SHERMAN, Texas – The UT Permian Basin men's and women's swimming teams completed successful finishes at the Austin College Invite with the men's team with first place finish while the women's team finished in second behind the College of the Ozarks.

The UTPB men recorded 628 points to blow away the competition with the College of the Ozarks coming in second with only 394.

The UTPB women came out and performed strong enough for a second-place finish and 485 points compared the 535.5 from the College of the Ozarks.

The women's 200-yard medley relay team of Jazzy Tscherne, Ana Hernandez, Ava Reaume and Gabriela Gonzalez got things rolling for UTPB to start the event as the foursome won with a time of 1:58.36, which was 1.7 seconds faster than second place.

A pair of Falcons men's swimming teams answered back with strong performances in their 200-yard medley relay as the team of Dan Bednarski, Axel Torres Hecker, Szymon Gilzynski and Trevor Heath won the event with a time of 1:38.96 with teammates Owen Ward, Matthew Newman, Daryl Wells and Issac Velasquez in second with a time of 1:40.55.

Avery Joiner and Ana Cardenas Guerra combined to take second and third place, respectively, in the women's 1,650-yard freestyle race with Joiner posting a 18:57.94 to Cardenas Guerra's 20:06.93.

Joshua Longoria got UTPB its first men's solo event win in the men's 1,650-yard free with an 18:28.68.

Emma Gerhart and Gonzalez posted a photo finish in the women's 200-yard free with Gerhart touching the wall in 2:03.30 compared to Gonzalez's second-place finish of 2:03.43.

The men's 200-yard free was all UTPB as the top five finishers were all Falcons with Niklas Heelein's 1:46.75 leading the pack followed closely by Owen Putnam (1:47.65 - second), Legend Jankowski (1:48.48 – third), Heath (1:49.54 - fourth) and Evan Siegrist (1:49.62 – fifth)

Tscherne was the lone top-5 performer in the women's 100-yard backstroke with a second-place time of 1:03.88.

Bednarski (55.49), Velasquez (55.68), Armando Flores (57.55), Wells (58.61) and Leo Eleftherakis (59.99) swept the top five in the men's 100-yard backstroke.

Event 10 of the day was the men's 100-yard breaststroke and was promptly won by Torres Hecker with a time of 1:01.51 while teammate Newman's time 1:03.99 was good enough for second.

Events 11 and 12 were the women's and men's 200-yard butterfly with UTPB taking first and second in each race. The women's race saw Hernandez (2:25.76) finish first while Alessia LeBlanc (2:29.21) was second before Jackson Nace (1:55.97) won the men's race and Gilzynski (2:05.14) finished second.

Reaume (26.07) and Tscherne (26.64) finished in second and third, respectively, in the 50-yard free event for the women while Flores took top honors in the men's race with a time of 22.88.

The 100-yard free event for the women saw Gonzalez take top billing with a 56.02 while Joiner came in third with a 58.46. The men's race saw Heath take the victory with a 48.81 while Heelein was in second with a 49.49.

Marcela Hernandez Flores finished in third during the women's 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:28.53.

Siegrist destroyed the competition in the men's 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:06.81. which was almost eight seconds faster than second place.

Emilia Gutierrez completed the 200-yard breaststroke in a time of 2:50.04 for third place while Newman won the man's race in a time of 2:20.00.

Hernandez took home a 500-yard freestyle second place finish with a time of 5:45.84 before Nace and Jankowski could finish atop the men's race with a 4:46.74 and 4:58.37, respectively.

The 100-yard butterfly events would see Gerhart (1:01.86) and Reaume (1:03.79) take first and second, respectively, while Gilzynski (52.62), Putnam (53.73) and Velasquez (54.16) took the top three spots in the men's race.

The women's 200-yard individual medley would see Olivia Blackman take second place with a time of 2:26.30 while Bednarski took home the title in the men's race with a time of 2:01.06 and Siegrist in second with a time of 2:05.15.

Two UTPB women's 200-yard free relay teams placed in the top three of that event with the foursome of Gonzalez, Tscherne, Gerhart and Joiner winning the race with a time of 1:42.99 and the team of Cardenas Guerra, Hernandez, Hernandez Flores and Reaume finishing in third with a time of 1:48.35.

The UTPB men successfully outdid their female teammates in their own 200-yard free relay event by taking the top three places with the team of Flores, Gilzynski, Velasquez and Heath touching the wall in a time of 1:27.93. Heelein, Eleftherakis, Nace and Siegrist finished in second with a time of 1:30.95 while Bednarski, Ward, Jankowski and Torres Hecker were in third with a time of 1:32.53.
 
UP NEXT
Both teams will have one final tune-up event before the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championships in February. The next opportunity to compete will be against Southwestern University when the Falcons and Pirates clash in Georgetown, Texas, on Jan. 20-21.  Download the UTPB Athletics App to follow the team all season long.