2020 NAIA Men’s Swimming & Diving National Championship
- Dates: March 4-7, 2020
- Times: Prelims 9 AM; Finals 5 PM
- Location: Allan Jones Aquatic Center – Knoxville, Tennessee (Central Time Zone)
- Defending Champions: Keiser University (2x) (results)
- Psych Sheet
- Live Results: Available here
- Live Video: Available here
- Championship Central
Day Three
Keiser and SCAD both had strong mornings and are poised to maintain their positions at the top of the standings after today’s prelims session. The race for third place took a nasty turn for Cumberlands when their 200 medley relay was DQd in heats.
Men’s 200 Yard Medley Relay – Prelims
- Meet Record: 1:26.83 Oklahoma Baptist University, Oklahoma Baptist (D Ramirez, G Penny, G Sullivan, L Lassley) 3/6/2014
Top 8 qualifiers:
- Keiser 1:31.66
- SCAD 1:32.10
- Midland 1:33.37
- College of Idaho 1:34.36
- Lindsey Wilson 1:34.57
- Union 1:34.78
- St Ambrose 1:35.33
- Loyola 1:35.71
Garrett Green (23.00), Levente Sardi (25.75), Lukas Macek (22.17), and Ismail Lahrichi (20.74) teamed up to put Keiser in lane 4 for tonight’s 200 medley relay final with a qualifying time of 1:31.66. Keiser used Jan Suchan on back, Macek on breast, Marcel Nagy on fly, and Jared Ingram on free to win the 400 medley relay last night so there might be some changes in finals.
SCAD qualified second in 1:32.10 from Gio Zachar (23.08), Dan Chevere (26.19), Miles Kredich (22.13), and Irvin Hoost (20.70). Midland’s Hayden Robbins (24.81), Tyler Penney (25.59), Gabe Martinez (22.79), and Scott Cain (20.18) landed the third spot with 1:33.37.
Lindsey Wilson took .7 off their seed time to qualify 5th, while St Ambrose improved by .4 to qualify 7th.
Life (-1.3), Simpson (-1.5), Olivet Nazarene (-.08), St Andrews (-.23), and Point (-2.4) all dropped time to make top 16. Although they didn’t final, Bethel-Indiana (-2.5), Campbellsville (-1.1), Bethel-Kentucky (-5.9), Soka (-1.5), Williams Baptist (-3.3), Tabor (-.4), and The Masters University (-.9) all went season-best times.
The Cumberlands relay was disqualified.
Men’s 400 Yard Individual Medley – Prelims
- Meet Record: 3:53.47 Pol Roch, Keiser 3/1/2019
Top 8 qualifiers:
- Marti Ranea, Keiser 3:57.80
- Zoltan Monori, SCAD 3:59.69
- Pol Roch, Keiser 3:59.77
- Anton Smal, Life 3:59.84
- George Harsanyi, SCAD 4:01.36
- Haakon Syrrist, Keiser 4:02.63
- Maik Rieffenstahl, SCAD 4:05.85
- Alan Senn, Cumberlands 4:07.34
Keiser and SCAD each placed three swimmers in the A final of the 400 IM, intensifying their battle for the team title. Keiser freshman Marti Ranea led the way with 3:57.80. Defending champion Pol Roch qualified 3rd with 3:57.99 and freshman Haakon Syrrist dropped .57 to qualify 6th.
The trio representing SCAD will be Zoltan Monori (3:59.69 for 2nd), George Harsanyi (5th with 4:01.36), and Maik Rieffenstahl (7th with 4:05.85). Monori placed 3rd in this event as a freshman but didn’t swim it last year. Harsanyi and Rieffenstahl were 2nd and 5th in 2019.
Life freshman Anton Smal dropped 3.3 seconds to qualify 4th for the final with 3:59.84 and Cumberlands junior Alan Senn was 8th with 4:07.34 (-1.2).
Men’s 100 Yard Butterfly – Prelims
- Meet Record: 12 Daniel Ramirez, Oklahoma Baptist 3/6/2015
Top 8 qualifiers:
- Marcel Nagy, Keiser 48.23
- Jack Jackson, Loyola 49.48
- Miles Kredich, SCAD 49.49
- Gio Zachar, SCAD 49.67
- Alex Wu, Asbury 49.70
- Ethan Bainbridge, Thomas 50.01
- Wiktor Perkowski, Union 50.25
- Niklas Nyblom, Keiser 50.35
Defending champion Nagy of Keiser posted the morning’s top time by 1.25 seconds: 48.23. Although he won with 48.04 last year, he came into the meet seeded 12th with 51.07 and dropped 2.8 seconds to earn his spot in lane 4. Loyola junior Jack Jackson went 4/10 better than his seed time to qualify second in 49.48. Kredich of SCAD was .01 behind, thanks to a .5 drop from his seed time. Jackson and Kredich placed 4th and 5th, respectively, in 2019.
SCAD’s Gio Zachar clocked the 4th time with 49.67, just ahead of Asbury’s Alex Wu, last year’s runner-up. Ethan Bainbridge of Thomas improved his seed time by .75 to land 6th, while Union’s Wiktor Perkowski and Niklas Nyblom from Keiser rounded out the top 8.
All 8 qualifiers for the B final dropped from their seed times to earn a second swim: ONU freshman Christian Mikrut (-.3), Thomas senior Sah Ayric (-1.1), Midland sophomore Martinez (-.03), Simpson’s Pablo Ortega (-1.5), Union’s Lucas Mourao (-1.1), Rais Hassim of St Ambrose (-.1), SCAD sophomore Hoost (-.4), and Life sophomore Trent Dungey (-.8).
Men’s 200 Yard Freestyle – Prelims
- Meet Record: 1:34.89 Joel Ax, SCAD 3/3/2017
Top 8 qualifiers:
- Calvin Coetzee, Lindsey Wilson 1:38.86
- Joel Thatcher, SCAD 1:39.43
- Kristof Monori, SCAD 1:40.05
- Sebastian Escobar, Campbellsville 1:40.75
- Quentin Cooper, St. Andrews 1:40.83
- DJ Nowacki, SCAD 1:41.12
- Csaba Vekony, Keiser 1:41.84
- Ismail Lahrichi, Keiser 1:41.87
Top-seeded Calvin Coetzee, a freshman at Lindsey Wilson, led the field in prelims of the 200 free. Coetzee was runner-up in the 500 free on Thursday night, coming from behind to nearly run down frontrunner Joel Thatcher of SCAD. Thatcher and his freshman teammate Kristof Monori qualified 2-3, with the latter dropping .6 to make top 3.
Campbellsville freshman Sebastian Escobar knocked 1.7 seconds off his seed time to qualify 4th, just ahead of St Andrews junior Quentin Cooper, who improved his seed time by 1.9 seconds. SCAD junior DJ Nowacki, who has been a B finalist in this event in each of the last two years, dropped 1.7 seconds to grab the 6th spot in the A final. Keiser took the last two slots with juniors Csaba Vekony and Lahrichi.
Several swimmers had nice drops to qualify for the B final: Midland freshman Michael Richmond (-3.6 seconds), Cumberlands freshman Mats Kamnes (-1.5), West Virginia Tech senior Felipe Ruiz (-.8), College of Idaho’s Aziz Jaouhar (-.8), and John Morgan McDonald of Cumberlands (-.7).
Men’s 100 Yard Breaststroke – Prelims
- Meet Record: 53.06 Bryan Haile, Cal Baptist 2009
Top 8 qualifiers:
- Tom Higdon, Simpson 54.68
- Lukas Macek, Keiser 55.05
- Levente Sardi, Keiser 55.50
- Tyler Penney, Midland 55.54
- Paulo Dias Ignacio Jr Wvu-Tech 55.61
- Niklas Nyblom, Keiser 55.87
- Kevin Krupitzer, St Ambrose 56.50
- Henrique Saraceni, Union 56.81
Keiser’s stroke depth was on display in the breast and back events but it was Tom Higdon of Simpson who posted the fastest breaststroke qualifying time with 54.68. Keiser senior Macek, who is undefeated in this event with three consecutive national titles to his name, put up the second-fastest time of 55.05. His teammate Sardi went 55.50 for 3rd, while Keiser freshman Niklas Nyblom was 6th with 55.87 (-.5).
Midland’s Penney, who placed 7th last year, qualified 4th with 55.54. West Virginia Tech’s Paulo Dias Ignacio Jr, St Ambrose’s Kevin Krupitzer, and Union’s Henrique Saraceni (-.8) made up the rest of the top 8.
B finalists include: Ron Wolfart of Lindsey Wilson (-.18), Mikolaj Kala of Cumberlands (-.8), Matias Lazzerini of Keiser (-.15), Idaho’s Hayden Krause (-.8), Dillon Hall (-.8), Chevere, and Kenny Chism (-1.22) of SCAD, and Alejandro Evreinoff of Olivet.
Men’s 100 Yard Backstroke – Prelims
- Meet Record: 46.28 Daniel Z Ramirez, Oklahoma Baptist 3/7/2014
Top 8 qualifiers:
- Jan Suchan, Keiser 49.96
- Jared Ingram, Keiser 50.01
- Garrett Green, Keiser 50.14
- Gio Zachar, SCAD 50.16
- Samuel Page, SCAD 51.32
- James de Goede, Lindsey Wilson 51.57
- Joshua Smith, Lincoln 51.69
- William Thilwind, Lindsey Wilson 51.72
Suchan, 2019’s runner-up, led a 1-2-3 qualification sweep by Keiser with 49.96. Ingram (50.01) and Garret Green (50.14, -.5) were second and third.
Defending champion Gio Zachar of SCAD qualified 4th in 50.16 ahead of teammate Samuel Page (51.32, -1.0).
Freshmen James de Goede of Lindsey Wilson (-.3), Joshua Smith of Lincoln (-.7), and Thilwind of Lindsey Wilson (-.5) all dropped time and made the A final.
In the B final will be Clay Bisher of Asbury (-.3), Nic Cecioni from Cumberlands (-.7), Lucas Payan of Life (-1.6), Keiser’s Lasse Jorgensen (-1.0), Jaouhar of Idaho, John Tarpey of Loyola (-.9), St Andrews’s Billy Parry, and St Ambrose’s Quincy Walker (-.2).
Men’s 3 Meter Diving – Prelims
- Meet Record: 553.85 Grant Brehaut, Simon Fraser 2004
Top 8 qualifiers:
- Nic Carrier, College of Idaho 179.50
No surprises here. Nic Carrier of College of Idaho was the only male diver entered in the meet. He scored 179.50 points in prelims and will dive for all 20 points in finals.
Men’s Team Scores – Day 2
- Keiser University 244
- SCAD Savannah 225
- Lindsey Wilson College 124
- Midland University 118
- University of the Cumberlands 92
- The College of Idaho 87
- Loyola University New Orleans 82
- St Ambrose University 71
- Union College 65
- Olivet Nazarene University 53
- Life University 42
- St Andrews University 37
- Asbury University / West Virginia University Tech (tie) 27
- –
- Morningside College 24
- Simpson University 22
- Milligan College 16
- Campbellsville University 13
- Lincoln College / Thomas University (tie) 12
