JERSEY CITY, N.J. - Redshirt junior Oleksiy Polishchuk of the Saint Peter's University men's swimming & diving program competed in the 2020 U.S. Open over the past weekend at the SwimRVA Aquatic Center in Richmond, Virginia.
On Friday, Polishchuk turned in an eighth-place finish in the 100 meter breaststroke with a time of 1:04.52, which was only a bit over one second shy from a qualifying Olympic Trials cut time.
A day later, the redshirt junior returned to the pool and turned in another impressive outing when he placed third in the 200 meter breaststroke, hitting the wall with a final time of 2:18.24, just 0.35 seconds away from the Olympic Trials cut time.
After his impressive debut for the 2020-21 season, one that has been interrupted by the COVID-19, coronavirus pandemic, Polishchuk intends to next compete in more Long Course Meters meets throughout the winter leading into the spring. He has been focusing on the USA Swimming Speedo Champions series that will be held in Indianapolis from March 25-28, but hopes to schedule a meet during the month of January, as well to continue his climb towards the Olympic Trial standards.
"While Oleksiy didn't achieve the Olympic Trial cut times, this was the first meet of the competition season and he already dropped significant time from his personal bests," remarked head coach
Mark Kretzer. "This is a great sign that his hard work is paying off and will hopefully motivate him to stay the course and continue doing exactly what he has been doing!"
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