ECU Extends Its Lead At The American Championships

Friday, February 17

Houston, Texas

All Day

East Carolina University

The American Championships

Photo by: Walter Pofahl

February 17, 2017 | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving, Swimming & Diving

Complete Results Photo Gallery

HOUSTON – The East Carolina men's team posted three wins with seven additional medal finishes and 12 NCAA B qualifying times to extend its lead in the team standings at the 2017 American Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships Friday at Campus Recreation & Wellness Center Natatorium on the campus of the University of Houston.

The Pirates, who are seeking their third consecutive American Athletic Conference title, finished day three with 630 points and a 127.5-point lead over second-place SMU (502.5 points). Cincinnati is in third-place with 494 points followed by UConn with 421.5 points to round out the field.

The day began with Boleck DePawlikowski (3:52.32) and Esteban Araya (3:53.67) finishing two and three in the 400-yard IM with each posting an NCAA B qualifying time.

Newcomer Gustavo Santos, who joined the team in January, followed by capturing the Pirates' first gold medal of the night with a victory in the 100-yard butterfly with an ECU record time of 47.07. Victor Santos claimed the bronze with a time of 47.82.

Junior John Myhre, who won the 50-yard freestyle on day two, earned his second gold of the meet by claiming victory in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:35.98, touching 1.17 seconds in front of UConn's James Donlevy. Freshman Blaz Demsar placed third (1:37.20) to earn his first American championship medal.

ECU then won its third consecutive event as William Hicks (53.06) repeated as the 100-yard breaststroke champion, reaching the wall 0.55 seconds in front of Cincinnati's Zacahry Hostoff. Pirate senior Erle Craven (53.94) finished third.

After winning the 200-yard IM Thursday, senior Fran Krznaric earned his second medal of the championships by taking the bronze in the 100-yard backstroke with an NCAA B qualifying time of 48.27, finishing just 0.27 seconds behind the winner.

Krznaric helped the 400-yard medley team (3:12.01), which included Hicks, Gustavo Santos and Myhre, claim the silver, missing gold by just 0.06 seconds.

On the women's side, junior Julie Lajoie was the lone ECU swimmer to earn a spot on the podium. She took third-place in the 400-yard IM with a school record time of 4:16.10.

Houston leads the six-team ladies competition with 507 points followed by SMU with 438 points. Cincinnati is in third with 408 points with ECU (327), UConn (325) and Tulane (292) rounding out the field.

Competition continues Saturday, with preliminary swimming events starting at 10 a.m. CT, followed by diving preliminaries at 12:30 CT. The finals are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. CT.