Clermont Times

The University of Cincinnati men's and women's swimming and diving programs will be heading to Florida to compete in the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) National Collegiate Open Water Championships on Sunday.  

"We are excited to return to the Open Water National Championship meet," head coach Mandy Commons-DiSalle said. "Our last time competing in this meet was very successful and we have a great distance team that is positioned to do well. It is a fun switch from our traditional meet format and competing in Florida should heighten that experience."  

The 2022-23 CSCAA Open Water Championship will take place on Sunday, Dec. 18, at Florida International University in Biscayne Bay, Fla. The men's freestyle 5K race will start at 8:30 a.m. and will be followed by the women's freestyle 5K at 10 a.m. 

The meet is limited to current NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA athletes that have met the event qualifying criteria. Fifteen Bearcats have recorded event qualifying times this season.   

Qualifying Times:  

500 Freestyle SCY Women: 5:10.00 / Men: 4:50.00 

1000 Freestyle SCY Women: 10:30.00 / Men: 10:00.00 

1650 Freestyle SCY Women: 18:00.00 / Men: 17:00.00 

The top five finishers from both the men's and women's events earn invites to the USA Swimming 5K Open Water Championships.  

This will be the first time the Bearcats have competed at the CSCAA open water championships since the championship's inaugural meet in 2016. The UC men placed first overall as a team, and the women placed third.  

// LAST TIME OUT 

The University of Cincinnati men's and women's swimming and diving programs recorded seven UC top-10 times and three event wins against 7/10 Indiana, in Bloomington, Ind.  

Freshman Ido Gal and sophomore Collin Singler led the way for the Bearcats by each recording two UC all-time top-10 times. Singler swam the sixth-fastest 200-yard butterfly (1:47.73) and the ninth-fastest 100-yard butterfly (48.12) in school history. It is the first time he has ever recorded a Bearcat top-10 time. 

Gal had quite the 1,650-yard freestyle race, swimming the seventh-fastest 1,650-yard (15:18.95) in UC history. His 1,000-yard split time of 9:15.17 was also the ninth-fastest 1,000-yard time in Bearcat history. 

Freshman Ella Chown moved up two spots in the record book after swimming the women's 200-yard butterfly in 2:01.10, which is seventh all-time in UC history.  

Both Bearcat teams fell to the Hoosiers, as the UC men's team lost 163-121, while the women's team lost 161-110. 

Original source can be found here.