CARBONDALE, Il. – Bellarmine University swimming set 11 new program records to highlight its third-place team finish at Southern Illinois' A3 Performance Invitational.
 
Freshman Micaela Godfrey led the charge, setting four new program records in the 200 IM (2:05.13), 100 backstroke (56.40), 400 IM (4:27.84, 4:26.85) and the 200 backstroke (2:03.61). In the 400 IM, Godfrey first broke the program record of 4:30.48 set by Olivia Hoskins at the 2017 GLVC Championships in the prelims with a time of 4:27.84 before breaking her own record later in the day with a 4:26.85, third-place finish in the A-final.
 
Additionally on the women's side, freshmen Lily Epley, Ava Jones and Kate Ryan, along with senior Alexandra Pierce, set a new program record in the 200-freestyle relay with a third place, 1:36.41 finish. Jones, Ryan and Epley later teamed up with Godfrey as the four freshmen set a new program record in the 400-freestyle relay with a time of 3:31.26.
 
For the men, junior Sam Jones entered the record book twice, setting new program records in the 1000 and 1650 freestyles with times of 9:26.74 and 15:39.25, respectively. Jones broke his own records with his performance, shaving 4.26 seconds off his 1000 time and 6.74 seconds off his 1650 time.
 
Sophomore Evan Dickson also set a new men's individual record, topping Matthew Sims' time of 1:41.27 at the CCSA Championships in 2022 not once, but twice. Dickson first broke the record in the prelims with a time of 1:41.08 before outdoing himself in the A-final with a time of 1:41.02 to finish fifth.
 
Like the women, the men also set two new relay program records. Sophomore Colin Jackson, grad student Andrew Nguyen, senior John Paul Metzner and Dickson teamed up for program record 3:20.02 run in the 400-medley relay while Jackson, Nguyen and Metzner joined up with junior Caleb Howard to set a new 200-medley relay program record with a time of 1:30.38.
 
In total, the Knights produced 41 A-final placements across the three-day event, good for a third-place finish for both the men and the women.
 
Up next, Bellarmine will finish its 2024 fall schedule with its first home event of the season, hosting Ball State University on Saturday, November 23 at Mary T. Meagher Aquatic Center.
 
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