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)
- Live Results: Available
- Live Video: Available
- Championship Central
There were several strong performances in prelims on morning two of the 2014 NAIA National Championships. Oklahoma Baptist continued its dominance, placing an astounding 15 swimmers in championship finals. The highlight of these was Daniel Ramirez’s meet record in the 100 fly out of prelims; his 46.73 was .6 under the record set by his teammate Nick Schuttinger at last year’s meet.
Other team with strong morning performances include Olivet Nazarene, Asbury, Wayland Baptist, and Lindsey Wilson College, all of whom improved on their relay and individual seedings. This should add some spice to the scoring tonight. There were several close races going on after last night’s final session; we should see some teams breaking out tonight. We are expecting movement from St. Andrews and Cumberlands, specifically. Stay tuned!
Ups/Downs
| Team |
A Final |
B Final |
| Asbury |
0 |
3 |
| Biola |
0 |
1 |
| Concordia |
5 |
10 |
| Emmanuel |
0 |
1 |
| Lindsey Wilson |
0 |
1 |
| Oklahoma Baptist |
15 |
4 |
| Olivet Nazarene |
6 |
6 |
| SCAD Savannah |
6 |
2 |
| St. Andrews |
2 |
4 |
| Thomas |
0 |
2 |
| Union |
2 |
2 |
| University of the Cumberlands |
2 |
2 |
| Wayland Baptist |
2 |
1 |
| West Virginia Tech |
0 |
1 |
200 free relay: It’s going to be a good race tonight in the 200 free relay. Concordia qualified first in 1:23.04. OBU was second; SCAD, third. The rest of the field will consist of ONU, St. Andrews, Cumberlands, Wayland Baptist, and Asbury.
400 IM: Tim Richard of OBU improved his seed time by nearly 12 seconds to become the top qualifier for tonight’s final. Karl Hegwein, a freshman from SCAD, had the second-fastest time of the morning session. The third qualifier was Aaron Buchanan of ONU, who was runner-up in last year’s race. The next two, Connor Wilson (OBU) and his teammate Gilles Cantrelle, went 1-3 in last year’s final. Rounding out the top eight will be Jose Morales (Union), Jacob Lear (Concordia), and Jacob Anderson (ONU).
100 fly: Daniel Ramirez of OBU wasn’t holding anything back in prelims, as he knocked out a 46.73 morning swim which broke the meet record by nearly 6/10. Second out of the morning was Ramirez’s teammate Garland Sullivan. Simon Pheasant (ONU), Gabriel Phillips (Wayland Baptist), Mark Shvartsman (SCAD), Logan Lassley (OBU), and a pair of freshmen from Cumberlands, Thalys Caixeta and Igor Dozortsev make up the other lanes of tonight’s final.
200 free: SCAD’s Joel Ax and Pat Cardillo were the top qualifiers in the men’s 200 free with 1:38.65 and 1:39.70, respectively. Challenging the two Bees tonight will be: Joshua Lercel (ONU), Javier Sossa (OBU), Lawrence Oxborough (Concordia), Teo Boscaino (St. Andrews), Andrew Nelson (OBU), and John Dowd (Concordia).
100 breast: OBU’s Tim Richard was back with another top qualifying time, this time in the 100 breast with 55.59. Teammates Gregory Penny and Vitor da Franca will be on either side of him in the evening session. Lucas Spencer (Concordia) qualified fourth, while Styrbjorn Torell (SCAD), Bjoern Globke (Wayland Baptist), Calvin Price (ONU), and Vinicius Ross (Union) comlete the heat.
100 back: Defending champion Ramirez of OBU put up the morning’s fastest swim (49.20) in the 100 back and will thus compete out of lane four tonight. Last year Ramirez set the meet record with his winning time of 47.61. Joining him in this year’s championship final will be: Geori Krastev (St. Andrews), Jacob Anderson (ONU), Ryan Searles (SCAD), Daniel Robbins (OBU), Nico Brun (OBU), Blain Stewart (OBU), and Lawrence Oxborough (Concordia).
400 medley relay: OBU cruised to an easy 3:22.63 in the 400 medley relay to qualify first for tonight’s final. St. Andrews had the second fastest time, while Concordia and SCAD put up almost identical times. Other championship final qualifiers were: ONU, Cumberlands, Union, and Asbury.
Standings After Day One
Men
- Oklahoma Baptist University 301
- Olivet Nazarene University 167
- SCAD Savannah 157
- Concordia University 127
- Union College 88
- St. Andrews University 86
- Wayland Baptist University 51
- University of the Cumberlands 48
- Asbury University 34
- Lindsey Wilson College 28
Biola University 28
“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.”