Omaha, Neb. ---  The Minnesota State men’s swimming and diving team sits in second-place with 425 points after the third day of the 2010 Midwest Conference Championships held in Omaha, Neb.

St. Cloud State sits in first with 519 points, while Minnesota State owns a 178-point lead over the University of Colorado-Boulder club team, which sits in third with 247 points.

The Mavericks opened the finals with a victory in the 200-yard medley relay turning in a time 1:34.71. The relay squad was made up of sophomore Matt Chida, senior Brian Parks, sophomore Daniel Wright and freshman Tom Gasnick. 

Chida earned a first-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of :51.37. In the prelims, Chida turned in a first-place time of :51.29, which met the “B” standard for nationals.

Wright finished fifth in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of :53.61, while sophomore Jacob Longacre was sixth in :55.13. 

Gasnick won the 200-yard freestyle touching in 1:42.40.  He also won the prelims with a “B” standard time of 1:41.39.  Junior Chris Gogel was third in the finals with a time of 1:43.13, which was also a “B” standard, while freshman Keaton Brown was sixth in 1:47.69.   Freshman Paul Pallardy turned in an eighth-place finish of 1:47.70.

Parks finished third in the 100-yard breaststroke with a “B” qualifying time of :58.69, while freshman Shane Bjork was fifth in 1:02.97.  In the 100-yard backstroke, freshman Kyle Hellyer was second in :53.37, while Brown finished seventh in :55.12 and freshman Paul Creger eighth in :58.94.

On the diving board, sophomore Dan Felt finished third in 308.55 while sophomore Tyler Jaeger was fourth with a score of 282.60 in the one-meter dive.

The four-day long event concludes Saturday.

 To view Friday's results, click HERE