2018 MEN’S MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday-Saturday, February 28th-March 3rd
- Oxford, OH
- Short course yards
- Championships Central
- Day 1 results
- Day 2 results
TEAM STANDINGS (DAY 2)
- Missouri State – 298.5
- Eastern Michigan – 283
- Miami – 264
- Southern Illinois – 164.5
- Ball State – 91
- Evansville – 89
On the 2nd day of the Men’s MAC Championships, Missouri State broke another MAC relay record, this time in the 200 free relay, and won all 4 swimming events of the day. Missouri State, Eastern Michigan, and Miami (OH) appear to have separated themselves as the team title contenders with 2 more days of competition to go.
Antonio Thomas, a Missouri State sophomore, won the 500 free, jumping out to the lead pretty early in the race, and expanding his lead through the end to post a final time of 4:22.76. Thomas took the race out fast, splitting his 100s at 49.28/52.51/53.41/54.03/53.53. His first 200 split of 1:41.79 was on pace to be well under 4:15. Missouri State also got a 3rd place finish out of Minki Kang, who went 4:27.46, and an 11th place finish out of Kevin Douglas (4:29.85).
Miami had a massive team performance in the 500, taking 5 of the top 16 spots. They were led by runner-up Gordon Wheeler (4:25.61), followed by James McQuire in 6th (4:29.27), Iago Moussalem do Amaral in 9th (4:28.84), Austin Theobald in 10th (4:28.96), and Jake Precious in 14th (4:31.30). Their top 4 swimmers were all underclassmen, with all but Moussalem do Amaral being freshmen.
Southern Illinois also had a gigantic team performance in the 500, including 3 swimmers in the top 8. Michael Wolfe led the way for the Salukis, taking 4th with a 4:28.01, and was followed by Kevin Kluge in 5th with a 4:28.44, Christopher Cole tied for 7th at 4:30.75, and Nolan Fahey was 16th in 4:35.23.
Missouri State threw down 4 top 8 finishes in the 200 IM, led by Artur Osvath, who won in 1:45.74. Osvath took the title by nearly a second over teammate Kacper Cwiek, who narrowly out-touched EMU’s Tosh Kawaguchi, 1:46.66 to 1:46.87. Missouri State also had a 4th place finish out of Christopher Heye (1:46.91), Will Frisbie came in 7th with a 1:47.64, Thomas Heye was 11th (1:49.23), and Nicholas Theunissen came in 16th with a 1:50.60.
Missouri State also pulled off a win in the 50 free, where Lucas Paloschi won in a tight battle with EMU freshman Carter Swift. Paloschi touched in 19.93 to Swift’s 19.98. Missouri State again scored huge team points, also coming in 3rd (Samuel Senn) and 5th (Jake Schultz) at 20.10 and 20.35 respectively. They also got a win in the B final out of Blair Bish, who went 20.42, and Will Brand was 12th in 20.77.
Eastern Michigan made up the most of its ground on Missouri State in diving, where they went 1-2-4-5-12 in the 1 meter. Al’x Pierre, a freshman led the way with a final score of 352.95, followed by senior Peter Rusenas at 342.55. Noah Galluzzo (sophomore) and Thomas Gillis (junior) came in 4th and 5th with 315.65 and 309.80 respectively, while Jacob Lowe came in 12th with a 235.65.
In the 200 free relay, Missouri State broke the MAC record of 1:19.58, which was set by Toledo back in 1997, by going 1:19.53. The team Paloschi (20.09), Schultz (19.81), Bish (20.16), and Senn (19.47) combined to win by nearly a second over Miami (1:20.43). Senn’s split of 19.47 was the fastest in the field.