Sophomore Denys Fedorchenko (Zaporizhia, Ukraine/Zaporizkiy Collegium #83) of the Gannon men’s swimming team secured All-America honors in the 400-yard IM at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships at the SPIRE Institute Thursday.

Registering a time of 3:59.11, Fedorchenko finished 15th in the 400-yard IM race on the second day of the national meet. His top-16 performance locked him into All-America status. The sophomore became the first Golden Knight to earn All-America honors since former swimmer Luke Curtis at the 2011 NCAA Division II National Championships in San Antonio, Texas.

The Zaporizhia, Ukraine native nabbed a spot in the “B” finals of the 400-yard IM race, following an 11th-place finish in the preliminaries. He posted a preliminary time of 3:55.48, breaking his previous program mark he set in his runner-up performance at this year’s Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championship held Feb. 20-23 at the York County YMCA Graham Aquatic Center.

As the lone Gannon swimmer competing at the national championships, Fedorchenko has the Golden Knights tied for 27th (2 points) along with Le Moyne and Fairmont State. Capturing nine-consecutive team titles, Drury leads (276.5) the men’s field of 29 teams followed by Wayne State in second (182) and Florida Southern (165).

Fedorchenko returns to action Friday when he competes in the 200-yard butterfly preliminaries at 10:30 a.m. The finals will begin at 6 p.m.