Riccardo Di Domenico Breaks Evansville’s Oldest School Record at A3 Invitational

A3 Performance Invitational

• November 10 – 13, 2022
• Shea Natatorium – Carbondale, IL
• SCY (25 Yards)
• Results: “2022 A3 Performance Invitational” on MeetMobile

Leading off the men’s 400 free relay — the final event of the 2022 A3 Invitational — University of Evansville junior Riccardo Di Domenico ripped 44.77. That’s a new school record for the South African, breaking the oldest record on the books. The previous 100 free record was set by Olympian Nikola Kalabic at 44.87, which had stood for almost 24 years since February 1999.

Earlier in the session, he had finished fifth in the individual 100 free in 45.52. It’s a bit of a pattern for him to be at his best on the relay: his previous lifetime best was 44.89, which he hit leading off this relay at their conference championships in March 2022.

The Purple Aces’ relay finished second in 3:01.49. It was SIU, who dominated this weekend, who collected the event win in 2:56.03, setting their own school record. Donat Csuvarszki, Alex Santiago, William Chavez, and Alex Crimera, who went 1-2-3-4 in the 100 free earlier in the session, teamed up to eclipse their school record by .37, getting under the mark from the 2020-21 season. Chavez and Csuvarszki were both on the team that set the previous record. This time, Csuvarszki anchored in 43.18, adding another impressive split to his weekend’s resume.

The final day of competition saw several swimmers sweep their stroke’s events. Ruard Van Renen notched a win in the 200 backstroke, backing up his win in the 100 on day 2. Once again, he won in a school-record time, blazing to 1:42.88. The previous school record was 1:43.17, held by Adam Cernek who finished second here in 1:46.27. Van Renen is a freshman from South Africa, and this was only his fourth time swimming the 200 back in yards.

In the women’s 200 back, Celia Pulido picked up her third individual event win of the weekend. She posted 1:55.97 to easily win the event — she was the only swimmer in the final to crack the 2:00 barrier. Her teammate Lucia Romero Endolz finished second in 2:00.71, almost five seconds behind her.

It was a repeat of the 100 winners in the 200 breaststroke as well. First, SIU’s Olivia Herron took the win in the women’s race with a 2:14.04. Then in the men’s race, UE’s Alon Baer backed up his 100 breast win with a 1:59.76. Once again, the Purple Aces made up the majority of the men’s breaststroke ‘A’ final and finished 1-3-4-7-8.

Then, it was SIU’s turn to dominate in the men’s 200 fly. In echos of the legendary Texas fly group days, the Salukis put six men into the ‘A’ final. They swept the top four spots, with Jack Khrypunov taking the win in 1:44.55. It’s a massive best time for the sophomore, who came into the meet with a lifetime best of 1:48.27. Khrypunov has been flirting with NCAA ‘B’ cuts for the whole meet, and he earned one here in decisive fashion, getting under the threshold by 1.76 seconds.

FINAL SCORES

WOMEN

1. SIU – 1441.5
2. Evansville – 529.5
3. Eastern Illinois – 422
4. Bellarmine – 342
5. Southern Indiana – 245
6. Valparaiso – 214

MEN

1. SIU – 1114
2. Evansville – 656
3. Bellarmine – 503
4. Valparaiso – 320
5. Eastern Illinois – 283
6. Southern Indiana – 219