2018 NAIA Men’s National Championships – Day 3 Prelims

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

Men’s 200 Yard Medley Relay – Prelims

• Meet Record: 1:26.83, 2014, Oklahoma Baptist University, Oklahoma Baptist (D Ramirez, G Penny, G Sullivan, L Lassley)

1. Keiser 1:32.38
2. Thomas 1:32.80
3. Olivet Nazarene 1:33.30
4. Cumberlands 1:33.67
5. Wvu-Tech 1:33.77
6. SCAD 1:34.49
7. Lindenwood-Belleville 1:34.59
8. Union College 1:34.68

Keiser, runners-up in 2017 but the top-seeded team in 2018, maintained their spot in the center of the pool for tonight’s final with a 1:32.38 in prelims from junior Joel Hansson (23.98), freshman Deion Alfajora (25.88), freshman N’Nhyn Fernander (21.42), and sophomore Justin Lewis (21.10). The Seahawks will likely bring in sophomores Marcel Nagy and Lukas Macek, as well as junior Andrei Stukov, tonight to make a run for the meet record. Thomas posted the second-fastest time of the morning, using Juan Robles, Mitch Graham, Perry Lindo, and Alex Haymond. Thomas chose to put last night’s 50 free national title-winner Lindo on butterfly, which turned out to be a good decision since Haymond split 19.81 coming home, the fastest anchor of the morning.

Men’s 400 Yard Individual Medley – Prelims

• Meet Record: 3:53.86, 2010, Kevin Sellars, Cal Baptist

1. Gergely Harsanyi, SCAD 3:57.53 3:59.44
2. Daniil Kuzmin, Olivet Nazarene 3:58.86 4:00.75
3. Thomas Sheridan, College of Idaho 4:12.01 4:03.47
4. Zoltan Monori, SCAD 4:00.11 4:03.67
5. Niels Engeln, Lindenwood-Belleville 4:06.35 4:03.84
6. Charles Bennett, Olivet Nazarene 4:08.42 4:04.65
7. Csaba Vekony, Keiser 4:08.90 4:06.81
8. Joel Westerlind, Cumberlands 4:08.63 4:07.49

SCAD freshmen Gergely Harsanyi (3:59.44) and Zoltan Monori (4:03.67) qualified first and fourth for tonight’s 400 IM final, giving the Bees much-needed A-finalists in their battle for second place with ONU. The Tigers put two in the A final, as well, qualifying defending champion Daniil Kuzman (4:00.75) and senior Charles Bennett (4:04.65) at second and sixth. College of Idaho’s Thomas Sheridan dropped 8.6 seconds from his seed time to make the A final with 4:03.47, the third-fastest time of the morning.

Men’s 100 Yard Butterfly – Prelims

• Meet Record: 46.12, 2015, Daniel Ramirez, OBU

1. Iran Cavalcante-Almeida, Olivet Nazarene 49.30
2. Viktor Lyson, Cumberlands 49.35
3. N’Nhyn Fernander, Keiser 50.03
4. Marcel Nagy, Keiser 50.03
5. Brogan Bunner, SCAD 50.08
6. Wiktor Perkowski, Union College 50.11
7. Martin Le Pays du Teilleul, Lindenwood-Belleville 50.12
8. Ryan Sweat, SCAD 50.43

In perhaps the youngest event of the meet, with 5 freshmen making the championship final, ONU freshman Iran Cavalcante-Almeida led the way with 49.30 in morning heats. Cumberlands freshman Viktor Lyson qualified second, while Keiser teammates Fernander and top-seeded Nagy tied for third with 50.03. SCAD junior Brogan Bunner dropped over 1 second to vault into the A final; teammate Ryan Sweat took nearly 3/10 off his seed time to make 8th. Two more freshmen, Wiktor Perkowski of Union and Martin du Teilleul of Lindenwood-Belleville also qualified for the A final.

Men’s 200 Yard Freestyle – Prelims

• Meet Record: 1:34.89, 2017, Joel Ax, SCAD

1. Wyatt Engler, Keiser 1:40.94
2. Alex Haymond, Thomas 1:41.07
3. Joshua Bouma, Olivet Nazarene 1:41.29
4. Justin Lewis, Keiser 1:41.52
5. Andrew Clifford, College of Idaho 1:41.95
6. Tim Schmalzreich, Lindenwood-Belleville 1:42.07
7. Noah Oh, Keiser 1:42.80
8. Seth Cripe, Olivet Nazarene 1:42.88

Keiser loaded up on A-finalists in the men’s 200 free, an event once dominated by SCAD. Kaiser senior Wyatt Engler dropped 2.1 seconds from his seed time to qualify first with 1:40.94. He was followed by Thomas’s Haymond, who took 2.7 seconds off his entry time to land in the second spot with 1:41.07. Keiser sophomore Justin Lewis dropped 3.9 to qualify fourth (1:41.52) just behind ONU senior Joshua Bouma (1:41.29).

Men’s 100 Yard Breaststroke – Prelims

• Meet Record: 53.06, 2009, Bryan Haile, Cal Baptist

1. Lukas Macek, Keiser 55.17
2. Guilherme Magnoler, Olivet Nazarene 55.46
3. Mitch Graham, Thomas 56.21
4. Joel Hansson, Keiser 56.38
5. Paulo Dias Ignacio, WVU-Tech 56.54
6. Deion Alfajora, Keiser 56.63
7. Henrique Saraceni, Union College 56.76
8. Anton Arvidsson, SCAD 56.89

Top-seeded Macek from Keiser swam the fastest 100 breast of the morning (55.17), but ONU’s Guilherme Magnoler looks like he will give Macek a serious challenge tonight after having dropped 3.4 seconds to qualify second with 55.46. The second-biggest time drop of the morning came from Loyola senior Timothy Buisson, who dropped 2.1 seconds to leapfrog into the B final with 57.95.

Keiser continued its quest for the 2018 national title, placing two more swimmers in the A final: Joel Hansson and Deion Alfajora. Last year’s runner-up, senior Anton Arvidsson of SCAD, snuck into the top-8 with 56.89.

Men’s 100 Yard Backstroke – Prelims

• Meet Record: 46.28, 2014, Daniel Z Ramirez, Oklahoma Baptist

1. Marcel Nagy, SO Keiser 47.87 50.50
2. Gergo Zachar, FR SCAD 49.24 50.74
3. Clay Bisher, SO Asbury 51.25 50.93
4. Trey James, SO Loyola 52.68 51.05
5. Daric Sundeen, FR Cumberlands 50.78 51.17
6. Nick Oh, SO Keiser 52.36 51.21
7. Brogan Bunner, JR SCAD 51.93 51.59
8. Carolus Josefina, FR Lindenwood-Belleville 52.14 51.60

Keiser sophomore Nagy was top seed in two events, the 100 fly and the 100 back. After qualifying fourth in the former, he earned the pole position in the latter with his prelims swim of 50.50. SCAD freshman Gergo Zachar (50.74) and Asbury sophomore Clay Bisher (50.93) both qualified with sub-51s. Loyola sophomore Trey James dropped 1.6 seconds to qualify fourth in 51.05.

Men’s 3 Meter Diving

• Meet Record: 553.85, 2004, Grant Brehaut, Simon Fraser

1. David Groh, Cumberlands 180.10

David Groh of Cumberlands is the only diver in the men’s meet, so he is likely to add 40 to the Patriots’ team total. He finished prelims in 3-meter diving with 180.10 points.

“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.”