NAIA National Championship Fan Guide: Men’s Meet

2014 NAIA National Championships – Men’s Meet

• Dates: Wednesday, March 5 – Saturday, March 8, 2014; prelims 10:00 am, finals 6:00 pm
• Location: Oklahoma City Community College, Oklahoma City, OK (Central Time Zone)
• Defending Champions: Oklahoma Baptist University (results)
• Results: Available
• Live Video: Available
• Championship Central

2013 marked the second year in a row the Oklahoma Baptist men were crowned NAIA National Champions. OBU swimmers won nine individual events and four relays, breaking the NAIA record in the 200 medley and 200 free relays and in five individual events (50/100/200 free, 100 back, 100 fly).

Second place was hotly contested among Concordia, Olivet Nazarene, and SCAD Savannah with only 20 points separating the first pair, and 36 the second.

Who’s Who in 2014

Diving: Oklahoma Baptist is the only school with divers (3) so that adds an automatic 106 points to the Bisons’ score.

500 free: SCAD freshman Joel Ax comes in with the top seed time of 4:26.74; he will be gunning for the national record (4:24.63 set by Alex Graudins of SCAD in 2012). But he won’t be alone. Defending champion Andrew Fischer of ONU, St. Andrews freshman Matheus Montarroyos and his teammate Teo Boscaino, and Bradley Moore of Union will all challenge Ax in his quest for the title.

200 IM: Defending champion Daniel Ramirez of OBU and two of his teammates, including Gilles Cantrelle, all went 1:50s to finish 1-2-3 in last year’s A final. The top seed times this year belong to ONU’s Jacob Anderson (1:53.51) and SCAD’s Karl Hegwein (1:53.61). Marc Tahull (Cumberlands), Jacob Lear (Concordia), and Andrew Gurley (St. Andrews) are also contenters.

50 free: David Lambert of St. Andrews is the top seed in the 50 free with 19.95. 2013 runner-up Logan Lassley of OBU possesses the only other sub-20 seed time (19.97). Other entrants in this event include last year’s championship finalists Daniel Robbins, AJ Barbar, and Garland Sullivan of OBU.

400 IM: SCAD freshman Hegwein is the number one seed with 4:02.57, followed by Jose Morales of Union and St. Andrews’ Gurley. The top three finalists from 2013, Connor Wilson (OBU), Aaron Buchanan (ONU), and OBU’s Cantrelle are also entered in the event.

100 fly: OBU’s Ramirez brings the fastest seed time into the meet with a 47.08. His teammate Nick Schuttinger set the NAIA record in last year’s final with 47.30 so Ramirez may be trying to rewrite the books this year. Other top times coming into the meet belong to 2013 championship finalists Sullivan of OBU, Mark Shvartsman of SCAD, Simon Pheasant of ONU, and Jordan Gramling of Cumberlands.

200 free: 2013 silver medalist Javier Sossa of OBU has the top qualifying time with 1:38.80; SCAD’s Ax is the only other who’s been sub 1:40 so far this year. Defending champion Fischer of ONU will be joining them, as will hopefuls Lawrence Oxborough (Concordia), Boscaino (St. Andrews), and Montarroyos (WVU Tech)

100 breast: The top two medalists from last year’s final are back with the fastest seed times: Vitor da Franca (55.37) and Greg Penny (55.62), both of OBU. Looking to knock them from their thrones will be Lucas Spencer (Concordia), Calvin Price (ONU), Marc Fleischmann and Styrbjorn Torell (both of SCAD) and Vinicius Rossi (Union).

100 back: Defending champion and NAIA record-holder Ramirez of OBU is entered with the top seed time in this event (47.43), but it’s hard to predict what he will swim. Other top contenders could be Georgi Krastev of St. Andrews, Ryan Searles from SCAD, OBU’s Robbins, and ONU’s Anderson.

1650 free: SCAD’s Ax’s 15:47.46 is the top seed by far in this year’s mile, but he should have a good race with 2013 winner Fischer of ONU and fellow championship finalists Ben Kurtz (Morningside), Wilson (OBU), and Sam Borgman (ONU), as well as a pair of freshmen challengers from Union: Dalton Baxter and Bradley Moore.

200 back: Two-time champion and NAIA record-holder Searles is the fastest qualifier in the 200 back (1:47.66). Challenging him will be SCAD teammate Hegwein, St. Andrews’ Krastev, Nelson of OBU, and Boscaino of St. Andrews. This should be a much closer contest than last year’s final.

100 free: OBU’s Ramirez broke the NAIA record in 2013 and comes in this year with the top time of the season with 43.97. Lambert of St. Andrews, John Dowd of Concordia, and last year’s championship finalists Pat Cardillo (SCAD), Barbar, Lassley and Robbins (all of OBU) should be factors in this year’s race.

200 breast: As in the 100, da Franca (1:59.84) and Penny of OBU sit atop the seedings. Ryan Frayne of St. Andrews and 2013 championship finalists Spencer of Concordia and SCAD’s Fleischmann will challenge them for leadership in this race.

200 fly: Gurley of St. Andrews brings the top qualifying time (1:51.98) to this year’s race, with SCAD’s Shvartsman and OBU’s Sossa not far behind. Emmanuel freshman Santi Aguilar should be a contender this year, as should Elliot Bilsland of Concordia, freshman Gabriel Phillips of WBU, and 2013 runner-up Buchanan of ONU.

Standings

Oklahoma Baptist brings the largest and deepest team to the NAIA Championships. Even without the points they get from diving the Bisons would come out on top again this year. Concordia looks like it may have an even deeper squad than last year and we think they have a strong shot at a repeat for second place. After that things bunch up a bit. SCAD Savannah has several highly seeded swimmers and strong relays; newcomer St. Andrews, from Laurinburg NC, comes in with several top-eight seed times, and Olivet Nazarene always performs well at this meet. Here are our picks for the top ten:

Men

1. Oklahoma Baptist
2. Concordia University
3. SCAD Savannah
4. St. Andrews University
5. Olivet Nazarene University
6. University of the Cumberlands
7. Union College
8. Emmanuel College
9. Morningside College
10. Wayland Baptist University
    Asbury University

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