2020 NAIA Men’s Nationals: Live Recap Day 3 Finals

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

Friday morning results

Men’s 200 Yard Medley Relay – Final

• Meet Record: 1:26.83 Oklahoma Baptist University, Oklahoma Baptist (D Ramirez, G Penny, G Sullivan, L Lassley) 3/6/2014

Podium:

1. Keiser 1:28.66
2. SCAD 1:31.55
3. Midland 1:32.94

Keiser won their third 200 medley relay title in as many years, this time going 1:28.66 to beat SCAD by 2.9 seconds. Garrett Green (22.76), Lukas Macek (24.72), Marcel Nagy (21.24), and Jared Ingram (19.94) lined up in the same order that they had swum to win last night’s 400 medley relay.

SCAD held on to the second spot with swims from Gio Zachar (23.23), Dillon Hall (25.73), Miles Kredich (22.31), and Irvin Hoost (20.28).

Midland’s Hayden Robbins (24.85), Tyler Penney (25.10), Gabe Martinez (22.97), and Scott Cain (20.02) came in third with 1:33.37.

Men’s 400 Yard Individual Medley – Final

• Meet Record: 3:53.47 Pol Roch, Keiser 3/1/2019

Podium:

1. Pol Roch, Keiser 3:52.02*
2. Marti Ranea, Keiser 3:52.95*
3. Zoltan Monori, SCAD 3:54.86

Keiser sophomore Pol Roch and freshman Marti Raneo crashed through the 3:53 barrier in the final of the 400 IM, both coming to the wall under the NAIA Championship Meet Record of 3:53.47 that Roch set last year. Roch got the win with 3:52.02 to Ranea’s 3:52.95, so his name will remain in the record books. SCAD’s Zoltan Monori, who placed third in this event as a freshman in 2018 but skipped it last year, took home the bronze medal in 3:54.86. It was a big personal best for the junior, only missing the SCAD program record by .47.

Also scoring in the final were SCAD junior George Harsanyi (3:57.06), Life freshman Anton Smal (3:57.21), Keiser freshman Haakon Syrrist (4:02.03), SCAD sophomore Maik Rieffenstahl (4:03.68), and Cumberlands junior Alan Senn (4:07.16).

Harsanyi was out first on the butterfly, turning just ahead of Roch in 52.9. Roch, 53.0 on the fly, edged ahead in the backstroke (59.58). Ranea took over the lead on the breaststroke, splitting 1:04.9 to Roch’s 1:06.5. It was all Roch down the stretch, though; he finished with 52.8, coming home in a blazing 25.4 over the final 50 yards.

Men’s 100 Yard Butterfly – Final

• Meet Record: 12 Daniel Ramirez, Oklahoma Baptist 3/6/2015

Podium:

1. Marcel Nagy, Keiser 48.09
2. Gio Zachar, SCAD 48.78
3. Jack Jackson, Loyola 49.11

Keiser senior Nagy successfully defended his NAIA title in the 100 fly, stopping the clock in 48.09 to win by .69 over SCAD junior Gio Zachar (48.78). Loyola junior Jack Jackson took .37 off his prelims time to finished 3rd, improving nearly 8/10 from his original seed time.

Miles Kredich of SCAD took 4th in 49.38 ahead of 2019 runner-up Alex Wu of Asbury (49.57). Keiser freshman Niklas Nyblom (49.67), Thomas junior Ethan Bainbridge (49.97), and Union junior Wiktor Perkowski (50.03) made up the rest of the A final.

Men’s 200 Yard Freestyle – Final

• Meet Record: 1:34.89 Joel Ax, SCAD 3/3/2017

Podium:

1. Calvin Coetzee, Lindsey Wilson 1:37.00
2. Joel Thatcher, SCAD 1:37.46
3. Kristof Monori, SCAD 1:38.84

Lindsey Wilson freshman Calvin Coetzee became the first NAIA National Champion in history when he won the 200 free – and lowered his own school record – with 1:37.00. Unlike in the 500 where he waited to make his move at the end, Coetzee went out quickly and never gave up the lead. He split 22.8/25.3/24.8/25.9 to hold off SCAD’s Joel Thatcher. Thatcher had been runner-up to teammate Joel Ax three years ago when Ax set the meet record with 1:34.89. While he was off his 1:36.12 from 2017, Thatcher nonetheless swam his second-best lifetime performance with 1:37.46. He was out nearly a second slower than Coetzee but his next three 50s were more even: 23.7/24.8/25.5/25.4. SCAD freshman Kristof Monori landed a personal best time of 1:38.84 for third place, while teammate DJ Nowacki moved from 6th in prelims to 4th in finals, finishing with 1:40.31.

St Andrews junior Quentin Cooper finished 5th in 1:40.86. Sebastian Escobar of Campbellsville (1:42.06) and Keiser’s Ismail Lahrichi (1:42.25) and Csaba Vekony (1:42.33) touched 6th through 8th.

Men’s 100 Yard Breaststroke – Final

• Meet Record: 53.06 Bryan Haile, Cal Baptist 2009

Podium:

1. Paulo Dias Ignacio Jr Wvu-Tech 54.00
2. Tom Higdon, Simpson 54.15
3. Lukas Macek, Keiser 54.38

The upset of the night took place in the 100 breast, where West Virginia Tech senior Paulo Dias Ignacio Jr robbed Keiser senior Lukas Macek of a four-year sweep in the event. Dias Ignacio had been an A finalist in each of the three previous years, losing to Macek each time. In 2019 he placed 3rd (55.51); in 2018 he was 5th (55.74); and in 2017 he finished 8th (56.37). In the last 100 breast of his collegiate career, Dias Ignacio lit up the pool with a 54.00, thanks in good measure to a strong second 50. Out in 25.34, trailing Simpson’s Tom Hidgon by .25 and .13 ahead of Macek, Dias Ignacio dug in and found a 28.6 for the return trip. He slipped past Higdon and claimed the gold with a .15 margin. Hidgon held off Macek, who came home .15 faster, for second place in 54.15. Macek took third with 54.38, still faster than his winning time from last year (54.57).

The rest of the A final was composed of Midland junior Tyler Penney (54.91), Keiser junior Levente Sardi (55.25), Keiser freshman Niklas Nyblom (55.49), St Ambrose’s Kevin Krupitzer, and Union junior Henrique Saraceni (56.55).

SCAD went 1-2-3 in the B final to outperform their prelims performance by 13 points.

Men’s 100 Yard Backstroke – Final

• Meet Record: 46.28 Daniel Z Ramirez, Oklahoma Baptist 3/7/2014

Podium:

1. Gio Zachar, SCAD 48.56
2. Jan Suchan, Keiser 49.18
3. Jared Ingram, Keiser 49.97

Defending champion Gio Zachar of SCAD went from 4th in prelims to first on the podium, going 48.56 for the win in his second final of the night. Zachar was out with an aggressive 23.33, turning half a body length ahead of Keiser’s Jared Ingram (23.8), Garrett Green (24.0), and Jan Suchan (24.1). While Suchan came home the fastest of the four leaders, it wasn’t enough to catch Zachar. Suchan was runner-up for the second year in a row with 49.18, while Ingram secured the bronze medal with 49.97. Green faded to 4th with 50.47.

SCAD freshman Samuel Page edged Lindsey Wilson freshman James de Goede, 51.28 to 51.29, for 5th place. Lincoln freshman Joshua Smith touched 7th (51.79) and Lindsey Wilson freshman William Thilwind was 8th (52.20).

Men’s 3 Meter Diving – Final

• Meet Record: 553.85 Grant Brehaut, Simon Fraser 2004

Podium:

1. Nic Carrier, College of Idaho 179.50

Nic Carrier of College of Idaho, the only male diver entered in the meet, improved 10.10 points from prelims to finals, scoring a total of 189.60 to win the 3-meter diving event.

Men’s Team Scores – Day 3

1. Keiser University 497
2. SCAD Savannah 449
3. Lindsey Wilson College 207
4. Midland University 183
5. The College of Idaho 159
6. Loyola University New Orleans 124
7. Union College 121
8. University of the Cumberlands 119
9. Ambrose University 118
10. Life University 78
11. Olivet Nazarene University 73
12. Asbury University 70
13. Andrews University 60
14. West Virginia University Tech 58
15. Simpson University 53
16. Thomas University 27
17. Campbellsville University 26
18. Lincoln College / Morningside College (tie) 24
19. –
20. Milligan College 22
21. Point University 4