2018 NAIA National Championships – Men’s Meet
- Dates: Wednesday, February 28 – Saturday, March 3; prelims 9 am, finals 5 pm
- Location: Columbus Aquatic Center, Columbus, Georgia (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champions: Olivet Nazarene University (results)
- Psych Sheet
- Live Results: Available here
- Live Video: Available here
- Championship Central
Men’s 200 Yard Freestyle Relay – Prelims
- Meet Record: 1:18.43, 2014, Oklahoma Baptist University (L Lassley, R Robbins, D Ramirez, G Sullivan)
- Keiser 1:23.42
- Thomas 1:23.43
- College of Idaho 1:23.93
- Olivet Nazarene 1:24.03
- Lindenwood-Belleville 1:24.06
- SCAD 1:24.78
- Cumberlands 1:25.42 / Union College 1:25.42
- –
Top-seeded Keiser University held on to qualify first for tonight’s final, coming to the wall 1/100 ahead of Thomas University. Keiser’s Lukas Macek (20.87), Nick Oh (21.33), Justin Lewis (20.70), and N’Nhyn Fernander (20.52) posted a 1:23.42. Thomas (Alex Haymond, Ethan Bainbridge, Victor Dos Santos, and Perry Lindo) combined for 1:23.43. The College of Idaho’s quartet (Jonathan Jennings, Andrew Clifford, Cooper Salmen, and Dylan Osborne) dropped 2.1 seconds to qualify third for finals with 1:23.93, ahead of Olivet Nazarene, Lindenwood, SCAD, and Cumberlands and Union, who tied for 7th.
ONU won this event last year ahead of SCAD; Thomas earned bronze.
Men’s 500 Yard Freestyle – Prelims
- Meet Record: 4:20.35, 2017, Joel Thatcher, SCAD
- Joshua Bouma, Olivet Nazarene 4:32.72
- Niels Engeln, Lindenwood-Belleville 4:33.45
- Wyatt Engler, Keiser 4:34.15
- Vinny Lijoi, Thomas 4:34.21
- Seth Cripe, Olivet Nazarene 4:35.74
- Xavier Bordes Adell, Olivet Nazarene 4:35.87
- Manuel Laguna Gomez, Wvu-Tech 4:36.31
- Nathan Kuszynski, St Ambrose 4:36.53
After four years of domination by a Joel from SCAD (Joel Ax for three years; Joel Thatcher in 2017), the men’s 500 free is undergoing a changing of the guards in Columbus. ONU qualified three swimmers for the A final, with the other five spots going to Lindenwood-Belleville, Keiser, Thomas, WVU-Tech, and St. Ambrose.
ONU senior Joshua Bouma posted the fastest time of the morning (4:32.72). Second was last year’s fourth-place finisher, Niels Engeln of Lindenwood-Belleville (4:33.45). Keiser’s Wyatt Engler (4:34.15) qualified just ahead of 2017 bronze medalist, Vinny Lijoi of Thomas (4:34.21). ONU’s Seth Cripe, and Xavier Bordes Adell, WVU-Tech’s Manuel Laguna Gomez, and St. Ambrose’s Nathan Kuszynski rounded out the top-8 this morning.
Two Bees, sophomore Josh Smilie and freshman DJ Nowacki, improved their seed times by 4 and 8 seconds, respectively, but wound up 9th and 10th overall so they will lead the charge in the B final.
Men’s 200 Yard Individual Medley – Prelims
- Meet Record: 1:47.55, 2011, David Hibberd, Simon Fraser
- Lukas Macek, Keiser 1:49.23
- Daniil Kuzmin, Olivet Nazarene 1:50.99
- Martin du Teilleul, Lindenwood 1:51.55 1:51.62
- Charles Bennett, Olivet Nazarene 1:55.54 1:51.69
- Gergely Harsanyi, SCAD 1:52.42 1:52.09
- Trey James, Loyola 1:56.34 1:52.39
- Joel Hansson, Keiser 1:54.04 1:53.12
- Csaba Vekony, Keiser 1:56.27 1:53.85
Keiser dominated the morning in the men’s 200 IM, qualifying three for the A final including #1 seed Macek, who posted the only sub-1:50 of prelims (1:49.23). ONU’s Kuzmin, runner-up in 2017, went 1:50.99, just off his seed time. Lindenwood-Belleville freshman Martin du Teilleul went even with his seed time to qualify third (1:51.62). ONU senior Charles Bennett (1:51.69) dropped nearly 3 seconds to qualify fourth ahead of SCAD freshman Gergely Harsanyi (1:52.09). Loyola’s Trey James improved his seed time by 4 seconds and jumped from 16th in the psych sheet to 6th, while Keiser’s Joel Hansson and Csaba Vekony both dropped to qualify 7th and 8th.
Men’s 50 Yard Freestyle – Prelims
- Meet Record: 19.71, 2014, Logan H Lassley, Oklahoma Baptist
- Andrei Stukov, Keiser 20.31
- Zoltan Monori, SCAD 20.52
- Alex Haymond, Thomas 20.58
- Iran Cavalcante- Almeida, Olivet Nazarene 20.62
- N’Nhyn Fernander, FR Keiser 20.80
- Perry Lindo, Thomas 20.86
- Warren Massimini, Loyola 20.98
- Guilherme Magnoler, Olivet Nazarene 21.01
Keiser junior Andrei Stukov, the top seed in this event, led the morning qualifiers with 20.31. SCAD freshman Zoltan Monori placed second (20.52). Haymond of Thomas dropped a half-second and qualified third (20.58); his teammate, defending champion Lindo, qualified sixth (20.86).
Keiser’s Fernander made the A final, as did ONU’s Iran Cavalcante-Almeida and Guilherme Magnoler and Warren Massimini of Loyola.
Men’s 400 Yard Medley Relay – Prelims
- Meet Record: 3:12.88, 2014, Oklahoma Baptist University (D Ramirez, G Penny, G Sullivan, L Lassley)
- Keiser 3:22.05
- Olivet Nazarene 3:23.05
- Cumberlands 3:23.37
- SCAD 3:24.62
- Lindenwood-Belleville 3:25.42
- Loyola 3:26.16
- Wvu-Tech 3:26.95
- Lindsey Wilson 3:27.33
Top-seeded Keiser swam a bit off their seed time but still managed to qualify first by 1 second over ONU. Keiser’s Nagy (49.07), Hansson (55.39), Carlos Field (50.86), and Lewis (46.73) combined for 3:22.05. Keiser dominated over the first half of the race: Nagy had the fastest leadoff split by well over 1 second and Hansson was the top breaststroker of the morning. ONU’s Cavalcante-Almeida outsplit the field in butterfly with 47.58, while SCAD’s Gergo Zachar came home quickest, in 45.78.
Cumberlands took the third spot ahead of SCAD, Lindenwood-Belleville, Loyola, WVU-Tech, and Lindsey Wilson. Loyola and Lindsey Wilson both had significant drops in prelims to leapfrog into tonight’s A final.
“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.”
