Competing in the Liberal Arts Conference Championships for the first time, St. Ambrose won both men's and women's conference titles at Principia College in Elsah, Ill.

The men cruised to their championship, claiming 685.5 points to outdistance Illinois Tech (504). Asbury, Williams Baptist and Principia also competed. The SAU women totaled 547.5 points. Asbury finished second with 486.5 points. Minnesota Morris, Illinois Tech, Principia and Williams Baptist rounded out the field.

The Bee men claimed nine individual conference championships. Mikhi Hassim led the way with three first-place finishes to be named Male Swimmer of the Championships. He won the 100-yard backstroke in 50.83 seconds. Teammates Egoitz Munoz Moreno (51.54) and Ryan Joehl (51.80) were second and third, respectively. Hassim also won the 100-yard butterfly in 49.33 seconds and the 200-yard individual medley in 1:52.91.

Benny Zarhin won a pair of events. He took the 100-yard freestyle in 46.42 seconds. Ryan Warrick was third in 46.56 seconds. Zarhin also won the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 1:42.71. Joehl was second in 1:42.80 and Leo Edwards placed third in 1:43.34.

Warrick won the 50-yard freestyle in 21.19 seconds, edging teammate Petter Kolaas, who was runner-up in 21.24 seconds. Joehl won the 200-yard backstroke in 1:52.59 as St. Ambrose took the top-three spots. Munoz Moreno was second in 1:54.26 and Garret Sims was third in 1:58.67. Juan Gomez touched the wall in 4:35.83 to win the 500-yard freestyle. Edwards was third in 4:44.09.

Bram Mess was the other Bee winner. He won the 3-meter diving event with a score of 391.30. Mess also took second in the 1-meter competition with a score of 358.40.

SAU also got top-three finishes from Grant Nelson (second in the 1650-yard freestyle in 16:32.84), Juan Gomez (second in the 200-yard butterfly in 1:53.44), Luke Sproule (second in the 400-yard individual medley in 4:16.65), Sims (third in the 400 IM in 4:19.56) and Walter de Jongh (tied for third in the 100-yard breaststroke in 59.48 seconds).

SAU also won all five men's relays. Kolaas, Zarhin, Brett Jones and Warrick won the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:23.35); Warrick, Edwards, Kolaas and Hassim won the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:05.68); Edwards, Gomez, Joehl and Zarhin won the 800-yard freestyle relay (6:52.34); Joehl, Kolaas, Hassim and Warrick won the 200-yard medley relay (1:33.24); and Joehl, Kolaas, Hassim and Zarhin won the 400-yard medley relay (3:25.54).

The St. Ambrose women claimed seven individual conference championships. Three of those came from Leyre Antonanzas. Antonanzas won both the 200-yard (2:07.98) and 400-yard (4:33.38) individual medleys. She also took the 200-yard backstroke in 2:08.87.

Irene Artabe, who was runner-up to Antonanzas in the 200 IM in 2:08.18, won two events. She was the champion in the 100-yard backstroke in 59.52 seconds and the 100-yard butterfly in 57.68 seconds.

Bryn Kiley won the 500-yard freestyle in 5:07.29. Grace Bobeldyk took third in 5:19.34. Lauren Williams was a co-champion in the 100-yard freestyle, tying for first in 55.26 seconds.

Kiley was also the runner-up in both the 200-yard freestyle (1:57.15) and the 1650-yard freestyle (18:01.25). Bridget O'Grady and Molly Duehr finished second and third, respectively, in the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke. O'Grady posted times of 1:05.08 and 2:23.87 to hold off Duehr (1:07.76 and 2:28.56). O'Grady was also third in the 200 IM in 2:13.22. Bobeldyk took third in the 1650 free in 18:25.07 and Caitlin Pieroni was third in the 200-yard butterfly in 2:22.93.

Duehr, Williams, Kiley and Artabe won the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:39.37; Antonanzas, O'Grady, Artabe and Duehr won the 200-yard medley relay in 1:49.40; and Antonanzas, O'Grady, Artabe and Williams won the 400-yard medley relay in 3:58.02. The other two SAU relays finished second: Artabe, Kiley, Antonanzas and Williams (3:36.46) in the 400-yard freestyle relay and Bobeldyk, Kiley, Williams and Antonanzas (7:55.29) in the 800-yard freestyle relay.

Anyone who earned a top-three finish in an individual event or relay was named to the Liberal Arts All-Championship team.

The Bees will next head to the NAIA Championships in Columbus, Ga., March 1-4.