OCALA, Fla. – With a first-place finish and a school record to boot, freshman Raphael Vanhecke made a name for himself on Thursday after day one of the National Invitational Championships at the FAST Facility in Ocala, Florida.

The Tigers were smiled upon by the performance of Vanhecke in the men's 200 yard IM where he was crowned champion in the A final with a time of 1:45.65, breaking his own record set earlier this season from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships in Pharr, Texas. Before Vanhecke broke the record twice this year, the previous recordholder was Mitchell Hopper from last season. Vanhecke beat his own record, which was 1:46.20 from two weeks ago.

Vanhecke was one of seven Tigers to compete in Thursday's action where Pacific earned 102 points across 16 events for a stance in tenth place after the opening day.

Helping boost their overall score, Pacific earned a sixth-place nod in the men's 400 yard medley relay where Vanhecke joined the four-man tandem of senior Mattia Giurgevich, sophomore Nate Rasmussen and freshman Alexis Iacovides. The quartet clocked in a time of 3:13.54 in that race.

Another A final performance came from Giurgevich as he was a eighth-place finisher in the men's 50 yard breaststroke, coming in at 24.61.

The Tigers will continue with day two of the National Invitational Championships tomorrow. The National Invitational Championships will be streamed live all three days on YouTube, which can be found here. The full championship central can be found here for all information.

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