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 built its lead to over 200 points on Day Two of the 2015 NAIA National Swimming and Diving Championships, while SCAD took over third place from Concordia. Holding firmly onto second place, Olivet Nazarene continued to show its depth in the swimming events. Were it not for diving, ONU could be giving OBU a challenge for the lead in the team race.
200 Freestyle Relay
OBU won a narrow victory over ONU in the 200 free relay, 1:19.91 to 1:20.25, with the foursome of Logan Lassley (20.29), Daniel Ramirez (19.75), Daniel Robbins (20.19), and Jake Phillips (19.71). ONU (Simon Pheasant, Jacob Anderson, Ty Jacobs, and Joshua Lercel) were two seconds faster than third-place SCAD (Joel Ax, Karl Hegwein, Tim Jarvnik, and Nick Wargo).
SCAD just edged Concordia for third, 1:22.26 to 1:22.61. Thomas (1:23.98) beat Biola by a mere 1/100 to finish fifth. WVU Tech ended up seventh in 1:25.00, .24 ahead of Wayland.
400 IM
Top qualifiers Tyler Prescott and Connor Wilson of SCAD finished 1-2 in the finals of the 400 IM, although they had to fend off a challenge from Alex Mundt of OBU, who actually led at the 300. Wilson, in particular, had to dig in and find another gear to finish second; he split a 25.8 over the final 50 to move in front of Mundt. Prescott got the win in 3:54.39; Wilson went 3:55.55, while Mundt touched in 3:56.56.
Juan Cuellar of OBU (4:02.74), Joe Brinkman of Cumberlands (4:05.67), Charles Bennett of ONU (4:07.29), Thomas Sheridan of College of Idaho (4:08.51), and Tommy Otley of Asbury (4:13.00) rounded out the championship final.
100 Butterfly
For the second year in a row, OBU’s Ramirez set the meet record in winning the 100 fly. This time, he lowered the mark by 1/100 when he swam to a 46.12 victory ahead of ONU’s Frank Tapia (48.56) and Bison teammate Marc Sambolin (49.06).
Nathan Lethbridge of Union took fourth (49.42), followed by Andre Del Rio of OBU (49.79), Gabriel Phillips (49.82) of Wayland Baptist, Igor Dozortsev (50.03) of Cumberlands, and CJ Van Wormer from ONU (50.04).
200 Freestyle
Defending champion Ax of SCAD picked up his second gold medal of the meet but just fell short of lowering his own national record, touching in 1:36.82. It looked for a while like the sophomore might have to settle for second, as OBU’s Javier Sossa took it out hard from lane 7 and led by about a body length through the first three 50s. His pace turned out to be unsustainable, however, and he finished in what looked like a painful 29.2, falling back to fifth overall. Meanwhile, Ax brought it home in 24.1 and secured his fifth national title in two years. Second place went to Simon Pheasant (1:38.66) of ONU; Lucas Dengler-Larles of Lindenwood (1:39.64)was the third.
Joshua Lercel of ONU (1:40.56) took fourth, slipping by Sossa (1:40.95) at the end. OBU’s Andrew Nelson (1:41.04) came in sixth; Cameron Donaldson of Union (1:42.31) was seventh, and Ryan Kauth of Concordia (1:42.45), eighth.
100 Breaststroke
Vitor da Franca and Fernando Morillas of OBU gave the Bison a 1-2 finish in the 100 breast, touching in 54.27 and 54.45, respectively. Calvin Price of ONU went 54.98 for third.
SCAD’s Wilson, fresh off his strong finish in the 400 IM, clocked a 55.13 for fourth, just ahead of Jacob Lear of Concordia (55.67). WBU’s Bjoern Globke (56.01), Jake Phillips of OBU (56.45), and Jack Cavanagh of WVU Tech (56.57) rounded out the A final.
100 Backstroke
Ramirez pulled off a fly-back double for the second year in a row, winning the 100 back in 46.88. Teammate JP Goyetche was second in 47.96. ONU’s Anderson, who won the 200 IM last night, held off OBU’s Nico Brun, 49.39 to 49.52, to take the bronze medal.
Fifth place went to St. Andrews’ Georgi Krastev (49.77), then came Hegwein of SCAD (49.83), and OBU’s Andrew Nelson (50.80) and Blain Stewart (51.10).
400 Medley Relay
OBU finished Day Two with a decisive 3:14.51 win in the 400 medley relay from Goyetche (48.59), da Franca (53.78), Ramirez (47.87), and Robbins (44.27). SCAD (Hegwein, Wilson, Ax, and Wargo) won the silver medal with 3:18.77, successfully holding off St. Andrews, whose David Lambert anchored in 44.0, out-splitting SCAD’s Wargo by nearly 1.5 seconds. St. Andrews (Georgi Krastev, Elliot Boon, Andrew Gurley, and Lambert) finished with 3:18.91.
Concordia came in fourth with 3:22.77, ahead of Cumberlands (3:24.66), Wayland Baptist (3:25.11), and Biola (3:28.03). Olivet Nazarene’s quartet was disqualified.
Standings After Day Two – Men
- Oklahoma Baptist University 585.5
- Olivet Nazarene University 381.5
- SCAD Savannah 274
- Concordia University 224
- University of the Cumberlands 151
- Wayland Baptist University 138
- St. Andrews University 136
- Union College 130
- Biola University 108
- WVU Institute of Technology 90
“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.”
