HOUSTON, Texas ? Diving for the final time in his collegiate career this week, senior Evan Crocker got things off to a strong start for the CSUB men's swim team, posting a score of fifth-place, 229.40 score in the 1-meter event Wednesday at the Conference USA Championships, hosted by the University of Houston.

“Not many people turn in a career performance in their final opportunity to compete and Evan did that tonight,” said Roadrunner Head Coach Morgan Bailey.

Competing in a field of nine, including recent Olympic qualifier Magnus Frick out of University of Hawaii, Crocker scored a preliminary score of 228.20, giving him a fifth-place seed headed into the finals. In the finals round, Crocker held his ground, including nailing his final two dives, to claim the fifth-place finish.

In the 200 yard medley relay, CSUB's squad of freshman Luka Leskur, senior T.J. Whitacker, sophomore Rene Hjorth and senior Justin Burdine stepped up to the increased level of competition, posting a time of 1:31.99, more than two seconds faster than their previous season-best. The ?Runners were a split second behind third place finisher East Carolina (1:31.22), while Southern Methodist (1:27.34) and Hawaii (1:29.79) finished first and second, respectively.

“We swam well, had good transitions, good splits and we did those things against national championship caliber athletes,” said Bailey, noting that the atmosphere and increased level of competition led the Runners to rise to the occasion.

In the 800 yard freestyle relay, a bad transition led to a disqualification from the race, but despite than, the ?Runners' splits and total time were right on par with the competition. Southern Methodist took first in a time of 6:28.93, an NCAA “B” qualifying time.

The ?Runners will have a chance to put their individual times to the test starting Thursday with the 500 yard freestyle, the 200 yard individual medley, the 50 yard freestyle and the 400 yard medley relay on the schedule.