LEWISVILLE, Texas (Feb. 16, 2019) – Oklahoma Christian's men's swimming team capped a meet full of firsts with two of the bigger ones in the program's two-season history.

Brandon Heredia became OC's first Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference event champion by winning the 100-yard freestyle and Bergen Davis earned the Eagles' first individual RMAC award when he was named as the league's freshman of the year on Saturday at the conclusion of the RMAC Championships at the Lewisville Westside Aquatic Center.

In the four-team standings, the Eagles still finished last, but they closed the gap from their inaugural season, when they were fifth and trailed fourth-place Colorado Mines by 153.5 points. This year, the Eagles earned 615 points and were just 138 behind third-place Mines. OC set 19 program records during the four-day meet and had a handful of swimmers post NCAA Division II B-standard qualifying times for the first time.

Davis, a freshman from Juneau, Alaska, tied for fourth individually in the meet by earning 63 team points. He qualified for four A finals (400 individual medley, 200 IM, 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke) and finished second, fifth, fourth and second, respectively.

That said, after Saturday, there was little question what was the Eagles' top performance of the meet. In the 100 freestyle, Heredia, a freshman from Maryville, Mo., and Arthur Cury of Colorado Mines staged a classic duel before reaching the touch pad simultaneously in 44.75 seconds to share the title.

That came after Heredia posted a 44.34-second clocking in the preliminary round, better than Derek Duckworth's former OC record of 46.61 seconds, set earlier this season at the Tiger Invitational in San Antonio. Heredia met the Division II B qualifying standard and might have earned himself a spot at this year's national meet, as the cut line for last year's meet was 44.39 seconds.

Duckworth, a sophomore from New Braunfels, Texas, also swam the 100 freestyle A final and placed fourth in 45.14 seconds. OC sophomore Kurt Gscheidle of Lantana, Texas, reached the B final and was 15th in 47.01 seconds.

OC posted a 2-3 finish in the 200 backstroke A final, with Davis finishing in 1:47.85 and sophomore Noah Woollweever of Beckley, W.Va., third in 1:48.33. Both times met the Division II B qualifying standard.

Edging Davis was Oklahoma Baptist's Drew Dickson in 1:47.63. The former OC record was 1:51.34, set by Woollweever at the Tiger Invitational. OC freshman David Logan of Norman made the B final and was 13th overall in 1:59.11.

The Eagles also picked up a runner-up finish in the 200 breaststroke from Zac Hawes, a sophomore from Houston, Texas, who set a school record of 2:02.26, nearly six seconds better than Andrew Assaleh swam in the Tiger Invitational (2:08.14). Assaleh made the B final and placed 10th in 2:09.57.

Hawes ranked 12th individually in the meet, earning the Eagles 53 team points.

In the 1,650 freestyle – collegiate swimming's longest event – Andrew Ehler, a freshman from Oak Point, Texas, placed fifth in 16:10.67, obliterating the former mark of 16:57.64, set by Caleb Brown at the Tiger Invitational. Sophomore Jimmy Burke of Deer Park, Texas, was 11th in 16:40.58 and Brown 14th in 16:52.57.

The Eagles finished the meet in strong fashion, taking third in the 400 freestyle relay as the quartet of Duckworth, Heredia, Gscheidle and Ryan Jennings finished in 3:03.64, shattering the old OC record of 3:10.09, set at the Tiger Invitational by Woollweever, Gavin Lane, Griffen Cornell and Duckworth.

While most of the Eagles are done for the season, the handful that posted B qualifying times this week – including Heredia (50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle) and Duckworth (50 freestyle) – will wait to learn if they made the field for the Division II Championships, which are set for March 13-16 at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis.