The Augustana Vikings men's swim team continued its consistent status among the conference's elite during the 2021-22 season as they finished in the top three at the conference meet for the fourth consecutive season.
The young Vikings squad started with back-to-back home wins to begin the 2021-22 campaign, defeating Monmouth and Illinois Wesleyan in their first-ever meets inside the newly-built Anne Greve Lund Natatorium. In the 179-24 win over Monmouth in the season-opener, it was a record point margin for the Vikings as they won 11 of 11 events and both relays.
Gavin McCorry was the top point scorer during his collegiate debut. A total of 18 members made their debut at this meet. McCorry swam a winning time of 10:49.62 in the 1,000-yard freestyle and a 5:11.23 mark in the 500-yard freestyle.
Augie competed in a few competitive meets before closing the season with back-to-back dual meets heading into the conference championships. In their final dual meet, the Vikings were narrowly defeated by the Wheaton Thunder in a hard-fought contest. The Vikings earned a first-place finish in the 200 free relay as
Albert Buvary,
Joshua Valentine,
Isaiah Valentine, and
Jack Blumenfeld won the event by just .02 seconds with a mark of 1:27.92. Augie placed in the top three of the 50-yard freestyle as well.
At the CCIWÂ Championships in mid-February, Augustana boasted four all-conference recipients, including conference championships in the 100-yard backstroke from
Nick Phillips and 100-yard free from Blumenfeld. A school record was also set by Blumenfeld in the 200-yard free as he posted a time of 1:42.65 to earn second place in the event.
The Vikings placed third with a total of 661.5 points.
Joseph Addison and
Hunter Craft also snagged all-conference honors, finishing in the top three in the 500 free and 100 fly, respectively.
Augie also landed student-athletes in multiple spots in the program record book. In addition to Blumenfeld's record-breaking performance in the 200-yard free, he also grabbed a spot in the top five all-time in the 50, 100, and 500 free races.
Hunter Craft's time of :50.82 is third-fastest in the 100 fly, while Phillips placed in the top five in both the 50 free and 100 back. Addison also finds himself in the top of more than one category, including second-best in the 400 individual medley.
You can find more Vikings in the top ten lists
here.
In June, the men were named to the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-America team list.
TEAM AWARDS