NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- The Augustana Vikings men's and women's swimming & diving teams both claimed first at the North Central Invite on Saturday. The men finished with 325 total points, while the women grabbed 291. The Vikings finished ahead of all three other CCIW schools in attendance.

"Today was a great day for our team to get up and race some off events and see where we are heading into the final training phase of our season," said head coach Dan Lloyd. "I'm proud of how we responded to the high intensity training we put in this week and especially last night heading into this meet. We are focused on the CCIW championship meet and this was a great gauge of where we are heading into our J-term break training camp."

In the mixed 200-yard freestyle relay, the Vikings earned second place as Lucas Rettig, Kacper Cebula, Mara Walker, and Hailey Glasnovich finished just .76 out of first with a time of 1:44.91.

On the men's side, Augustana saw three placements in the top five of the 400 IM, led by Tyler Leslie in second with a time of 4:11.02. Mark Addison finished in third, followed by Holden Siena in fifth. Oskar Bannister was the champion of the 200-yard freestyle at 1:48.04, while Matthew Meyer followed in second after clocking 1:49.64. The Vikings also saw three in the top five in the 50-yard freestyle, with Rettig coming in second, Tommy Anderson in fourth, and Trentin Lechleitner in fifth. Cebula led a group of three Vikings in the top five of the 100 IM with a time of 53,60, followed in second by Nathan Mesina and in fourth by Michael Garland. In the 100-yard backstroke, Garland claimed first by just .11, beating out second place with a time of 1:01.64. Additionally, Cebula won the 500 freestyle by nearly 17 seconds, finishing with a time of 4:50.66. Places No. 2 through 4 were occupied by Augie in the 100 free, with Sam Kulisek coming in second with a mark of 50.06. Lechleitner and Teddy McGuire were close behind at 50.59 and 50.99. The Vikings found success in the 100 backstroke, securing the top four spots. The team was led by Cesar Castillo in first at 55.55, with Alex Xayachanla, Hunter Craft, and Meyer the next three to finish. 

For the women, Augie took three of the top five placements in the 400 IM, with Brooke Walker in second place with a time of 4:59.63. Annabella Valenti and Caitlin Stoddard followed in third and fourth. Giselle Koonce was the winner of the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:03.54, while Bella Casanovas and Kylee Blaha rounded out the top three in second and third. Koonce also won the 500 freestyle in 5:29.20. Kendle Mihm and Glasnovich grabbed top three spots in the 50 freestyle and Petra Evans earned fourth in the 100 IM to help add points to the Vikings' total. In a pair of first-place finishes, Mihm was the winner of the 100 freestyle with a time of 55.04 and Glasnovich took the 100-yard backstroke in 1:02.38. Elsewhere, M. Walker notched second place in the 100-yard fly at 1:03.79 

The teams will be back in action on Friday to battle Coe and St. Ambrose in Davenport, Iowa.