2026 NAIA National Championships: Day 3 Ups/Downs – Behind Keiser, Lots of Movement for 2nd-5th

2026 NAIA Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving National Championships

Day 3

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 2

  1. Keiser, 238
  2. SCAD Savannah, 188
  3. (tie) Cumberlands / St Thomas (FL), 167
  4. Masters, 142
  5. Bethel (IN), 115
  6. Lindsey Wilson, 98
  7. Milligan, 70
  8. Olivet Nazarene, 49
  9. (tie) William Carey / Arizona Christian, 48

Keiser had another dominant morning and appears to be running away with the title again this year. The Seahawks earned 9 ‘A’ and 3 ‘B’ final spots for tonight, pulling further ahead of 2nd-place SCAD.

The Bees had a strong performance of their own, garnering 6 ‘A’ and 5 ‘B’ final swims. It was a big morning for SCAD, who only led Cumberlands and St. Thomas by 21 points after last night’s session. They are expected to be clear of 3rd place by some 60+ points tonight.

William Carey outperformed their seedings by 24 points this morning. Milligan (+13.5) and St. Ambrose (+12) were also up by double digits.

Day 3 Ups/Downs – Women

Team All 400 IM 100 Fly 200 Free 100 Breast 100 Back
Keiser 9/3 2/0 3/0 1/1 2/0 1/2
SCAD Savannah 6/5 1/1 0/0 1/2 2/0 2/2
Cumberlands 4/5 0/1 1/2 1/0 2/2 0/0
Bethel (IN) 4/2 2/0 0/1 1/0 0/1 1/0
St Thomas 3/5 0/1 2/1 1/2 0/1 0/0
The Masters 3/1 0/0 1/0 1/1 0/0 1/0
William Carey 2/3 0/1 0/1 0/0 1/1 1/0
Milligan 1/5 1/2 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/2
St Ambrose 1/3 1/0 0/0 0/1 0/1 0/1
Lindsey Wilson 1/2 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1 1/1
Olivet Nazarene 1/2 0/1 0/1 1/0 0/0 0/0
Brenau 1/1 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0 1/0
Indiana Wesleyan 1/1 1/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0
Arizona Christian 1/0 0/0 1/0 0/0 0/0 0/0
Campbellsville 1/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 1/0 0/0
New College of Florida 1/0 0/0 0/0 1/0 0/0 0/0
Shawnee State 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/0
Thomas 0/1 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0

Scoring Day 3 Prelims (plus 400 Medley Relay as seeded)

Team All 400 IM 100 Fly 200 Free 100 Breast 100 Back 400 Medley Relay
Keiser 203 37 39 19.5 31 36 40
SCAD Savannah 151 22.5 0 26 35 33 34
Cumberlands 109 9 22 15 37 0 26
St Thomas 96.5 3 37 19.5 7 0 30
The Masters 92 0 20 29 0 15 28
Bethel (IN) 88 29 5 16 3 11 24
William Carey 56 4 2 0 22 14 14
Lindsey Wilson 52 0 0 0 2 18 32
Olivet Nazarene 45 2 9 12 0 0 22
Milligan 44.5 23.5 0 6 0 5 10
St Ambrose 35 11 0 1 5 6 12
Indiana Wesleyan 32 14 0 0 0 0 18
Brenau 24 0 7 0 0 17 0
Arizona Christian 17 0 13 0 0 0 4
Campbellsville 12 0 0 0 12 0 0
New College of Florida 11 0 0 11 0 0 0
Aquinas 8 0 0 0 0 0 8
Life 6 0 0 0 0 0 6
St Mary’s KS 2 0 0 0 0 0 2
Shawnee State 1 0 0 0 1 0 0
Thomas 1 0 1 0 0 0 0

Projected Day 3 Scores – Women

Team Day 2 Actual Day 3 Scored Prelims Day 3 Projected Rank
Keiser 238 203 441
SCAD Savannah 188 151 339
Cumberlands 167 109 276
St Thomas 167 96.5 264
The Masters 142 92 234
Bethel (IN) 115 88 203
Lindsey Wilson 98 52 150
Milligan 70 44.5 115
William Carey 48 56 104
Olivet Nazarene 49 45 94
Indiana Wesleyan 47 32 79
St Ambrose 39 35 74
Arizona Christian 48 17 65
Aquinas 33 8 41
Brenau 14 24 38
Life 16 6 22
St Mary’s KS 16 2 18
Campbellsville 0 12 12
New College of Florida 0 11 11
Shawnee State 7 1 8
Thomas 0 1 1

Men’s Meet

Men’s Top 10 After Day 2

  1. Keiser, 263
  2. SCAD Savannah, 140
  3. Milligan, 139
  4. William Carey, 120
  5. Cumberlands, 114
  6. St Thomas (FL), 111
  7. St Ambrose, 110
  8. Masters, 95
  9. Life, 76
  10. (tie) Aquinas / Lindsey Wilson, 60

Keiser continued to dominate in the pool and on the boards. The Seahawks will have 8 swimmers and 3 divers in ‘A’ finals tonight, and 3 swimmers in ‘B’ finals.

The battle is on for second place, and the next 4 teams are only separated by 11 points. With 5 up and 4 down, Milligan outscored their psych sheet seedings by 50 points this morning. They are expected to pass SCAD and land in 2nd place at the end of Day 3 finals. Cumberland (5/3) and St. Thomas (5/7) also moved past the Bees in prelims, but any one of these teams could come out on top tonight.

Day 3 Ups/Downs – Men

Team All 400 IM 100 Fly 200 Free 100 Breast 100 Back 1M Diving
Keiser 11/3 2/2 1/0 2/1 1/0 2/0 3/0
St Thomas 5/7 1/1 1/3 1/0 1/0 1/3 0/0
Milligan 5/4 2/1 0/1 0/1 2/1 1/0 0/0
Cumberlands 5/3 1/1 1/0 1/1 0/1 2/0 0/0
William Carey 4/1 1/0 1/0 1/1 1/0 0/0 0/0
SCAD Savannah 3/4 1/1 1/0 1/2 0/0 0/1 0/0
Aquinas 3/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1 3/0
The Masters 3/1 0/0 1/0 2/0 0/0 0/1 0/0
St Ambrose 2/3 0/0 0/1 0/0 1/0 1/2 0/0
Life 2/1 0/0 1/0 0/1 1/0 0/0 0/0
Lindsey Wilson 1/3 0/0 1/1 0/0 0/2 0/0 0/0
Ave Maria 1/2 0/0 0/2 0/0 1/0 0/0 0/0
College of Idaho 1/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/0 1/0
Bethel (IN) 1/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 1/0
Midland 1/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 1/0 0/0
Arizona Christian 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0
Loyola New Orleans 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0
Morningside 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0
Ottawa Arizona 0/1 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0
St Mary’s KS 0/1 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0
Thomas 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0

Scoring Day 3 Prelims (plus 400 Medley Relay as seeded)

Team All 400 IM 100 Fly 200 Free 100 Breast 100 Back 1M Diving 400 Medley Relay
Keiser 230 47 16 35 20 29 43 40
St Thomas 132 17 31 11 11 34 0 28
Cumberlands 131 19 14 23.5 9 35 0 30
Milligan 113 33 5 4 33 14 0 24
SCAD Savannah 101 16 13 32 0 8 0 32
William Carey 87 12 11 14 16 0 0 34
The Masters 78.5 0 20 30.5 0 2 0 26
St Ambrose 65 0 9 0 14 20 0 22
Aquinas 55 0 0 0 0 1 48 6
Life 46 0 17 2 13 0 0 14
Ave Maria 39 0 6 0 15 0 0 18
Lindsey Wilson 32 0 13 0 9 0 0 10
Midland 24 0 0 0 0 12 0 12
College of Idaho 19 0 0 0 5 0 14 0
Bethel (IN) 13 0 0 0 0 0 13 0
Morningside 11 0 0 3 0 0 0 8
Ottawa Arizona 7 7 0 0 0 0 0 0
Thomas 6 0 0 0 6 0 0 0
Loyola New Orleans 5 0 0 0 1 0 0 4
St Mary’s KS 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0
Arizona Christian 3 0 0 0 3 0 0 0

Projected Day 3 Scores – Men

Team Day 2 Actual Day 3 Scored Prelims Day 3 Projected Rank
Keiser 263 230 493
Milligan 139 113 252
Cumberlands 114 131 245
St Thomas 111 132 243
SCAD Savannah 140 101 241
William Carey 120 87 207
St Ambrose 110 65 175
Masters 95 78.5 174
Life 76 46 122
Aquinas 60 55 115
Ave Maria 54 39 93
Lindsey Wilson 60 32 92
Midland 34 24 58
Morningside 28 11 39
College of Idaho 13 19 32
Loyola New Orleans 26 5 31
Bethel (IN) 17 13 30
Olivet Nazarene 11 0 11
Ottawa Arizona 0 7 7
Thomas 0 6 6
St Mary’s KS 0 4 4
Arizona Christian 0 3 3

 

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About Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant is the mother of four daughters, all of whom swam in college. With an undergraduate degree from Princeton (where she was an all-Ivy tennis player) and an MBA from INSEAD, she worked for many years in the financial industry, both in France and the U.S. Anne is currently …

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