FINAL RESULTS

CLEVELAND, Miss. - After four full days of competition at the New South Intercollegiate Swim Conference Championships, the Henderson State Red Wave men finished second with 917 points while the Red Wave women took third with 600 points. It is the fourth consecutive year the men have come in as runners-up while women have finished third each of the last two seasons.

Head coach Scotty Serio, in just his second season at the helm of the Red Wave program, was named the Matthews Men's Swim Coach of the Year, named after the late Red Wave head coach Coak Matthews. Serio led the men to No. 22 in the nation heading into this year's conference meet.

In addition, Kiara Pozvai, who won six events across the four days while breaking four school records, a pool record and a conference record, was named Female Swimmer of the Meet. 

The Keszthely, Hungary native opened the night by winning the 100 free with a time of 49.01 as she broke the pool and conference record by 51 hundredths of a second and the school record, which she already owned. Pozvai's 49.01 time is the fastest time in all of NCAA Division II this season.

The men's 100 free featured three Red Wave in the Top-5, with Jack Armstrong taking a page out of Pozvai's book, setting the conference, pool and HSU record with a 42.55 swim to take top honors. Armstrong now owns the fastest time in DII this season by four tenths of a second. Lamar Taylor's time of 42.81, which is now the second fastest time in the nation behind Armstrong, placed second while and Patryk Dabrowski (44.78) finished in fourth.

True freshman Bianca Santiago finished in third in the 200 breaststroke, touching the wall at 2:21.85, while teammate Jessica Bongfeldt claimed fourth with her 2:21.88 swim. In the men's 200 breast, Mark Eberhard broke the program record after finishing runner-up with a 1:59.98 time. Jaren Tippett followed behind Eberhard for fifth at 2:02.73.

Jevonn Cobin, in the final day of competition of his college career, placed seventh in the 1-meter dive with 295.30 points. To finish off the 2023 Conference Championships, the women's quartet of Mackenzie Kester, Emily Chen, Isabelle Andrews and Ryann Grasser placed second in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:29.62.

Finishing off the four-day event with another school record was Armstrong, Dabrowski, Oscar Patten and Tate Sloan topping the podium in the same event by nearly four whole seconds with a time of 2:57.44, which is the 12th fastest time in DII, breaking the former program record by 36 hundredths of a second

Head coach Scotty Serio and staff will leave for new waters one final time when a slew of Henderson State Red Wave swimmers head to Indianapolis, Indiana for the NCAA Division II National Championships Mar. 8-11 in search of the ultimate collegiate athletics prize: A National Championship.