EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Drury University earned its second Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Men's Swimming and Diving Championship in the past three years on Saturday night at the Deaconess Aquatics Center in Evansville, Indiana.
Drury accrued a GLVC-record 1,701 points for the win and its sixth overall league title in the 10-year history of the Conference, followed by last year’s champion University of Indianapolis (1,562) in second. McKendree University (1,423) placed third, while Missouri S&T (1,178) placed fourth. The University of Missouri-St. Louis (789) was fifth, Lewis University (767.5) finished sixth, and William Jewell College (494) was seventh. Quincy University (368), Truman State University (365.5), and Maryville University (219) rounded out the 10-team field in eighth through 10th, respectively.
A total of 11 men’s records were broken over the course of the five-day event, including two on the final day of competition with the first from Indianapolis sophomore Julio Osuna in 1-meter diving where he scored 644.00 points, which preceded this evening’s 400 Freestyle Relay mark set by McKendree’s Alireza Yavari, Caleb Law, Arthur Souza, and Gregg Lichinsky in 2:53.06. UIndy sophomore Cedric Buessing was the gold medalist in the 1650 Free with a NCAA A-cut mark of 15:11.42, while McKendree senior Lichinsky posted an A-cut time of 42.95 in his 100 Free-winning performance. The 200 Back gold went to Drury graduate Nathan Bighetti (1:44.11), while McKendree junior Filipe Pinheiro registered a D-II B-cut qualifying time of 1:57.91 in the 200 Breast.
At the conclusion of the meet, UIndy’s Cedric Buessing repeated as the GLVC Swimmer of the Year, while teammates Julio Osuna and Cade Hammond were recognized as GLVC Co-Divers of the Year. Additionally, S&T’s Connor Bichsel was named GLVC Freshman of the Year, and Miners’ first-year mentor Daniel Murphy was voted by his peers as GLVC Coach of the Year. Other than Diver of the Year, which is awarded to the diver(s) who earns the most total team points, the postseason honors are voted on by the league’s 10 head coaches. Per GLVC Bylaws, coaches are not permitted to vote for their own student-athletes.
The coaches also selected Missouri S&T as the recipient of the GLVC James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award in the sport, while 10 student-athletes were named GLVC James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award honorees. These individuals must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. The honorees from full-time GLVC member institutions are now eligible to become one of their school's two Spalding Sportsmanship Award winners, which will be announced at the end of the academic year.
All postseason honorees can be found below.
2023 GLVC MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING MAJOR POSTSEASON AWARDS
Swimmer of the Year: Cedric Buessing, UINDY
Co-Divers of the Year: Julio Osuna and Cade Hammond, UINDY
Freshman of the Year: Connor Bischel, S&T
Coach of the Year: Daniel Murphy, S&T
GLVC JAMES R. SPALDING SPORTSMANSHIP TEAM AWARD
Missouri S&T
GLVC JAMES R. SPALDING SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD HONOREES
Andrew Rodriguez, DU
Cedric Buessing, UINDY
Jabari Ramsey, LEWIS
Chase Hayes, MU
Dave Carey, MCK
Nolan Fergus, S&T
Darquez Morrison, UMSL
Nolan May, QU
Jaxson Mahlstadt, TSU
Eli Engledow, WJC