior

Christopher Uzunoe-Chin claimed 23rd place with a personal best time of 19:18.65.

The men's A 400 medley relay of Smith, Martin, Evan Hurtado and Dumbsky set a new school record, finishing in 7th place with the time of 3:30.41. Smith's lead-off 100 backstroke split set a new team record with a 52.72.

The men's B 400 medley relay of Ian Clapp, Cesar Robles, Collin Neely and Alward nearly edged out Bethel's A medley relay, finishing in 11th place with the time of 3:37.92.

Day two highlights:

Evan Bennett finished 8th and set a new school record for 11 dives on the 1m board with 376.3 points. Troy Borrero closely followed in 10th with 355.3 points.

Men's A 200 medley relay of Smith, Robles, Hurtado, and Dumbsky shattered the school record, finishing 7th with a 1:35.54. The B medley of Ian Clapp, Martin, Neely and Alward finished in 8th. Both the A and B relays defeated top KCAC rivals Bethel and Olivet Nazarene's A relays!

Eichbauer breaks 5:00 in the 500, finishing with a 4:57.15. Szydlowski finished with a 5:03.82.

Martin posts the top individual finish for the team, finishing 7th in the 100 breast with a season best time of 58.19 and a national provisional time cut. Robles broke the 1:00 barrier, finishing with a 59.90. Tony Parlato finished with a 1:04.02, Gryffin Hurley with a 1:09.82 and Jason Swenson with a 1:09.62.

Smith repeats a 9th place finish with a 1:55.48, followed by Clapp with a 2:00.10.

Day three highlights:

The men kicked off Sunday evening's finals session with all swims landing the team all-time top 10 list. Hurtado claimed a national provisional time standard in the 100 butterfly, finishing 14th and setting a new school record of 52.19. Smith followed closely with a 53.00, Neely with a 53.96, Ian Clapp with a 54.40 and Nick Bracken with a 54.70.

Freshman duo Nick Bracken and Szydlowski posted personal-best times in the 400 IM, finishing in 4:32.40 and 4:36.45 respectively.

Eichbauer led the charge in the 200 freestyle with a season-best time of 1:51.27.

AQ men showed strength in the 200 breaststroke, with three men scoring in the top-16 finishers. Martin finished with a 2:13.50, while Robles finished with a 2:18.98. Tony Parlato finished with a personal-best time of 2:19.72.

Hurtado claimed the top individual finish of the meet for the men's team in the 100 back: sixth place with a 51.60. He also earned another national provisional standard time and school record in the event. Smith touched just behind him in seventh place. Also scoring in the event was Ian Clapp in 12th place with a 53.88.

Dumbsky posted the top time of the season in the 50 freestyle, finishing with a 21.76.

The men closed out the final event of the meet - the 400 freestyle relay - with two school records. Lead-off swimmer Smith earned a provisional time standard in the 100 freestyle and set a new school record with a 47.65. Hurtado, Martin and Dumbsky completed the relay, setting a new school record with a 3:12.94.

Here is what Coach Hepp had to say about the teams performance, "I'm truly speechless after this weekend. I witnessed our team unify in their mission to push themselves and each other to do their best, and the results were incredible. The men set 10 new school records, and the women set 15. Beyond team records, the majority of the team hit personal best or season best times. A few swims will most likely be invited to the national meet in March. It feels like we've entered a new era as a team, and we're only halfway through the season. This midseason invitational serves as a litmus test for our performance at the KCAC championship meet in February, and from how I saw our athletes respond to the pressure of strong competition, we are more than prepared for the challenges ahead. We will be setting our sights on the next block of training and our first beach training trip in January to prepare for our conference and national meets!"

The programs will be back in action on Saturday (Jan. 20) as they will reign in the new year by taking on both Davenport and Hillsdale. The meet will being at 1 p.m. and will be held at Davenport.