2022 NAIA Men’s Nationals Fan Guide: Keiser Looking Strong for Four-peat

65th Men’s NAIA National Swimming and Diving Championships

• Dates: Wednesday, March 2 – Saturday, March 5, 2022
• Times: Prelims 9:00 AM; Finals 5 PM
• Location: Columbus Aquatic Center, Columbus, Georgia (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champions: Keiser University (3x) (results)
• Championship Program
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results
• Live Streaming

After a one-year hiatus due to COVID, the NAIA National Championships are back. There will be 168 men representing 25 schools as individual qualifiers this year, down from 214 in 2020. As explained here, the NAIA set caps to limit the number of athletes participating in the 2022 meet, but the actual selections came with some controversy, as several top-8 qualifiers were left out of the meet.

Keiser leads with 15 individual qualifiers on the men’s side. St. Ambrose follows with 14. Keiser is projected to win all five relays and holds a large margin over the field in the men’s meet.

There are a number of new teams at this year’s national meet, including University of Jamestown, Ottawa University Arizona, St. Mary Kansas, Shawnee State University, and St. Thomas University.

Stars

Diving

Only one diver will compete at the 2022 championship meet: Nick Bohm of Bethel (Indiana).

Freestyle

Keiser’s Alberto Garcia tops the field in sprint freestyles. He is entered with 20.11 in the 50 and 44.33 in the 100. Enzo Esteves of Cumberlands also comes in with 20.11 in the 50 free. Midland’s Scott Cain ranks third in the 50 (20.37) and second in the 100 (44.81). Donat Fabian from West Virginia Tech is seeded next with 20.48/45.34. SCAD’s Miles Kredich ranks fourth in the 100 free (45.69).

Joel Thatcher of SCAD comes in with the fastest seed times in the 200 free (1:37.93), 500 free (4:26.70), and 1650 free (15:47.77). In 2020, he was runner-up in the 200 and won the 500/1650 freestyles. Teammate Kristof Monori (4:32.81) is the second seed in the 500, followed by Keiser’s Max Miller (4:33.35) and Haakon Syyrist (4:34.60), Martin Herion of Cumberlands (4:36.43), and Fabio Martin Rojo from Lindsey Wilson (4:37.05).

Monori (1:40.62) and Martin Rojo (1:41.21) are also entered in the 200 free, with the #3 and #6 times, respectively. Ruben Gonzalez de Oliveira of Cumberlands is seeded second (1:39.58), while Andre Bazzana of Milligan (1:40.73) and Max Miller of Keiser (1:41.07) rank fourth and fifth

It’s largely the same cast of characters in the mile, too, with Martin Rojo owning the second-fastest entry time (15:57.28), followed by Keiser’s Miller (16:08.05), Mikolaj Synowiec of Bethel Tennessee (16:09.03), Morori of SCAD (16:10.14), and Syrrist from Keiser (16:11.17).

Backstroke

Keiser’s Gergo Zachar, a two-time NAIA national champion in the 100 back when he was with SCAD, is the top seed in that event with a time of 49.27. Alex Marrero of St. Thomas University (49.80), Fynn Kunze from Keiser (50.28), and Samuel Page of SCAD (50.36) hold the next three spots.

In the 200 back, Milligan’s Stephen Gilbert has the top entry time of 1:47.99, followed by Kunze (1:48.06), his teammates Alex Kusik (1:48.22) and Marti Ranea Vila (1:48.60), and Marrero (1:50.01).

Breaststroke

With three of the top-6 seeds in the 100 breast and two top-fives in the 200 breast, Keiser looks to add a lot of points here. Emerson Zaplatar brings the fastest entry times in both events (53.25/2:00.17), but he is closely followed by St. Thomas’ Inigo Marina (54.15/2:00.39).

Tom Higdon from Simpson is #3 in the 100 breast (55.27). Zander Livingston of Midland ranks fourth in the 100 (55.53) and fourth in the 200 (2:00.88) and Keiser’s Theodor Myklebusthaug is fifth in the 100 (55.60) and third in the 200 (2:00.62).

Butterfly

Keiser’s Garcia adds the top entry time in the 100 fly (47.59) to his sprint frees. Teammates Niklas Nyblom (49.59) and Zachar (49.72) also rank in the top-5 of the 100 fly. Morningside’s James Camp (49.47) and SCAD’s Kredich (49.68) round out the top five.

In the 200 fly, Kredich (1:49.76) and his teammate Brandon Vives (1:49.81) come in second and third behind Kacper Sobieszuk of Cumberlands (1:49.57), whose teammate Herion is fourth (1:51.30), just ahead of Bazzana of Milligan (1:51.61).

Individual Medley

Keiser has the top-three entry times in the 200 IM with Ranea Vila (1:47.76), Kusik (1:48.37), and Kunze (1:49.01).

Milligan’s Stephen Gilbert is fourth in the 200 IM (1:49.90) but first in the 400 IM (3:56.59). After Gilbert, Keiser ranks 2nd through 8th in the 400 with Ranea Vila, Kusik, Pol Roch, Syrrist, Myklebusthaug, Kaleb Harriott, and Gaetano Zapata.

Team Race

The top teams, scored straight from the psych sheet, are as follows: