2024 NAIA National Championships: Day 4 Ups/Downs – St Thomas Gearing for an Upset

2024 NAIA Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving National Championships

• Dates: March 6-9, 2024
• Times: Prelims 9AM Eastern, Finals 5PM Eastern
• Location: Columbus Aquatics Center in Columbus, Georgia
• Defending Champions:
  • Keiser women (2x)
  • Keiser men (5x)
• Psych Sheets:
  • Men’s Psych Sheet
  • Women’s Psych Sheet
• Live Results
• Live Video

Day 4

For those unfamiliar with swimming terminology, the concept of “Ups” and “Downs” is a good way to track which teams performed best at prelims. In prelims, swimmers qualify for one of two finals heats: the top 8 finishers make the A final, places 9 through 16 the B final. In finals, swimmers are locked into their respective final, meaning a swimmer in the B heat (spots 9-16) can only place as high as 9th or as low as 16th, even if they put up the fastest or slowest time of any heat in the final.

With that in mind, we’ll be tracking “Ups” and “Downs” after each prelims session. “Up” refers to swimmers and divers in the A final, “Down” to B finalists.

Women’s Meet

No one has been able to match Keiser’s depth all weekend, and that fact was on particular display this morning, as the Seahawks put four swimmers in the A final of the 100 free and two each in the A finals of the 200 back, 200 breast, and 200 fly. They are also expected to score two “up” and one “down” in the 1650 free and come in seeded #1 in the 4×100 free relay (which is no surprise given the four swimmers in the top 8 of the 100 free).

St Thomas struggled this morning but stand unchallenged at number 2 in the team standings. Milligan and Olivet Nazarene have been battling for third place. While ONU outscored their seedings by 10 points and Milligan came in -17 under expectations, Milligan is still expected to come out on top in the final standings.

The next three spots are still up for grabs, but Indiana Wesleyan had a huge morning, gaining 24.5 points from their seedings, and could pass Lindsey Wilson and SCAD in team rankings.

Scores After Day 3 – Women

Day 4 Ups/Downs – Women

Scoring Day 4 Prelims (plus 400 Medley Relay as seeded)

Projected Day 4 Scores – Women

Men’s Meet

St Thomas appears to have done the impossible. Coming into the meet seeded to finish a distant second to Keiser, 141 points separating the two teams, the Bobcats have slowly but surely closed the gap and, after an enormous performance on Saturday morning, might overtake the Seahawks tonight. St Thomas added 44.5 points from their seedings, notably placing 4 swimmers in the A final of the 100 free, 3 in the 200 back, 2 in the 200 fly, and 1 in the 100 breast. Add to that an expected 2 swimmers in the top 8 of the 1650 free, and St Thomas will have 12 “up” tonight. As long as they more or less hold their spots and do not disqualify their relay, they could snap Keiser’s winning streak and take home the men’s title.

Scores After Day 3 – Men

Day 4 Ups/Downs – Men

Scoring Day 4 Prelims (plus 400 Medley Relay as seeded)

Projected Day 4 Scores – Men