2019 MEN’S MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- March 4th-7th, 2019
- Nixon Aquatic Center, Oxford, OH
- Short Course Yards, Prelims-Finals
- Defending Champion: Missouri State (1x) (results)
- NCAA Division I
- Live Stream
- Championship Central
- Day 1 Results
- Day 2 Results
- Day 3 Results
In what has been a yo-yo of a MAC Championship meet so far in Oxford, day 3 on Wednesday was more of the same as leaders Miami traded blows with defending champions Missouri State
Team Scores After Day 3:
- Miami – 623.5
- Missouri State – 599
- Southern Illinois – 382.5
- Evansville – 220.5
- Ball State – 212.5
Miami swept day 1’s individual events; and then Missouri State swept day 2’s swimming events; but Miami was able to hold their lead through that all thanks to a big performance from their senior divers.
The two teams once again claimed all of the winners on the day, but this time, it was a shared effort.
Miami opened the session with back-to-back wins. First, in the 400 IM, sophomores James McGuire (3:50.84) and Kayky Mota (3:50.95) battled to the finish. Mota was the top returning finisher from last year’s meet, but McGuire dropped 4 seconds to vault the field and take his first conference title.
In the next race, it was Redhawk junior Iago Moussalem who won, swimming a 46.37. That’s within half-a-second of what we estimate that it will take to qualify for NCAAs. Missouri State senior Artur Osvath, who won the 200 IM on Tuesday, took 2nd in 46.88. While it was a step down from the title he win in this race last year (his time was about the same, but Moussalem was 47.2 for 2nd), it was still an important swim: Miami had the rest of the top 4 finishers in the race.
Missouri State then went on the offensive. Freshman Pawel Krawczyk added his 2nd win of the meet, adding a 200 free win to his earlier victory in the 500 free. He swam a 1:36.73, just out-touching Southern Illinois’ Reilly Garman. The defending champion, Carter Swift, swam at Eastern Michigan, who cut their men’s program after last season. Garman jumped 5 spots from 7th last year in his last MAC Championship meet.
The Bears got a 2nd-straight win when senior Blair Bish won by a full second in the 100 breaststroke in 52.86. Southern Illinois sophomore FuKang Wong took 2nd in 53.86.
Miami see-sawed back into control and extended their lead with 2 swimmers in the top 3 of the men’s 100 back. That was led by junior Jacob Peloquin, who won in 47.87. Missouri State’s Conner Ripp finished 2nd in 48.54, and Miami’s Jake Precious took 3rd in 48.96.
There were only 13 swimmers in that race, meaning that with close battles both for 1st and 4th place in the team standings, 6 points were left on the table at the bottom end of the event.
Of note, Evansville sophomore Credence Pattinson finished 4th in the race. That was their first individual A-finalist swimmer of the meet.
The closing 400 medley relay was fittingly a race of swings as well.
Miami’s Peloquin opened the race with a lead on the backstroke leg in 48.10. But then Bish split a 52.00 breaststroke leg to give Missouri State a big lead. Miami had the advantage on the fly leg, with Mota splitting 46.12 (an apt substitution split for Moussalem, who is probably swimming the other 4 relays).
That put the two teams into a dead-heat going into the freestyle leg, and Missouri State’s Lucas Paloschi split 43.34, just-barely faster than Miami’s anchor Nick Ward (43.45), to win the race.
Miami ended the day with a 24.5-point lead; given that there was no diving on Wednesday (where Miami has an advantage), that puts them in poll position on Thursday to knock off the defending champions. Expect more swings, though, as would only be a fitting finish to this meet.
Here is your answer, Reid. I have a swimmer on the MU as well as 16 other colleges. It is more mediocre coaching by mid-tier Division I coaches. Our biggest improvements are at NC State and Denison. The rest, mediocre results and they come back to us woefully under-trained.
I have about the same numbers/results and agree completely. Athletic Directors should look in the club ranks for coaching positions because the majority of these coaching staffs could not run a club program.
I posit that running a large club program is an order of magnitude more difficult and complex than running a mid-tier DI swim program. The coaches of the large clubs I’ve been around are more like CEOs than coaches, with no Athletic Department to handle myriad administrative issues.
Could be a number of reasons why his 100 fly time is faster LCM than SCY (relative to a time conversion table). Some swimmers are better in one course than the other. NCAA Championship format vs international meet format. Many other factors to consider. Regardless, it was his best time and a big improvement from previous SCY seasons: 47.75 – 2017, 47.26 – 2018, 46.37 – 2019. Not to mention a 52.17 LCM nestled in between NCAA seasons. The fact that he is improving and has returned for his junior year (and not transferred as so many swimmers / NCAA athletes do these days when they are not improving) leads me to believe that he is happy with the coaching,… Read more »
Look no further than his maintenance over development minded coaching staff
EMU! EMU! EMU!
How does Moussalem go 52.17 at pan pacs and get 7th and then 46 here and not even sniff an NCAA berth
That 100Fly 200FR double probaly didn’t help