HOUSTON — The CSUB men's swimming and diving team set the tone for week, opening the 2010 Conference USA Championships with a second place finish in the 200 medley relay in a Roadrunner program record 1:29.74.

The opening session of the championships, hosted by the University of Houston in the CRWC Natatorium, consisted of the men's and women's 200 medley relay, the men's one-meter springboard diving and the men's and women's 800 free relay.

The Roadrunner lineup in the opening race consisted of Luka Leskur, Chad McKenzie, Matt Parsonage and Malcolm Reid, and solidly broke the previous CSUB record of 1:30.35, held by Seth Dawson, Greg Mroz, Kin Wong and Chris Horner from the 2004 season. Bakersfield's 1:29.74 mark was also good for an NCAA Division I “B” qualifying mark, although the Roadrunners are not postseason eligible until the 2011 season.

“Our energy level is skyrocketing,” said Head Coach Chris Hansen. “I knew we were going to get the school record, but to also start off finishing second behind SMU and to achieve an NCAA 'B' time is awesome.”

Later in the session, the Roadrunners' 800 free relay team of Mark Silvius, Jake Priest, Kevin Miller and Joao Foresto turned in a fourth-place time of 6:46.39.

“We graduated all four members of our 800 free relay from last year, so it was a big test for these guys to step up, but they handled it superbly,” said Hansen.

In the one-meter diving finals, freshman Bryce Odgen placed fourth in a field of nine. The Bakersfield native scored 267.55 in the preliminary round and 266.55 in the finals. Teammate Daniel Hernandez placed eighth with a score of 162.20.

Through three events, the Roadrunners stand in second place with 90 points, trailing only conference champion favorite Southern Methodist, which has 113 points. Hawaii is in third with 88 points, University of North Dakota is fourth with 60 points and East Carolina is fifth with 46 points.

Thursday's slate consists of the 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free and the 400 medley relay.