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
Men’s 200 Yard Freestyle Relay – Prelims
- Meet Record: 1:18.43, 2014, Oklahoma Baptist University (L Lassley, R Robbins, D Ramirez, G Sullivan)
- Loyola New Orleans – 1:24.57
- SCAD Savannah – 1:24.59
- Keiser – 1:24.60
- College of Idaho – 1:24.72
- Thomas – 1:25.10
- Union – 1:25.18
- LWC – 1:25.22
- Midland – 1:25.98
5th-seeded Loyola University New Orleans crushed their prelims swim in the 200 free relay and earned the right to swim in lane 4 in tonight’s final. Junior Warren Massimini (20.98), sophomore Jack Jackson (21.00), and freshmen Chett Bell (21.37) and Streett Martin (21.22) turned in a 1:24.57 to take 9/10 off their seed time and rise to the top of the field. SCAD (Miles Kredich, Gergo Zachar, George Harsanyi, and Irvin Hoost) qualified second with 1:24.59, just 1/100 ahead of Keiser (Lasse Jorgensen, Matias Lazzerini, Konstantin Byshnev, and Andrei Stukov).
ONU who won this event in 2017 failed to qualify for the final.
Men’s 500 Yard Freestyle – Prelims
- Meet Record: 4:20.35, 2017, Joel Thatcher, SCAD
- Pol Roch, Keiser ̶ 4:32.65
- Niels Engeln, Lindenwood-Belleville ̶ 4:34.08
- Spence Clark, SCAD ̶ 4:36.72
- Xavier Bordes Adell, Olivet Nazarene ̶ 4:37.68
- Seth Cripe, Olivet Nazarene ̶ 4:37.92
- Manuel Laguna Gomez, WV Tech ̶ 4:38.08
- John Morgan McDonald, Cumberlands ̶ 4:38.68
- Nathan Kuszynski, St. Ambrose ̶ 4:38.73
Keiser freshman Pol Roch, seeded 1st by over 3 seconds, maintained his position in prelims while still adding 2.3 seconds to his seed time, going 4:32.65. Defending champion Niels Engeln of Lindenwood qualified second in 4:34.08. SCAD freshman Spence Clark dropped nearly 7.5 seconds from his entry time to post the 3rd time of the morning, 4:36.72. ONU’s Xavier Bordes Adell, who tied for 4th last year, dropped 5.3 to qualify 4th ahead of teammate Seth Cripe (7th in 2018).
Other big drops came from St. Ambrose’s Nathan Kuszynski (-6.3) to land the last spot in the A final, and SCAD’s Josh Smilie (-5.3) and DJ Nowacki (-6.2) and Loyola’s Sam Vasquez (-7) to make the B final.
Men’s 200 Yard Individual Medley – Prelims
- Meet Record: 1:47.55, 2011, David Hibberd, Simon Fraser
- Martin du Teilleul, Lindenwood – 1:51.39
- Zoltan Monori, SCAD – 1:51.55
- Lukas Macek, Keiser – 1:51.69
- Maik Rieffenstahl, SCAD – 1:52.31
- Wiktor Perkowski, Union – 1:52.82
- Gergely Harsanyi, SCAD – 1:52.93
- Joel Hansson, Keiser – 1:52.98
- Keith Jessee, Asbury – 1:53.23
After this morning’s prelims, the 200 IM looks to be an exciting final with the 1st through 8th qualifiers only separated by 1.9 seconds. Lindenwood sophomore Martin du Teilleul, who placed 3rd in this event last year, took .2 off his seed time to qualify first with 1:51.39. SCAD landed 3 in the A final, with sophomore Zoltan Monori (1:51.55), freshman Maik Rieffenstahl (1:52.31), and George Harsanyi (1:52.93). Top-seeded Lukas Macek of Keiser, the event’s defending champion, qualified 3rd with 1:51.69. He won in 1:48.31 a year ago.
Wiktor Perkowski of Union and Keith Jessee of Asbury, B finalists a year ago, both qualified for the A final this year. Jessee dropped 5 seconds from his entry time to make the 8th spot. Andrew Clifford from The College of Idaho improved his seed time by 5.8 seconds to make the B final.
Men’s 50 Yard Freestyle – Prelims
- Meet Record: 19.71, 2014, Logan H Lassley, Oklahoma Baptist
- Marcel Nagy, Keiser – 20.05
- Andrei Stukov, Keiser – 20.21
- Irvin Hoost, SCAD – 20.57
- Iran Cavalcante-Almeida, Olivet Nazarene – 20.58
- Matias Lazzerini, Keiser – 20.82
- Scott Cain, Midland – 20.94
- Warren Massimini, Loyola New Orleans – 20.96
- Viktor Lyson, Cumberlands – 21.00
Keiser dominated the morning heats of 50 free and managed 3 swimmers in the A final, including junior Marcel Nagy (20.05) and senior Andrei Stukov (20.21), who qualified 1-2. Stukov was runner-up in the 50 free a year ago. SCAD freshman Irvin Hoost dropped .27 to qualify 3rd, just 1/100 ahead of Iran Cavalcante-Almeida of ONU, who placed 3rd last year. Sophomore Matias Lazzerini was Keiser’s 3rd A-finalist; he qualified 5th with 20.82 after dropping 6/10 from his seed time.
Cumberlands sophomore Viktor Lyson won a swim-off against West Virginia Tech’s Paul Dias Ignacio, 21.08 to 21.43. Both had gone 21.00 in prelims to tie for 8th.
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 – 3:22.96
- Lindenwood-Belleville – 3:24.72
- SCAD – 3:24.76
- Asbury – 3:25.03
- Loyola – 3:25.31
- Union – 3:25.99
- Cumberlands – 3:26.74
- Midland – 3:26.82
Keiser’s Jan Suchan (49.53), Lazzerini (56.87), Csaba Vekony (50.63), and Byshnev (45.93) combined for 3:22.96 to lead the qualifiers after heats. Asbury and Loyola dropped 5 and 5.3 seconds to make it into the A final, while Cumberlands added 5.3 but still made it in at the 7th spot.
The College of Idaho took 5.4 off their seed time but fell half a second short of making the A final; they will head the B-final qualifiers tonight. Thomas (-7.3), ONU (-5.3) and Milligan (-5) all had big drops to make the B 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.”
