EDMOND, Okla. (Sept. 21, 2019) – Bergen Davis posted the first event win of his sophomore season and Derek Duckworth celebrated his 21st birthday with a pair of strong freestyle-race showings to lead Oklahoma Christian in the inaugural Sam Freas Invitational on Saturday afternoon at the Edmond YMCA Recreation and Aquatic Center.

Davis, last year's Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference freshman of the year from Juneau, Alaska, provided the Eagles with their lone individual win, topping a field of 24 men in the 100-yard backstroke in 52.95 seconds. He also swam the leadoff (backstroke) leg on OC's winning 200 medley relay team, joining with Zac Hawes, Kurt Gscheidle and Duckworth to prevail in 1:35.92.

Duckworth, a junior from New Braunfels, Texas, had a pair of runner-up finishes in the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle. In the 50, he led three Eagles in the top five of the 51-man field with a time of 21.45 seconds. Freshman Jacob Nixon of Livermore, Calif., was fourth in 22.21 seconds, with junior Dylan Ingram of Leander, Texas, fifth in 22.28 seconds.

Duckworth posted a time of 48.26 in the 100 freestyle. Nixon was fourth in the 42-man field in 48.95 seconds while freshman Elijah Tung of Columbia, S.C., was fifth in 49.35 seconds.

In addition to his success in the 50 freestyle, Ingram was second among 35 swimmers in the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.95. Tung also was fourth in the 100 butterfly (53.55 seconds), one spot behind freshman Nathan Braun of Sycamore, Ill. (53.34 seconds).

In addition to OC's 200 medley relay win, the Eagles' 200 freestyle relay squad of Duckworth, Gscheidle, Nixon and Carter Shelton of Jackson, Tenn., was third in 1:28.09.

The meet featured a mix of NCAA Division II teams (OC and Oklahoma Baptist), Division III (University of the Ozarks (Ark.)), NAIA (St. Mary (Kan.) and Tabor (Kan.)) and junior colleges (Barton (Kan.) and Rose State). Held in Shawnee the past two years, the meet was moved to Edmond and dubbed the "Sam Freas Invitational" in honor of the former OBU coach who died earlier this year.

"We've had a good first month of training," OC coach Josh Davis said. "We had a few flu bugs go through the team, so all things considered, I think this (meet) was a good baseline marker to see where we're at. We've got a lot of work to do these next six weeks until our next meet, which is nice. We have a good window of opportunity to work hard."

The Eagles' next meet will be a dual against Division III power Southwestern (Texas) in Grapevine, Texas, on Oct. 26.

Josh Davis discusses the meet: https://youtu.be/ZWJX7nFJQbc 

Pre-meet cheer: https://youtu.be/05KHpbaH9uc

Derek Duckworth in the 100 freestyle: https://youtu.be/d4MWbk6IQQE

200 freestyle relay (heat 3): https://youtu.be/ERnoLpIcgqQ