2018 NAIA National Championships – Men’s Meet
- Dates: Wednesday, February 28 – Saturday, March 3; prelims 9 am, finals 5 pm
- Location: Columbus Aquatic Center, Columbus, Georgia (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champions: Olivet Nazarene University (results)
- Psych Sheet
- Live Results: Available here
- Live Video: Available here
- Championship Central
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, and 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 in the A final, “Down” to swimmers in the B final.
Olivet Nazarene had a strong morning session on Day 2 of the 2018 NAIA National Championships, qualifying 7 swimmers for championship finals. The Tigers picked up 9 points over their psych sheet seedings, but didn’t make much of dent on Keiser who qualified 6 A finalists and 1 B finalist. SCAD, projected to finish third in the men’s meet, had 2 up and 5 down, while Thomas put 3 into tonight’s championship finals.
Loyola New Orleans outperformed the psych sheet by 25 points. Not far behind was St. Ambrose, who picked up 23. Keiser was up 13 points over the psych sheet. Last year, Keiser came in with the top prospects based on the psych sheet, but ONU and SCAD eventually finished first and second, respectively. This year, Keiser hasn’t given up any points in prelims so far, and has held ONU (+9 points) and SCAD (-20 points) in check.
The most exciting team race is shaping up to be for second place between ONU and SCAD.
Men’s Ups/Downs
| Team | A Finalists | B Finalists |
| Olivet Nazarene University | 7 | 0 |
| Keiser University | 6 | 1 |
| Thomas University | 3 | 0 |
| SCAD Savannah | 2 | 5 |
| Lindenwood University-Belleville | 2 | 2 |
| Loyola University New Orleans | 2 | 1 |
| West Virginia University – Tech | 1 | 3 |
| St Ambrose University | 1 | 0 |
| The College of Idaho | 0 | 5 |
| Lindsey Wilson College | 0 | 2 |
| University of the Cumberlands | 0 | 2 |
| Asbury University | 0 | 1 |
| Life University | 0 | 1 |
| Union College | 0 | 1 |
Men’s 500 Yard Freestyle
| Team | A Finalists | B Finalists |
| Olivet Nazarene University | 3 | 0 |
| West Virginia University – Tech | 1 | 2 |
| Keiser University | 1 | 1 |
| Lindenwood University-Belleville | 1 | 1 |
| St Ambrose University | 1 | 0 |
| Thomas University | 1 | 0 |
| SCAD Savannah | 0 | 2 |
| Lindsey Wilson College | 0 | 1 |
| The College of Idaho | 0 | 1 |
Men’s 200 Yard Individual Medley
| Team | A Finalists | B Finalists |
| Keiser University | 3 | 0 |
| Olivet Nazarene University | 2 | 0 |
| Lindenwood University-Belleville | 1 | 0 |
| Loyola University New Orleans | 1 | 0 |
| SCAD Savannah | 1 | 0 |
| The College of Idaho | 0 | 2 |
| Asbury University | 0 | 1 |
| Life University | 0 | 1 |
| Lindsey Wilson College | 0 | 1 |
| Union College | 0 | 1 |
| University of the Cumberlands | 0 | 1 |
| West Virginia University – Tech | 0 | 1 |
Men’s 50 Yard Freestyle
| Team | A Finalists | B Finalists |
| Keiser University | 2 | 0 |
| Olivet Nazarene University | 2 | 0 |
| Thomas University | 2 | 0 |
| SCAD Savannah | 1 | 3 |
| Loyola University New Orleans | 1 | 1 |
| The College of Idaho | 0 | 2 |
| Lindenwood University-Belleville | 0 | 1 |
| University of the Cumberlands | 0 | 1 |
Projected Standings
| Team | Day 1 Actual | Day 2 Prelims | Day 3 Psych | Day 4 Psych | Final Projected Standings |
| Keiser University | 34 | 178 | 222 | 214 | 648 |
| Olivet Nazarene University | 40 | 169 | 136 | 129 | 474 |
| SCAD Savannah | 32 | 117 | 157 | 150 | 456 |
| Lindenwood University-Belleville | 30 | 96 | 102 | 117 | 345 |
| University of the Cumberlands | 24 | 86 | 129 | 113 | 332 |
| Thomas University | 28 | 92 | 56 | 86 | 262 |
| West Virginia University – Tech | 26 | 55 | 59 | 76 | 216 |
| The College of Idaho | 22 | 73 | 67 | 26 | 188 |
| Lindsey Wilson College | 18 | 36 | 48 | 53 | 155 |
| Loyola University New Orleans | 10 | 73 | 24 | 40 | 147 |
| Union College | 12 | 47 | 30 | 30 | 119 |
| Asbury University | 14 | 24 | 39 | 38 | 115 |
| St Ambrose University | 8 | 29 | 6 | 6 | 49 |
| Morningside College | 6 | 16 | 9 | 8 | 39 |
| Life University | 0 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 19 |
| Milligan College | 2 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 15 |
| Campbellsville University | 0 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 10 |
| Bethel University | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 8 |
| Midland University | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
“The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., is a governing body of small athletics programs that are dedicated to character-driven intercollegiate athletics.
In 2000, the NAIA reaffirmed its purpose to enhance the character building aspects of sport. Through Champions of Character, the NAIA seeks to create an environment in which every student-athlete, coach, official and spectator is committed to the true spirit of competition through five core values.”