Indian River Wins 43rd/35th Straight NJCAA Men’s/Women’s Titles

2017 NJCAA Junior National Championships

• March 1-4, 2017
• Buffalo, New York
• Live results

Indian River finished its 43rd-straight men’s and 35th-straight women’s NJCAA national title wins on Saturday in Buffalo in stylish fashion – winning all-but-one of the final day’s events.

Scores Through Meet Conclusion:

Women:

1. Indian River State College – 1210
2. South Georgia State College – 563
3. Iowa Central Community College – 498.5
4. Southwestern Oregon CC – 480.5
5. Monroe Community College – 396
6. Lincoln College – 368.5
7. Genesee Community College – 209.5
8. Iowa Lakes Community College – 163 (TIE)
9. Fashion Institute of Technology – 163 (TIE)
10. Erie Community College – 160
11. Jamestown Community College – 73
12. Herkimer County Community College – 59
13. Queensborough Tigers – 8

Men:

1. Indian River State College – 1293
2. Southwestern Oregon CC – 557
3. Iowa Central Community College – 486
4. South Georgia State College – 450
5. Iowa Lakes Community College – 365
6. Lincoln College – 352
7. Monroe Community College – 283
8. Genesee Community College – 269
9. Erie Community College – 116
10. Jamestown Community College – 109
11. Herkimer County Community College – 108
12. Queensborough – 57
13. Fashion Institute of Technology – 6

Two more NJCAA records were broken on the final day of competition, coming from two of the biggest stars of the week. In the women’s 50 fly, Indian River’s Osianna McReed swam a 24.62 to break Tayla Lovemore’s 24.77 record from last season. Later in the day, she would win her 4th individual event with a 50.22 in the 100 free – more than a second faster than her teammate and triple event winner Courtney Perrett.

In the men’s 50 fly, Nicholas Loomis completed his record-setting sweep of the butterfly events with a 21.27 in the 50 fly prelims. He was a touch slower in finals at 21.46, but that prelims mark bettered his own record from last year.

Loomis broke the NJCAA records over the week in the 50, 100, and 200 butterflies, though both the 50 and 100 yard records came in prelims.

Indian River’s Natalie Grothe finished a 4-for-4 meet on Saturday. After sweeping the 100, 200, and 400 IMs, on Saturday she jumped to the 200 breaststroke, where she was almost 3 seconds better than runner-up Lauren Meyrick (2:21.83-2:24.57). The pair were the only two swimmers faster than 1:30.

The one swimmer to upset a second-straight perfect day for the Pioneers was Iowa Lakes’ Hylt Collinson. After winning the 200 and 400 IM on days 1 and 2, respectively, he placed only 4th int he 100 breaststroke on Friday. By Saturday, though, he was back on form and won the 200 in 1:59.92.

Other event winners:

• Indian River’s Luka Tomic, the winner of the 200, 500 and 1000 freestyle events, opted for the 200 back instead of the mile as his final day swim. The result was the same, though, as he picked up a 4th individual win with a 1:45.97.
• In Tomic’s absence, his teammate Alexa Berggren won the men’s 1650 in 15:59.73 – lapping the field.
• Women’s 1650 winner Ianthe van der Westhuizen won by an even bigger margin of 37 seconds – swimming a 17:21.29 to again lap the field.
• John Fateux led an Indian River 1-2-3-4 in the 100 free, touching 1st in 44.46 ahead of teammate Gavin Erdmann (44.87). The PIoneers did the same earlier in the meet in the 50 free.
• Meagan Abad won the women’s 200 back in 2:03.67.
• Adriana Warning swept the women’s springboard events with a win on the 3-meter on Saturday, scoring 479.35 points – almost 100 ahead of the next-closest competitor.
• Indian River completed a sweep of the meet’s relays with a 3:26.53 in the women’s 400 and a 2:58.47 in the men’s 400. Both teams won by about 13 seconds.