SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (Jan. 29, 2022) – Freshmen J.T. Amrein and Victor Rosado each won two events and Brandon Heredia won one, leading No. 17-ranked Oklahoma Christian in a 170-105 dual loss to No. 3 Drury (Mo.) on Saturday at Breech Pool.

Drury dominated the Eagles in a dual meet in 2021, winning all but one event. The Panthers still won comfortably in the rematch, but it was clear OC has closed the gap on the traditional NCAA Division II swimming power.

A big reason for that is the addition of OC's strong freshman class. Amrein, a Bonner Springs, Kan., product who's one of the nation's top breaststrokers, won both the events in that discipline on Saturday. In the 100-yard breaststroke, he outdueled Drury's David Nowodworski, winning in 54.24 seconds, with Nowodworski just .04 of a second behind.

In the 200 breaststroke, Amrein posted a winning time of 1:59.47, which set a facility record and was more than a second faster than the runner-up, Drury's Davi Mourao.

Rosado, from St. Augustine, Fla., joined the OC squad at the semester break and made his collegiate debut in dual meets on Friday against William Jewell (Mo.) and on Saturday against Drury.

In his first event Saturday, Rosado obliterated OC's former record in the 1,000 freestyle, winning in 9:22.65 to easily meet the Division II B time standard in that event. Andrew Ehler set the old OC mark of 9:41.21 in the 2019 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships.

Later, in the 500 freestyle, he won with a time of 4:34.58, missing the school record by .58 of a second but also meeting the B time standard.

Heredia, a junior from Maryville, Mo., recorded the Eagles' other event win against the Panthers, taking the 100 freestyle in 45.44 seconds. He took second in the 50 freestyle in 20.83 seconds, finishing behind Alex Bowen of Drury, who won in 20.63 seconds.

Three other Eagles posted second-place event finishes – freshman Caleb Musser of Overland Park, Kan., in the 100 backstroke (52.20 seconds), sophomore Elijah Tung of Columbia, S.C., in the 200 butterfly (1:53.16) and freshman Dereck Montgomery of Rosenberg, Texas, in the 200 backstroke (1:55.42).

OC also finished second in both relays. In the 200 medley relay, Montgomery, Amrein, Tung and Heredia posted a time of 1:32.04, and in the 200 freestyle relay, Heredia, Musser, Montgomery and freshman Felix Berling of Meppen, Germany had a time of 1:22.79.

The Eagles now will gear up for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships, to be contested Feb. 9-12 in Grand Junction, Colo.