'Roos Take Third at AC Invitational

SHERMAN, Texas - Both the Austin College men's and women's swim teams took third place at the Austin College Invitational on Saturday, as the 'Roos celebrated Senior Day in their final home meet of the 2023-24 campaign.

The 'Roo men finished with 243 points as a team, while the women scored 330 to come in behind NCAA Division II opponent UT-Permian Basin and conference rival McMurry University in a field of five teams that also included the University of St. Thomas and Centenary College.

Sammi Thiele celebrated her Senior Day with a trio of victories in the 100 and 200 backstrokes, as well as the 200 individual medley. She came in with a time of 59.77 in the 100 back, more than seven seconds ahead of the next fastest finisher, and 2:10.89 in the 200 back, a staggering 14 seconds ahead of the second place performer. She rounded out her big individual day with a time of 2:16.03 in another impressive performance, touching 11 seconds faster than her closest competitor.

Thiele teamed with Lola Barcus-Schafer, Madison Mitchell, and Jordan Armstrong to place third in the 400 medley relay with a time of 4:42.62, which was only 0.36 seconds behind second place McMurry. On the men's side, Tim Smith had a strong swim in the 1650 freestyle, coming in fourth with a time of 18:59.41, and Alex Lai was the fastest Division III finisher in the 50 freestyle, taking fourth place with a time of 22.92. 

Cassidee Levine added a fourth place finish for the women in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:15.85, and Barcus-Schafer came in fourth in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:19.88, just 0.25 seconds off of a third place finish. Lai had another fourth place finish in that same event for the men with a time of 1:04.40, and Barcus-Schafer had her best individual finish of the day in the 200 breaststroke, touching with a time of 2:57.34. Levine posted a third place swim in the 500 freestyle with a time of 6:03.62, and on the men's side, Lai was third in the 100 butterfly, coming in with a time of 55.87.