CLEVELAND, Miss. – Sophomore swimmer Riley Oakes won co-most valuable swimmer as the Delta State University men's swimming and diving team took second place in the 2024 DSU Thanksgiving Invitational this weekend in the Ronald G. Mayers Aquatics Center.
 
Oakes would be named the Co-Most Valuable Swimmer of the Invite along with Mate Miszlai from William Carey. Oakes would get top three finishes in all four of the individual events he swam in. Oakes would win the 100-yard back stroke, finish second in the 200-yard backstroke, and two third place finishes in the 200-yard medley and 400-yard medley.
 
Oakes and junior Mateus Franco would finish second and third place in the 200-yard back stroke in the second event Sunday afternoon. Oakes would log in a 1:47.83, Franco would finish in a 1:48.72.
 
In the 100-yard freestyle, Delta State would get a second and third place finish from sophomore Ethan Baylin and freshman Michael Robinson. Baylin would finish in second with a 44.45 second time in the final, while Robinson would finish with a 44.63 second race.
 
In the 200-yard breaststroke, Eudald Tosquella finished in fourth place with a time of 2:01.90.
 
The Statesmen got their lone first place finish out of freshman Kacper Mochnal. Mochnal would win the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:47.13.
 
To finish the night, the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Jake Runyon, Mateus Franco, Michael Robinson and Ethan Braylin would get second place finishing the relay at 2:59.04.
 
The Statesmen will take the pool again on December 14 as they'll host the Christmas Meet at the Ronald G. Mayers Aquatic Center.