Anne Lepesant is covering the NAIA National Championships for us this week in Oklahoma City
The last prelim session of the NAIA National Championships at the Oklahoma City Community College is in the books, and the Oklahoma Baptist men and women haven’t let up on their strong morning swims, positioning the team for dual national titles at the meet’s conclusion tonight.
Excluding the mile, OBU’s Lady Bison and SCAD’s Lady Bees each have 8 up and 2 down in tonight’s finals. SCAD may make up a little ground in the distance final as Bees are seeded 1-2, but it won’t be enough to overcome OBU’s 246 point lead.
SCAD has the top 2 seeds in the 200 back and 3 of the top 8 in the 200 fly, but OBU has loaded up their sprinters in the 100 free, taking 4 of the middle 5 lanes in tonight’s final. It doesn’t take much to guess the outcome of the 400 free relay… Olivet Nazarene and Concordia each had strong mornings, placing four swimmers in A finals. In addition, Concordia has two in tonight’s heat of the mile.
Oklahoma Baptist’s men continued to dominate the field in prelims. The Bison will make up three of the top 8 in every event except the 200 breast, where they will have just two A finalists. The real drama will play out in the battle for second place. Coming into tonight’s final session Concordia leads SCAD by 7.5 points and SCAD is ahead of Olivet Nazarene by 8.5. It will likely come down to the last race of the night. Even if SCAD’s six A finalists have superb final swims, their 400 free relay did not make top 8, so Concordia has the opportunity to pick up 16 points on SCAD in that event. In any case it should be an exciting finish to a great meet.
Look for another relay record to fall in the 400 free relay as OBU men’s add-up time from its four finalists in the 100 free is 3:00.5. With all the adrenaline of the last event and the benefit of relay takeoffs, that 2:57.3 NAIA record looks well within their reach.
Standings coming into tonight’s final session:
Women’s Top Five
Oklahoma Baptist 639
SCAD Savannah 392
Cumberlands 269
Olivet Nazarene 238
Concordia 215
Men’s Top Five
Oklahoma Baptist 653
Concordia 306.5
SCAD Savannah 297
Olivet Nazarene 288.5
Illinois Tech 225
| WOMEN’S DAY 3 |
Ups |
Downs |
| Oklahoma Baptist |
8 |
2 |
| SCAD Savannah |
8 |
2 |
| Olivet Nazarene |
4 |
2 |
| Cumberlands (University of) |
4 |
1 |
| Biola University |
1 |
4 |
| Breneau |
2 |
2 |
| Concordia University |
2 |
2 |
| Asbury University |
4 |
|
| Union College |
1 |
2 |
| Lindsey Wilson College |
3 |
|
| Idaho (College of) |
2 |
|
| Morningside College |
2 |
|
| Milligan College |
1 |
|
| Robert Morris |
1 |
|
| Campbellsville University |
1 |
|
| Soka University |
1 |
|
| MEN’S DAY 3 |
Ups |
Downs |
| Oklahoma Baptist |
11 |
4 |
| SCAD Savannah |
6 |
3 |
| Concordia University |
3 |
5 |
| Olivet Nazarene |
3 |
3 |
| Cumberlands (University of) |
2 |
3 |
| Illinois Tech |
2 |
2 |
| Union College |
2 |
1 |
| Asbury University |
1 |
1 |
| Lindsey Wilson College |
2 |
|
| Biola University |
1 |
|
| Milligan College |
1 |
|
| Soka University |
1 |
|
| WVU Tech |
1 |