2019 NAIA National Championships – Men’s Meet
- Dates: Wednesday, February 27 – Saturday, March 2; prelims 9 am, finals 5 pm
- Location: Columbus Aquatic Center, Columbus, Georgia (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champions: Keiser University (results)
- Psych Sheets: Available here
- Fan Guides: Available here
- Live Results: Available here
- Live Video: Available here
- Championship Central
Day Four
If you came into the meet expected to lose to defending champion Keiser by 95 points, but you had whittled the anticipated margin down to 68.5 points on Day 3 and actually thought you might have a chance at dethroning the Seahawks, you couldn’t have asked for much more from your swimmers than SCAD head coach Bill Pilczuk got on Saturday. The Bees outscored the psych sheet by 24 points in the 100 free and 12 points in the 200 fly and may have added huge points in the slower heats of the mile (we won’t know until the top-8 swim in finals). SCAD now stands at 17.5 points behind Keiser. That’s within relay-DQ range, which is going to make for an absolutely thrilling finals session tonight.
Men’s 200 Yard Backstroke – Prelims
- Meet Record: 1:45.61, 2012, Ryan Searles, SCAD
- Daric Sundeen, Cumberlands – 1:49.65
- Clay Bisher, Asbury – 1:51.08
- Gergo Zachar, SCAD – 1:51.28
- Jan Suchan, Keiser – 1:51.36
- Collin McKelvey, Midland – 1:51.75
- Alex Torrents, Keiser – 1:51.83
- Trey James, Loyola – 1:52.28
- Seth Cripe, Olivet Nazarene – 1:52.48
Cumberlands sophomore Daric Sundeen came into the meet seeded 1st in the 100 back and 200 back. He took 4th in a tight battle for the silver medal in last night’s 100 back final, and he was 4th in this event a year ago. On Saturday, he improved his PB by .27 and snagged lane 4 for tonight’s final with the only sub-1:50 of the morning. Asbury’s Clay Bisher was the 2nd qualifier in 1:51.08. He finished 8th in the 100 on Friday night and was 7th in the 200 back last year. SCAD sophomore Gergo Zachar, defending champion in the 200 back and winner of last night’s 100 back final, qualified 3rd with 1:51.28 while Keiser sophomore Jan Suchan went 1:51.36 to secure the 4th slot. Suchan was runner-up to Zachar in the 100 back last night, edging SCAD’s Brogan Bunner and Sundeen by .20 and .23. Bunner, meanwhile placed 12th this morning in the 200 (he had been 5th in the 200 in 2018). Collin McKelvey of Midland dropped 3.4 to make the A final, while ONU’s Seth Cripe improved his seed time by 3 seconds.
Men’s 100 Yard Freestyle – Prelims
- Meet Record: 42.53, 2014, Daniel Z Ramirez, Oklahoma Baptist
- Irvin Hoost, SCAD – 45.28
- Andrei Stukov, Keiser – 45.32
- Marcel Nagy, Keiser – 45.55
- Zoltan Monori, SCAD – 45.83
- Miles Kredich, SCAD – 45.87
- Tim Olbrich, SCAD – 46.14
- Warren Massimini, Loyola New Orleans – 46.29
- Olek Olenjik, Lindsey Wilson – 46.16
In 2018, Keiser slotted the A final of the men’s 100 free with four swimmers; this year, it was SCAD’s turn. Although the Seahawks have 2 up and 3 down, for a total of 5 entrants in the 100 free final, SCAD did much better than expected in prelims this morning. Freshman Irvin Hoost, who took 3rd in the 50 free, dropped 3/10 from his seed time to post the top time of the morning, 45.28. Sophomores Zoltan Monori (45.83) and Miles Kredich (45.87) and senior Tim Olbrich (46.14) qualified 4th through 6th. Monori, who won the 200 IM on Thursday and was runner-up in the 200 free last night, came in 6th in the 100 free last year. Kredich took 8/10 off his seed time and Olbrich dropped 1.44 to make the A final. Both were B-finalists in this event last year.
Keiser’s Andrei Stukov (45.32) and Marcel Nagy (45.55) qualified 2nd and 3rd. Nagy is the defending champion in this event; Stukov placed 3rd last year.
Loyola New Orleans junior Warren Massimini took 7/10 off his seed time to snag the 7th spot for the A final; he finished 14th last year and had been seeded 14th coming into the meet. Lindsey Wilson sophomore Olek Olenjik improved his entry time by .16 to earn the last slot.
Men’s 200 Yard Breaststroke – Prelims
- Meet Record: 1:56.96, 2015, Fernando Morillas, OBU
- Joel Hansson, Keiser – 2:04.06
- Tyler Penney, Midland – 2:04.07
- Lukas Macek, Keiser – 2:04.30
- Henrique Saraceni, Union College – 2:05.03
- Gustav Lucas, Life – 2:05.46
- Paulo Dias Ignacio Jr, Wvu-Tech – 2:05.72
- Kevin Bohr, Thomas – 2:05.89
- Ronan Passman, Asbury – 2:06.16
2018 runner-up Joel Hansson of Keiser led the qualifiers for the 200 breast final with 2:04.06. He was the top seed this year coming into the meet with a time of 2:01.67. His teammate Lukas Macek qualified third in 2:04.30. Macek won the 200 IM, 100 breast, and 200 breast at last year’s national championships. He was DQd on Thursday night in the 200 IM final but successfully defended his 100 breast title last night. In 2018, he won the 200 breast by over 3.5 seconds.
Midland sophomore Tyler Penney, 7th in the 100 breast last night, dropped 1.5 seconds from his seed time and qualified 2nd for tonight’s final.
Men’s 200 Yard Butterfly – Prelims
- Meet Record: 1:46.62, 2011, Javier Hernandez, Lindenwood-Belleville
- Gergely Harsanyi, SCAD – 1:49.66
- Alex Wu, Asbury – 1:49.89
- Miles Kredich, SCAD – 1:50.17
- Andrew Clifford, College of Idaho– 1:50.20
- Maik Rieffenstahl, SCAD – 1:50.63
- Martin Le Pays du Teilleul, Lindenwood-Belleville – 1:50.84
- Csaba Vekony, Keiser – 1:51.76
- Gergo Zachar, SCAD – 1:52.91
SCAD loaded up the championship final with four 200 flyers and the consolation with one, while Keiser got one up, one down.
SCAD sophomore George Harsanyi improved his seed time by .21 to lead the morning’s qualifiers in 1:49.66. Harsanyi placed 4th in this event last year. So far this year he was runner-up in the 400 IM and took 3rd in the 200 IM. Asbury freshman Alex Wu took 1 second of his entry time and clocked a 1:49.89 for the second-fastest time of the morning. He was runner-up in the 100 fly last night. SCAD sophomore Kredich (1:50.17), freshman Maik Rieffenstahl (1:50.63), and sophomore Zachar (1:52.91) also made the A final. Zachar is also contesting the 200 back A final, while Kredich is in the 100 free A final. Zachar was runner-up in this event last year while Kredich placed 4th.
Idaho’s Andrew Clifford (1:50.20) and Lindenwood-Belleville sophomore Martin du Teilleul (1:50.84) took 6th and 3rd, respectively, in the 200 fly last year.
Men’s 1-Meter Diving – Prelims
- Meet Record: 587.35, 2004, Grant Brehaut, Simon Fraser
Men’s 400 Yard Freestyle Relay – Prelims
- Meet Record: 2:56.93, 2015, Oklahoma Baptist University (J Goyetche, M Sambolin, J Sossa, D Ramirez)
- Lindenwood-Belleville – 3:05.79
- SCAD – 3:05.93
- Keiser – 3:06.05
- Lindsey Wilson – 3:06.25
- Loyola New Orleans – 3:06.36
- Cumberlands – 3:06.83
- Union College – 3:07.39
- West Virginia Tech – 3:08.65
Lindenwood-Belleville topped SCAD and Keiser by .26 to claim lane 4 in tonight’s final. Ante Dany (47.22), Petro Halaichuk (46.83), du Teilleul (45.86), and Badr Benassila (45.88) combined for 3:05.79.
SCAD’s Monori (46.32), Bunner (46.93), Olbrich (46.91), and Hoost (45.77) were second with 3:05.93. Keiser’s morning quartet consisted of Lasse Jorgensen (46.65), Pol Roch (45.82), Konstantin Byshnev (46.34), and Nagy (47.24). The Seahawks won this event last year, coming with .01 of the NAIA National Record.
Men’s 1650 Yard Freestyle – Slower Heats
- Meet Record: 15:18.39, 2017, Joel Thatcher, SCAD
There were enough great morning swims in the mile to put real pressure on the top-8 in tonight’s final. SCAD freshman Spence Clark, notably, dropped 41.3 seconds from his seed time and could very conceivably wind up in the top 8 with 16:06.08. St. Ambrose’s Nathan Kuszynski dropped over 1 minute and 1 second to land in the second spot heading into the final. He clocked a 16:15.92 this morning, which would have scored 9th last year.
- Spence Clark, SCAD – 16:06.08
- Nathan Kuszynski, St. Ambrose – 16:15.92
- Pedro Terra, Lindsey Wilson – 16:16.63
- Cameron Anderson, Keiser – 16:29.57
- DJ Nowacki, SCAD – 16:31.37
- Josh Harriott, Keiser – 16:34.18
- Henrique Medeiros dos Reis, Lindenwood-Belleville – 16:40.11
- Michael Cain, Cumberlands – 16:42.68
- Graham Williams, College of Idaho – 16:44.32
- Ryan Trout, SCAD – 16:44.81
- Justin Fales, St. Ambrose – 16:54.20
- Francisco Santos, Life University – 17:02.55
- Eddie Ceausu, Cumberlands – 17:04.87
- Caleb Reams, Asbury – 17:05.14
- Michael Peck, Lindsey Wilson – 17:05.92
- Gustavs Baumanis, Cumberlands – 17:08.34
“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.”
