2015 NAIA National Championships – Men’s Meet
- Dates: Wednesday, March 4 – Saturday, March 7, 2015; prelims 9:00 am, finals 5:00 pm
- Location: Oklahoma City Community College, Oklahoma City, OK (Central Time Zone)
- Defending Champions: Oklahoma Baptist University (results)
- Live Results: Available
- Live Video: Available
- Championship Central
Oklahoma Baptist managed to place an astonishing 15 swimmers in A finals on Day Two at 2015 NAIA Nationals to extend their lead over the field. Olivet Nazarene, however, have consistently had the biggest improvements overall and seem to be firmly ensconced at number two overall. SCAD had a strong morning which should allow them to move ahead of Concordia tonight and settle in at third in the team race. Thomas University, College of Idaho, and Wayland Baptist also had strong prelims session today.
Ups/Downs – Day Two
| Team | A Final | B Final |
| Oklahoma Baptist University | 15 | 2 |
| Olivet Nazarene University | 7 | 9 |
| SCAD Savannah | 5 | 3 |
| Concordia University | 2 | 4 |
| Wayland Baptist University | 2 | 4 |
| University of the Cumberlands | 2 | 2 |
| Union College | 2 | 0 |
| St. Andrews University | 1 | 4 |
| Lindenwood University | 1 | 3 |
| Asbury University | 1 | 1 |
| College of Idaho | 1 | 1 |
| WVU Institute of Technology | 1 | 1 |
| Lindsey Wilson College | 0 | 2 |
| Biola University | 0 | 1 |
| Soka University | 0 | 1 |
| Thomas University | 0 | 1 |
200 Freestyle Relay
OBU, who set the meet record last year, qualified first with 1:20.82 from Andre Del Rio, Marc Sambolin, JP Goyetche, and AJ Barbar. Tonight they’ll surely add Logan Lassley, Daniel Robbins, Jake Phillips, and/or Daniel Ramirez; that’s how deep the Bison bench is. ONU qualified second with 1:22.02; Concordia was third with 1:23.76.
SCAD (1:24.14), Biola (1:24.70), Thomas (1:25.34), West Virginia University Tech (1:25.58), and Wayland Baptist (1:25.79) are all bunched together with the top three, vying for the title tonight.
400 IM
SCAD’s Connor Wilson dropped a little over 5 seconds and came up with the morning’s fastest swim in 3:59.36, with teammate Tyler Prescott (4:00.90) just behind him. Alex Mundt of OBU swam to a 4:04.77 for the third-fastest qualifying time.
Other A finalists will include Juan Cuellar of OBU (4:05.61), Joe Brinkman of Cumberlands (4:06.71), Tommy Otley of Asbury (4:08.46), Thomas Sheridan of College of Idaho (4:08.47), and Charles Bennett of ONU (4:09.94).
100 Butterfly
Ramirez of OBU, the current meet record-holder, led the morning session with 47.69. Frank Tapia of ONU dropped nearly 2 seconds to qualify second, with 48.71, just ahead of OBU’s Sambolin (48.77).
Gabriel Phillips (49.48) of Wayland Baptist qualified fourth, and was followed by Nathan Lethbridge (Union), Del Rio of OBU (49.56), Igor Dozortsev (50.11) of Cumberlands, and CJ Van Wormer from ONU (50.18).
200 Freestyle
Defending champion Joel Ax of SCAD, who broke the meet record last year in this event, went 1:38.27 to capture the top spot in the 200 free. Simon Pheasant (1:39.16) and Joshua Lercel (1:39.56) of ONU will be on either side of Ax in tonight’s final.
Lucas Dengler-Larles of Lindenwood was the fourth-fastest, but Andrew Nelson (1:40.60) and Javier Sossa (1:41.30) of OBU were just behind him; Ryan Kauth (1:41.61) of Concordia and Cameron Donaldson (1:41.73) of Union, round out the A final.
100 Breaststroke
Fernando Morillas of OBU (54.87), Calvin Price of ONU (54.92), and Vitor da Franca of OBU (55.07) were the three fastest qualifiers in the 100 breast.
Wilson of SCAD was next with 55.40, just ahead of WBU’s Bjoern Globke (55.78). Other A finalists will include Jack Cavanagh of WVU Tech (56.69), OBU’s Phillips (56.74), and Jacob Lear of Concordia (56.75).
100 Backstroke
OBU’s Ramirez put himself in good position to repeat his fly-back double from 2014, going 48.04 to post the fastest qualifying time. Teammates Goyetche (48.35) and Nico Brun (49.35) were second and third, respectively, after the morning session.
Jacob Anderson, who won the 200 IM last night, qualified fourth in 49.56. He was followed by St. Andrews’ Georgi Krastev (49.60), OBU’s Andrew Nelson (49.64), Karl Hegwein of SCAD (49.75), and Blain Stewart of OBU (50.95).
400 Medley Relay
OBU blasted a 3:18.13 in prelims to take the middle lane for tonight’s 400 medley relay final. Cumberlands qualified second with 3:23.88, then Concordia in 3:24.63. The rest of the championship final will consist of SCAD (3:25.43), St. Andrews (3:26.57), ONU (3:26.90), Biola (3:28.32), and Wayland Baptist (3:28.88).
Tonight’s finals session begins at 5 p.m. Central time.
Standings After Day One – Men
- Oklahoma Baptist University 262.5
- Olivet Nazarene University 191.5
- Concordia University Irvine 118
- SCAD Savannah 110
- Union College 75
- University of the Cumberlands 70
- St. Andrews University 65
- Biola University 52
- Lindenwood University-Belleville 52
- Wayland Baptist University 50
“The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., is a governing body of small athletics programs that are dedicated to character-driven intercollegiate athletics.
In 2000, the NAIA reaffirmed its purpose to enhance the character building aspects of sport. Through Champions of Character, the NAIA seeks to create an environment in which every student-athlete, coach, official and spectator is committed to the true spirit of competition through five core values.”
