2025 NAIA National Championships: Day 1 Finals Live Recap

2025 NAIA Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving National Championships

• Dates: Wednesday, March 5–Saturday, March 8
• Times: Prelims 9AM Eastern, Finals 5PM Eastern
• Location: Elkhart Aquatic Center, Elkhart, IN
• Defending Champions: Keiser women (3x); St. Thomas men (1x)
• Championship Program
• Post-cut Psych Sheet
• Quaifiers per School: Women ׀ Men
• Schedule of Events
• Live Results on Meet Mobile
• Live Stream (free)
• Championship Central

Day 1

Women’s 200 Yard Medley Relay

• Meet Record: 1:41.40 – Fresno Pacific (2012)

Podium:

1. Keiser 1:41.86
2. Lindsey Wilson 1:42.79
3. SCAD Savannah 1:43.60
4. St Thomas 1:43.82
5. Cumberlands 1:45.90
6. Indiana Wesleyan 1:46.14
7. Bethel (Indiana) 1:46.25
8. Olivet Nazarene 1:46.66

Keiser won the fastest heat by seed time, with 1:41.86, just off their winning time from 2024. This year, it was Zselyke Papp (26.59), Nikoline Biltoft-Jensen (27.85), Luiza Bersi (24.46), and Ines Laurent (22.96) who combined for the Seahawks’ victory.

Lindsey Wilson was out first with a 25.32 backstroke from Maaike Broersma. The Blue Raiders challenged Keiser on all four legs, but fell short of catching the leaders. Sara Motyl (30.04 breast), Kirsten de Goede (23.62 fly) and Natalia Gorska (23.81) contributed to the second-place finish.

Savannah College of Art and Design’s Romane Cayla (26.82), Nikki Hahn (27.68), Ro Monge Serrano (24.92), and Ellie Alexander (24.08) finished third with 1:43.60, just holding off St. Thomas (1:43.82).

Men’s 200 Yard Medley Relay

• Meet Record: 1:26.83 – Oklahoma Baptist (2014)

Podium:

1. Keiser 1:24.22
2. Milligan 1:27.42
3. Cumberlands 1:29.33
4. SCAD Savannah 1:29.57
5. William Carey 1:30.74
6. St Ambrose 1:31.18
7. Lindsey Wilson 1:32.73
8. The Master’s 1:32.94

Keiser destroyed the meet record of 1:26.83, set in 2014 by Oklahoma Baptist. A year ago they won with 1:26.87; this year they came to the wall two body lengths ahead of the field, clocking in at 1:24.22. Isaiah Aleksenko led off with 21.30 on the backstroke. Noel de Geus followed with a 23.10 breaststroke. He handed off to Jake Hutchinson (20.34 fly) and Hanno Boeckmann (19.48 free).

St. Thomas was in second place thoughout the race but the quartet was disqualified for an early start. The Bobcats won the 2024 national championship, snapping a 5-year streak for Keiser, but this early DQ will make it challenging to repeat as team champions this year.

Milligan took second place in the relay with a 1:27.42 from Paxton Smith (22.73), Caleb Fry (24.34), Joash Mckonie (20.78), and Stephen Gilbert (19.57).

Cumberlands (Mateus Cruz, Leon Irmer, Ruthik Satti, and Agustin Rasche) touched out SCAD Savannah (Dario Rukavina, Naz Sementsov, Bo Kasten, and Zoltan Tompos), 1:29.33 to 1:29.57, for third.

Men’s 3-Meter Diving

• Meet Record: 553.85 – Grant Brehaut, Simon Fraser (2004)

Podium:

1. Juan Gonzalez, Keiser 341.30
2. Nick Bohm, Bethel (IN) 297.65
3. Evan Bennett, Aquinas 211.95
4. Owen Fleck, Bethel (IN) 210.35
5. Lucas Castillo, Aquinas 187.45
6. Bram Mess, St Ambrose 171.55

After two years in a row in which Bethel’s Nick Bohm took home the NAIA 3-meter diving title, we crowned a new champion this year. Keiser’s Juan Gonzales, a graduate transfer from University of Hawaii, scored 341.30 points to dethrone Bohm (297.65). Bohm’s winning score a year ago was 286.50.

Evan Bennett of Aquinas placed third with 211.95, just beating out Owen Fleck of Bethel (210.35). Aquinas’s Lucas Castillo finished fifth ahead of Bram Mess from St. Ambrose. Troy Borrero, who placed fifth in 2024, was disqualified.

Women’s 800 Yard Freestyle Relay

• Meet Record: 7:25.27 – Keiser University (2023)

Podium:

1. Keiser 7:28.96
2. Lindsey Wilson 7:36.35
3. Cumberlands 7:38.90
4. Bethel (IN) 7:40.74
5. Union Commonwealth 7:43.89
6. Olivet Nazarene 7:47.97
7. Milligan 7:48.03
8. St Ambrose 7:48.14

Keiser repeated their title in the women’s 4×200 free, winning this year with a time of 7:28.96, 2.8 seconds faster than they were a year ago. Rachel Bradley (1:52.53), Luiza Bersi (1:52.09), Marine Lecomte (1:53.66), and Aubrey Bach (1:50.68) contributed to the Seahawks’ win.

Lindsey Wilson, who had led out of the gates for the first 150 yards, ended up placing second overall after St. Thomas was disqualified for an early start. Maaike Broersma (1:54.68), Natalia Gorska (1:58.05), Nathalie Medina (1:56.22), and Kirsten de Goede (1:47.40) went 7:36.35 for the Blue Raiders.

Cumberlands took third with 7:38.90 from Sarah Zoellner (1:54.71), Alicja Sedlak (1:55.11), Ugne Takuseviciute (1:54.69), and Michelle Weiss (1:54.39).

Coming in 7th and 8th overall were Milligan and St. Ambrose, who battled to an exciting finish in heat 1, with Milligan holding off a strong final leg from St. Ambrose to get the touch, 7:48.03 to 7:48.14.

Men’s 800 Yard Freestyle Relay

• Meet Record: 6:30.18 – St. Thomas (2024)

Podium:

1. Keiser 6:28.31
2. SCAD Savannah 6:35.80
3. William Carey 6:36.07
4. St Thomas 6:38.96
5. Milligan 6:39.21
6. The Master’s 6:39.82
7. Cumberlands 6:41.83
8. St Ambrose 6:45.03

Keiser reclaimed the meet record after having lost it to St. Thomas a year ago. Jake Hutchinson (1:35.70), Alex Menzel (1:36.90), Isaiah Aleksenko (1:37.03), and Jet Fuhrmann (1:38.68) combined to take 1.87 seconds off the meet mark with 6:28.31, the NAIA’s first sub-6:30 swim in the event.

SCAD moved into second place on leg 2 and held on through the final touch, despite being seriously challenged by William Carey, a newcomber to the NAIA this season. The Bees’ quartet of Kevin Keil (1:38.52), Zoltan Tompos (1:38.54), Jan Gastal (1:38.04), and Bo Kasten (1:40.70) stopped the clock at 6:35.80.

Finishing third and dropping 5.1 seconds from their seed time was William Carey with 6:36.07 from Mate Miszlai (1:38.68), Janos Szabo (1:38.70), Josiah Blankenship (1:39.41), and Braedan Jacobs (1:39.28).

St. Thomas (6:38.96) swam right at their seed time and finished fourth, just a tick ahead of Milligan (6:39.21).

Women’s Top 10 After Day 1

1. Keiser 80
2. Lindsey Wilson 68
3. Cumberlands 60
4. Bethel (IN) 54
5. Olivet Nazarene 48
6. SCAD Savannah 46
7. Union Commonwealth / Milligan 42
8. –
9. Indiana Wesleyan 36
10. St Thomas / St Ambrose 30

Men’s Top 10 After Day 1

1. Keiser 100
2. SCAD Savannah 64
3. Milligan 62
4. St Ambrose 61
5. William Carey 60
6. Cumberlands 56
7. The Master’s 48
8. Lindsey Wilson 42
9. Bethel (IN) 32
10. St Thomas / Aquinas 30