Pirates Slip To Second On Day Three Of The American Championships

Friday, February 21

Houston, Texas

All Day

East Carolina University

The American Championships

Photo by: American Athletic Conference

Pirates Slip To Second On Day Three Of The American Championships

February 21, 2020 | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving, Swimming & Diving

Championship Central Complete Results (PDF)

HOUSTON – Senior Gustavo Santos won his fourth consecutive American Athletic Conference 100 fly title Friday on day three of the league's Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Championships at the CRWC Natatorium on the campus of the University of Houston.

Santos captured the gold medal with an ECU and championship record time of 45.64, finishing 1.54 seconds ahead in front of UConn's Cooper Knapp (47.18) in second-place. ECU freshman Durde Matic earned the bronze medal with a time of 47.99.

Santos also helped the Pirates' win their third straight conference title in the 400 medley relay with a school and championship record time of 3:09.53. He was joined on the team by Marek Osina, Lyubomir Epitropov and James Ward.

Despite the record setting performances, ECU slipped into second-place; 3.5 points behind first-place Cincinnati. The Bearcats have 362 points heading into the final day with the Pirates owning 358.5 points.

Cincinnati and ECU have won the last five American Athletic Conference men's championships with the Pirates capturing three consecutive titles from 2015-17 before finishing runner-up to the Bearcats each of the last two seasons.

ECU senior Blaz Demsar won captured the silver medal in the 200 free, while Osina earned the bronze in the 400 IM and did Epitropov in the 100 breaststroke.

Freshman Rodrigo Romero claimed silver on the 3-meter diving board after winning gold on the 1-meter Thursday.

On the women's side, ECU sits in fifth-place with 290.5 points. Houston leads the six-team field with 644.5 points followed by SMU in a distant second-place with 438.5 points.

The final day of competition begins Saturday morning at 11 a.m. ET followed by the finals at 6 p.m. ET.