CONWAY, Ark. – The Southwestern men’s swim team started off strong in their season opening meet at the 42nd Annual Hendrix Classic on Friday. The Pirates placed in the top ten in nine events on the afternoon.

The Pirates wasted no time getting to work in the water, coming in eighth place in the 400 yard medley relay. The team of junior Josh Stanfield, senior Jon Ra Rochelle, first-year Thomas Newman and first-year Steven Weddell finished in a time of 4:22.33.

First-year Stephen Montes picked up the pace in 1000 yard freestyle, taking sixth place in a time of 10:48.19, 19 seconds better than his seed time. Junior Taylor Steele came in ninth in the event with a time of 11:12.31.

Sophomore Evan Firth finished in sixth place as well in the 200 free, finishing with a time of 1:51.92 while Weddell came in at a time of 2:11.53.

Junior Jon Prater kept the streak rolling with sixth place finishes in the 50 free and 100 free. He had a 50 free time of 23.21 and a 100 time of 51.19. Stanfield finished in 24.98 for 14th place in the 50 while Weddell improved two seconds off his seed time in the 100 to finish in 57.61.

The Pirates closed out the meet in style, taking fourth place in a time of 3:26.59 in the 400 free relay. The relay of Firth, Steele, Montes and Prater was less than one second off their seed time and had the highest finish of the day for Southwestern.

SU will remain in Conway on Saturday for the Hendrix Relays to close out their season opener.