GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Florida Southern College men's swimming team finished day three of the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships with
Ludovico Viberti named an NCAA National Champion and three top-five finishes Friday night at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. The men's team currently sit in seventh place overall through Friday's events.
"What an exciting day for the Mocs here in Greensboro," said head coach
Andy Robins. "Four individuals earned All-American honors tonight, capped by a National Championship for Ludo. Obviously it was great to see his hard work pay off. He and Matteo really push each other every day and it was exciting to see them represent the Mocs in that final. We also had 2 relays [men and women's] that earned Honorable Mention All American status in the 800 Free Relay."
The Mocs highlighted their day with Viberti breaking his FSC school record set earlier in the day during prelims to earn a national title winning the 100 breast in a 52.35 time, shaving off 0.45 seconds from his earlier record. Viberti is the first Florida Southern College NCAA Individual National Champion since a 2019 championship for men's swimming All-American Matthew Holmes in the 400 IM.
Matteo Zampese also competed in the A finals alongside Viberti and won fifth place in the 100 breast and All-American honor.
Elder Oliveira was the first Moccasin with a top five finish on the day as completed the 500 free in 4:24.16, good for fifth place in the A finals and All-American honor. He qualified after a 500 free prelims time of 4:24.08, the third best time of the prelims morning session.
Luka Prostran also competed in the 500 free prelims and finished in 19th with a time of 4:29.02, just outside the B finals cutoff.
Keith Peristeridis finished with a time of 4:32.11 for 28th place in 500 free prelims.
After a qualification in the 100 back A finals from the third-best time of the prelims at 46.70,
Brandon Dyck improved his time to 46.52 for a fifth place finish and another All-American honor. Earlier in the prelims, a total of three Mocs competed in the 100 breast, as Viberti and Zampese qualified for the A finals.
Ludwig Mueller had a great prelims time, but just outside the consolation finals. Zampese was first to break the FSC record in the 100 breast prelims finishing in 53.03 and fourth-best time of prelims, before Viberti broke the record again in the next heat with a time of 52.80 as the second-best time in prelims before he broke his own record in the evening finals session on his way to a national championship. Mueller finished his prelims in 54.51, good for 20th place. The sole FSC athlete in the 200 fly prelims,
Miguel Bernotti finished in a time of 1:48.01, just outside of the consolation finals in 18th.
To close the solid day three evening finals, the Mocs team for the 800 free relay earned Honorable Mention All-American honors with a 16
th place finish and time of 6:38.41.
Milosz Mencel led off for the Mocs with a 200 free leg of 1:39.32 as
Keith Peristeridis was next with 1:39.56. Prostran was third and finished in 1:39.43 as Oliveira was the last leg for a final relay time of 6:38.41. The men qualified for the 800 free relay with an entry time of 6:34.21 as a nine seed.
UP NEXT
The last day of the NCAA Championships have a full FSC lineup with nine men competing.
Kyle Micallef and Zampese will compete in the 100 free, Dyck in the 200 back, with Mueller, Viberti, and Zampese going after the 200 breast. Oliveira,
Keith Peristeridis, and Prostran will take on the 1650 free to end the championship run.
