2019 NAIA National Championships – Men’s Meet
- Dates: Wednesday, February 27 – Saturday, March 2; prelims 9 am, finals 5 pm
- Location: Columbus Aquatic Center, Columbus, Georgia (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champions: Keiser University (results)
- Psych Sheets: Available here
- Fan Guides: Available here
- Live Results: Available here
- Live Video: Available here
- Championship Central
Pol Roch of Keiser University in West Palm Beach, Florida has taken down a 9-year-old national record in the 400 IM on Day 3 at the 2019 NAIA National Championships. Roch is a freshman from Barcelona, Spain, who hadn’t swum in yards before this season. His first 400 IM, in October 2018, was a 4:13.85. His best time, which was the 3:55.96 with which he was seeded at NAIA Nationals, came from the SCAD Invitational in December. Roch went a best time of 3:59.78 in prelims before dropping another 3.8 seconds in finals. Until NAIA Nationals, those were his only sub-4:00 swims in the 400 IM.
Roch swam a 4:00.77 in prelims on Friday morning in Columbus. Between prelims and finals he dropped nearly 2 seconds on the fly leg, 2.2 on the breaststroke, and 2.7 on the freestyle. Roch has made the most progress on his breaststroke over the last 3 months, going from an almost-1:11 to a 1:07.
The previous NAIA meet record was set in 2010 by Kevin Sellars of Cal Baptist. For comparison sake, here are the splits of his two PBs alongside those from the 2010 record:
| Pol Roch, 2018 SCAD Invite | Pol Roch, 2019 NAIA Nationals finals | Kevin Sellars, 2010 NAIA Nationals | |
| Fly | 53.55 | 53.17 | 54.23 |
| Back | 59.99 | 1:00.31 | 58.63 |
| Breast | 1:10.97 | 1:07.07 | 1:05.82 |
| Free | 53.37 | 52.92 | 55.18 |
| 400 IM | 3:55.96 | 3:53.47 | 3:53.86 |
https://twitter.com/Keiser_Swimming/status/1101618085835038721/photo/1
Men’s 400 Yard Individual Medley – Finals
- Meet Record: 3:53.86, 2010, Kevin Sellars, Cal Baptist
- Pol Roch, Keiser – 3:53.47
- Gergely Harsanyi, SCAD – 3:56.62
- Martin Le Pays du Tilleul, Lindenwood-Belleville – 3:59.41
- Niels Engeln, Lindenwood-Belleville – 4:01.12
- Maik Rieffenstahl, SCAD – 4:01.59
- Seth Cripe, Olivet Nazarene – 4:02.40
- Gustav Lucas, Life University – 4:02.95
- Thomas Granet, Lindenwood-Belleville – 4:06.53
Nice few weeks for Head Coach of Keiser, Adam Epstein. His first born, a boy, was delivered just over a week ago and now the teams are looking to finish as Men’s National Champions and Women’s National Runner-Up. Congratulations on all the good fortune!