Facing NCAA Division II programs Davenport and Lake Superior State, and fellow NAIA member Aquinas, St. Ambrose had a strong showing at the season-opening Davenport Invitational Friday and Saturday in Grand Rapids, Mich.

The Bee men won the four-team event, edging Davenport 961-930. The SAU women finished with 811 points to finish second behind Davenport (953).

Jonas Friess won a pair of events and was runner-up in a third for the Bee men. He won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:41.54. Four other Bees - Juan Gomez (fourth in 1:47.01), Thomas Noller (fifth in 1:48.66), Benny Zarhin (sixth) and Panagiotis Pappous (eighth) - also placed inside the top eight in the event. Friess also won the 1000-yard freestyle in a time of 9:48.64. Marat Usov was second in 9:51.21 and Sam Gillham placed seventh. Friess was the runner-up in the 500-yard freestyle in 4:39.02. Usov took third (4:46.67), Gomez was fourth (4:50.38) and Luke Sproule was eighth.

The other SAU champion was Cory Werrett, who won the 50-yard freestyle in 21.23 seconds. Riley Stevenson was third in 21.42 seconds and Carter Gaber and Pappous placed seventh and eighth, respectively. Werrett (46.79) and Friess (46.82) were third and fourth in the 100-yard freestyle. Stevenson finished sixth, Pappous seventh and Zarhin eighth.

Mikhi Hassim took second in the 100-yard butterfly in 50.22 seconds. Gomez was fifth in 52.71 seconds. Stevenson was seventh and Luke Thomas eighth. Hassim was also third in both the 200-yard individual medley (1:55.19) and 200-yard breaststroke (2:08.00). Thomas and Usov were seventh and eighth, respectively, in the 200 breast. Hassim's time of 58.30 seconds was good for fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke, just ahead of Werrett (seventh) and Thomas (eighth).

Jayden Coetzer, who placed eighth in the 200 IM, was runner-up in the 200-yard backstroke in 1:53.71. Gavin Hopewell finished third in 1:57.26 and Sproule was eighth. Usov was third (4:14.44), Coetzer fourth (4:21.73) and Sproule sixth in the 400-yard individual medley. Gomez (1:54.67), Coetzer (2:00.80) and Sproule (2:01.87) were third-fourth-fifth in the 200-yard butterfly, while Walter De Jongh took seventh. The Bees also had four finish in the top eight in the 100-yard backstroke as Gaber (53.97) was fifth, Hopewell sixth, Gonzalo Saenz seventh and Carter Prull eighth.

Werrett, Brett Jones, Gaber and Stevenson won the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:24.84. Werrett, Friess, Hassim and Stevenson were champions in the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:05.96. Stevenson, Werrett, Hassim and Zarhin were third in the 400-yard medley relay in 3:29.26. The team of Gaber, Werrett, Hassim and Stevenson placed third in the 200-yard medley relay in 1:33.58.

On the women's side, Anna Gute won the 100-yard freestyle in 54.36 seconds. Bryn Kiley (fourth in 55.89), Sophia Ewanic (seventh) and Ruthie Gemmen (eighth) also finished inside the top eight in the 100 free.

The Bees had multiple runner-up finishes. Kiley was second in both the 200-yard freestyle (1:59.48) and the 500-yard freestyle (5:13.33). Bridget O'Grady touched the wall second in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:06.58) and the 200-yard breaststroke (2:25.32). Leyre Antonanzas was also second in two events - the 200-yard individual medley (2:10.16) and the 400-yard individual medley (4:37.87). Grace Bobeldyk's time of 10:54.31 was good for second in the 1000-yard freestyle.

Bobeldyk added a third-place effort in the 200-yard butterfly in 2:17.08. Emily Henson placed seventh and Gemmen was eighth. Bobeldyk was also third in the 200 free (2:00.73) and 500 free (5:21.93). Ewanic was sixth in the 500 free and seventh in the 200 free. Gute placed fourth in the 200 free.

Gute earned a third-place showing in the 100-yard butterfly in 1:00.03. Irene Artabe, who placed third in both the 200 IM (2:13.77) and the 200 breast (2:28.98), was sixth in the 100 fly. Gemmen took eighth. Kennedy Capman was fifth in the 200 breast (2:33.47) and sixth in the 200 IM behind Artabe. Capman was also third in the 400 IM (4:54.90) and sixth in the 100 breast. Kate Henson was fifth in the 100 breast (1:09.21) and sixth in the 200 breast. Antonanzas finished sixth in the 200-yard backstroke. Loeffler was eighth in the 200 back. She also took eighth in the 200 IM and 100-yard backstroke. Annaliese Bowser (11:30.82) placed fifth in the 1000 free.

Artabe, O'Grady, Antonanzas and Gute were second in the 400-yard medley relay in 4:02.01. Gute, Antonanzas, Artabe and Kiley placed second in the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:41.00. The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Gute, Gemmen, Artabe and Antonanzas placed third in 1:42.07. Artabe, O'Grady, Antonanzas and Gute were third in the 200-yard medley relay in 1:50.40.

St. Ambrose will host St. Thomas Oct. 25 at the Davenport Central Natatorium.

St. Ambrose men's results

200 free relay: 1-Cory Werrett, Brett Jones, Carter Gaber, Riley Stevenson (1:24.84); 5-Benny Zarhin, Gavin Hopewell, Panagiotis Pappous, Nikolai Valencia (1:28.24); 7-Gonzalo Saenz, Thomas Noller, Lucas Ascua, Carter Prull (1:29.44); 10-Sebastian Pereira, Michael Taylor, Tayden Blair, Ryan Safta (1:32.28); 11-Tate Kuennen, Palmer Fry, Nathan Anderson, Henry Van Dyke (1:36.44)

500 freestyle: 2-Jonas Friess (4:39.02); 3-Marat Usov (4:46.67); 4-Juan Gomez (4:50.38); 8-Luke Sproule (5:02.37); 12-Sam Gillham (5:18.01); 13-Vincent Meo (5:25.64)

200 IM: 3-Mikhi Hassim (1:55.19); 8-Jayden Coetzer (1:59.21); 10-Luke Thomas (2:01.62); 11-Thomas Noller (2:02.69); 13-Sebastian Pereira (2:03.34); 14-Walter De Jongh (2:05.35); 15-Michael Taylor (2:07.15); 20-David Schneider (2:10.43); 21-Tayden Blair (2:10.48); 23-Nathan Calhoun (2:16.56)

50 free: 1-Cory Werrett (21.23); 3-Riley Stevenson (21.42); 7-Carter Gaber (22.05); 8-Panagiotis Pappous (22.09); 11-Gavin Hopewell (22.30); 12-Nikolai Valencia (22.44); 13-Carter Prull (22.49); 14-Gonzalo Saenz (22.54); 15-Brett Jones (22.59); 19-Lucas Ascua (23.12); 22-Ryan Safta (23.57); 23-Henry Van Dyke (23.90); 26-Palmer Fry (25.33)

400 medley relay: 3-Riley Stevenson, Cory Werrett, Mikhi Hassim, Benny Zarhin (3:29.26); 6-Jayden Coetzer, Walter De Jongh, Sebastian Pereira, Jonas Friess (3:36.27); 7-Carter Gaber, Thomas Noller, Juan Gomez, Panagiotis Pappous (3:36.98); 8-Carter Prull, Luke Thomas, Marat Usov, Gavin Hopewell (3:39.09); 11-Gonzalo Saenz, Tayden Blair, Vincent Meo, Tate Kuennen (3:48.38); 13-Nathan Anderson, Joseph Blasen, Luke Sproule, David Schneider (3:52.00); 14-Sam Gillham, Lucas Ascua, Nathan Calhoun, Palmer Fry (4:01.57)

100 fly: 2-Mikhi Hassim (50.22); 5-Juan Gomez (52.71); 7-Riley Stevenson (52.92); 8-Luke Thomas (53.38); 10-Walter De Jongh (54.10); 13-Gonzalo Saenz (54.49); 15-Tate Kuennen (55.79); 16-Brett Jones (55.85); 19-Nikolai Valencia (56.77); 20-Michael Taylor (56.92); 21-Nathan Calhoun (57.33); 22-Vincent Meo (57.54); 24-Sam Gillham (58.24); 27-Henry Van Dyke (1:02.26)

400 IM: 3-Marat Usov (4:14.44); 4-Jayden Coetzer (4:21.73); 6-Luke Sproule (4:25.46); 9-Joseph Blasen (4:34.28)

200 free: 1-Jonas Friess (1:41.54); 4-Juan Gomez (1:47.01); 5-Thomas Noller (1:48.66); 6-Benny Zarhin (1:48.69); 8-Panagiotis Pappous (1:50.36); 9-Ryan Safta (1:52.45); 10-Lucas Ascua (1:53.28); 12-Brett Jones (1:53.70); 14-Vincent Meo (1:56.41); 15-David Schneider (1:57.68); 16-Sam Gillham (1:57.81); 17-Henry Van Dyke (1:58.28); 20-Palmer Fry (2:07.10)

100 breast: 5-Mikhi Hassim (58.30); 6-Cory Werrett (58.55); 7-Luke Thomas (1:00.35); 10-Walter De Jongh (1:03.33); 13-Tayden Blair (1:04.75); 14-Joseph Blasen (1:04.99); 15-Nathan Calhoun (1:05.22); 18-Tate Kuennen (1:09.19)

100 back: 5-Carter Gaber (53.97); 6-Gavin Hopewell (54.02); 7-Gonzalo Saenz (54.58); 8-Carter Prull (54.86); 11-Ryan Safta (55.59); 12-Nathan Anderson (58.11); 13-Michael Taylor (58.28); 15-David Schneider (1:00.13); 17-Palmer Fry (1:03.89)

200 medley relay: 3-Carter Gaber, Cory Werrett, Mikhi Hassim, Riley Stevenson (1:33.58); 6-Carter Prull, Walter De Jongh, Juan Gomez, Brett Jones (1:37.79); 7-Jayden Coetzer, Luke Thomas, Marat Usov, Panagiotis Pappous (1:37.83); 8-Ryan Safta, Thomas Noller, Sebastian Pereira, Benny Zarhin (1:40.11); 11-Nathan Anderson, Joseph Blasen, Tate Kuennen, Jonas Friess (1:42.73); 12-Michael Taylor, Tayden Blair, Vincent Meo, Gavin Hopewell (1:44.20); 14-Luke Sproule, Nathan Calhoun, Nikolai Valencia, Henry Van Dyke (1:44.92)

1000 free: 1-Jonas Friess (9:48.64); 2-Marat Usov (9:51.21); 7-Sam Gillham (10:52.99); 9-Vincent Meo (11:02.95)

200 back: 2-Jayden Coetzer (1:53.71); 3-Gavin Hopewell (1:57.26); 8-Luke Sproule (2:03.94); 10-Michael Taylor (2:06.56); 11-David Schneider (2:07.49); 12-Nathan Anderson (2:08.19)

100 free: 3-Cory Werrett (46.79); 4-Jonas Friess (46.82); 6-Riley Stevenson (47.70); 7-Panagiotis Pappous (48.18); 8-Benny Zarhin (48.22); 9-Carter Gaber (48.49); 12-Carter Prull (49.11); 13-Gonzalo Saenz (49.16); 15-Nikolai Valencia (49.88); 16-Sebastian Pereira (50.37); 17-Brett Jones (50.40); 18-Lucas Ascua (50.79); 21-Ryan Safta (51.24); 22-Henry Van Dyke (51.62); 24-Tate Kuennen (53.80); 27-Palmer Fry (57.14)

200 breast: 3-Mikhi Hassim (2:08.00); 7-Luke Thomas (2:13.14); 8-Marat Usov (2:15.11); 9-Thomas Noller (2:15.84); 11-Joseph Blasen (2:18.94); 13-Tayden Blair (2:24.65); 15-Nathan Calhoun (2:28.11)

200 fly: 3-Juan Gomez (1:54.67); 4-Jayden Coetzer (2:00.80); 5-Luke Sproule (2:01.87); 7-Walter De Jongh (2:08.28); 9-Tate Kuennen (2:09.37)

400 free relay: 1-Cory Werrett, Jonas Friess, Mikhi Hassim, Riley Stevenson (3:05.96); 3-Benny Zarhin, Carter Gaber, Brett Jones, Panagiotis Pappous (3:10.30); 7-Gonzalo Saenz, Carter Prull, Nikolai Valencia, Gavin Hopewell (3:17.29); 9-Sebastian Pereira, Thomas Noller, Walter De Jongh, Lucas Ascua (3:21.92); 11-Michael Taylor, Vincent Meo, Henry Van Dyke, Tayden Blair (3:24.91); 12-Luke Thomas, Palmer Fry, Luke Sproule, Ryan Safta (3:26.37); 14-David Schneider, Joseph Blasen, Nathan Calhoun, Nathan Anderson (3:36.53)