The St. Ambrose men dominated again and the women settled for third in a tightly-contested battle at the Luther Invitational Friday and Saturday. The Bee men won with 1318 total points, more than doubling second-place Augustana. SAU's women totaled 632 points, finishing behind Wis.-La Crosse (801 points) and just a single point behind Luther (633).

Mikhi Hassim won three individual events, including both individual medleys, to pace the Bee men. He won the 100 IM in 52.26 seconds and took the 200 IM in 1:54.89. Nikolai Valencia was runner-up in the 100 IM in 54.19 seconds and Egoitz Munoz Moreno was eighth in 1:04.99. Luke Sproule (fourth in 2:00.17), Isaac Garcia (fifth in 2:00.72), Garret Sims (seventh in 2:02.47) and Walter de Jongh (eighth in 2:04.47) all finished in the top eight in the 200 IM. Hassim also won the 100 fly in 50.00 seconds. Javier Santiago was fifth in 53.31 seconds and Tate Kuennen was seventh in 54.61 seconds.

Juan Gomez also won three races; all three were dominated by the Bees. Gomez won the 500 free in 4:42.42. Leo Edwards was second in 4:46.85, Jonathan Rollwa third in 4:50.11, Grant Nelson fourth in 4:50.22, David Schneider fifth in 4:54.17 and Truitt Landolt placed seventh in 5:06.63. Gomez also led the way in the 1650 free, winning in 16:30.96. Nelson was second in 16:55.14, Rollwa third in 16:58.50, Schneider fourth in 17:07.30, Edwards fifth in 17:10.28, Sproule sixth in 17:16.35 and Sam Gillham eighth in 17:23.66. Gomez's other victory came in the 200 fly in 1:55.65. SAU also took places third through eighth - Sproule (1:58.87), Santiago (1:59.86), William Walker-Rozo (2:01.18), Garret Sims (2:02.99), Isaac Garcia (2:07.67) and Carson Maxwell (2:08.28).

Benny Zarhin won both the 100 (46.30 seconds) and 200 free (1:43.09). Ryan Warrick was runner-up in the 100 free (47.43) and took eighth in the 200 free (1:50.86). Brett Jones, who won the 50 free in 21.15 seconds, was third in the 100 free in 47.44. Gomez was second in the 200 free (1:44.87). Edwards was third in the 200 free (1:45.65) and seventh in the 100 free (49.08). Petter Kollas took sixth in the 100 free in 48.90 seconds and Tayden Blair was seventh in the 200 free in 1:50.07.

Brett Jones won the 50 free in 21.15 seconds. Zarhin was runner-up in 21.46. Ryan Warrick placed fourth in 21.53 and Valencia was fifth in 21.70. Ryan Joehl was the other St. Ambrose winner. He took the 200 back in 1:53.79. Munoz Moreno was second (1:54.95), Hassim was fourth (1:56.46) and Schneider seventh (2:01.67).

Also finishing inside the top eight were Munoz Moreno (second, 52.02), Joehl (third, 52.43), Ryan Safta (fourth, 52.62) in the 100 back; Walter de Jongh (second, 59.67), Kolaas (third, 1:00.24), Valencia (ffith, 1:01.44), Ben Patterson (sixth, 1:01.67), Thomas Noller (seventh, 1:02.55) in the 100 breast; de Jongh (second, 2:13.74), Patterson (third, 2:15.80), Noller (fifth, 2:18.55), Valencia (sixth, 2:18.81) in the 200 breast; and Sproule (second, 4:15.31), Garcia (third, 4:18.92), Garret Sims (fourth, 4:21.92), Walker-Rozo (fifth, 4:27.13), Gillham (eighth, 4:36.96) in the 400 IM.

Bram Mess scored in both diving events. He was sixth in the 3-meter competition with a score of 328.75 and eighth in the 1-meter event with a score of 314.90.

St. Ambrose also earned points in the B finals in the 50 free (Devon Gaber, Lucas Ascua, Patterson); 100 free (Ascua, Gaber); 200 free (Nelson, Ascua, Landolt); 500 free (Gillham); 100 back (Carter Prull), 200 back (Sims, Prull, Safta); 200 breast (Gillham); 100 fly (Maxwell); 100 IM (Patterson, Prull); and 200 IM (Blair, Kuennen).

The Bees won all five men's relays. Jones, Warrick, Kolaas and Zarhin took the 200 free relay in 1:25.45. Zarhin, Jones, Warrick and Hassim won the 400 free relay in 3:07.86. Zarhin, Edwards, Gomez and Joehl won the 800 free relay in 6:58.71. Safta, Kolaas, Hassim and Jones claimed the 200 medley relay in 1:34.35. And Safta, de Jongh, Hassim and Zarhim were victorious in the 400 medley relay in 3:30.11.

Bryn Kiley and Grace Bobeldyk led the St. Ambrose women in both long-distance freestyle events. Kiley won the 500 free in 5:15.68 and Bobeldyk was third in 5:21.96. They finished 1-2 in the 1650 free, with Kiley winning in 18:18.10 and Bobeldyk right behind in 18:32.13.

Bridget O'Grady won both breaststroke events. She claimed the 100 breast in 1:05.59 and the 200 in 2:25.58. Molly Duehr was third in the 200 breast (2:33.68) and fifth in the 100 (1:11.27). Audra Shoop was eighth in the 100 breast in 1:13.49.

Irene Artabe also won a pair of events. She touched the wall in 2:09.12 to win the 200-yard individual medley. Artabe also won the 50 free in 24.72 seconds. Lauren Williams was fifth in 25.64 seconds. Artabe added a runner-up finish in the 400 IM in 4:42.00 and a fourth-place showing in the 200-yard butterfly in 2:17.08.

Williams won the 100 free in 54.52 seconds and took second in the 200 free in 2:00.12, edging Kiley, who finished third in 2:00.97 and Bobeldyk, who was seventh in 2:01.53.

Leyre Antonanzas had the best time in the 100 IM of 1:01.21. O'Grady was third (1:02.58) and Duehr placed sixth (1:03.99). Antonanzas was also third in the 200 back in 2:08.69. Riley Loeffler was eighth in 2:21.82. Loeffler also took eighth in the 100 back in 1:04.39. Amanda Beuth was fifth in 1:03.53.

The Bees also earned B-final points from several individuals - 50 free (Beuth, Duehr); 100 free (Marin Powell, Loeffler, Beuth); 500 and 1650 free (Amber Warak); 100 back (Madeline Piper); 100 breast (Libby Moses); 100 fly (Rylie Stinekamp); 200 fly (Caitlin Pieroni, Allison Fellner); 200 IM (Pieroni); and 400 IM (Fellner, Pieroni).

St. Ambrose also did well in the relays. Antonanzas, Bobeldyk, Kiley and Artabe won the 800 free relay in 8:08.40. Antonanzas, O'Grady, Artabe and Powell were second in the 200 medley relay in 1:49.82. With Williams replacing Powell for the final leg, SAU took second in the 400 medley relay in 4:02.89. Williams, Artabe, Powell and Antonanzas were runners-up in the 200 free relay in 3:42.62. Steinkamp, Williams Duehr and Powell finished fourth in the 200 free relay in 1:43.37.

Now off until 2023, SAU will return to Luther to compete in the Norse Sprint Relay on Jan. 14.