2025 NAIA National Championships: Day 4 Ups/Downs – Keiser Poised for a Sweep

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 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

Women’s Top 10 After Day 3

1. Keiser 434.5
2. St Thomas 297.5
3. Cumberlands 253.5
4. Lindsey Wilson 251
5. SCAD Savannah 170
6. Bethel IN 169.5
7. Olivet Nazarene 137
8. Indiana Wesleyan 129
9. Union Commonwealth 128
10. Milligan 111

While Keiser has been out front by a large margin all weekend, and St Thomas has a lock on second place, there have been some pretty exciting team races for third place (Cumberlands vs Lindsey Wilson), fifth place (Bethel Indiana vs SCAD Savannah), and seventh place (Olivet Nazarene vs Milligan) brewing.

Bethel had a huge morning, outscoring the psych sheet by 28 points. SCAD was off -7, but could still wind up in fifth place ahead of the Pilots. Other double-digit improvements came from Thomas University (+14), Milligan (+13), and Indiana Wesleyan (+13).

Day 4 Ups/Downs – Women

Scoring Day 4 Prelims (plus 1650 Free and 400 Free Relay as seeded)

Projected Day 4 Scores – Women

Men’s Meet

Men’s Top 10 After Day 3

1. Keiser 504
2. SCAD Savannah 252
3. Milligan 240
4. Cumberlands 235.5
5. St Thomas 202
6. William Carey 194
7. St Ambrose 149
8. The Master’s 130
9. Lindsey Wilson 128
10. Union Commonwealth 111

No one was going to catch Keiser this year; they had too many swimmers and too much depth. Still, the Seahawks had to perform, and they stepped up each day. Keiser will finish Day 4 with 9 “A” and 3 “B” finalists, getting at least two swimmers into the top 8 of every event. They also have one swimmer expected to finish among the top 8 in the mile.

St Thomas overcame a devastating relay disqualification on Day 1 to come quite close to finishing the meet in second place, where they had been projected to land. The Bobcats beat their psych sheet seedings by 19 points in prelims and now it’s going to be an exciting four-way battle for second place among SCAD Savannah, Cumberlands, St Thomas, and Milligan. Milligan was up by 15 this morning.

Day 4 Ups/Downs – Men

Scoring Day 4 Prelims (plus 1650 Free and 400 Free Relay as seeded)

Projected Day 4 Scores – Men