2018 Men’s MAC Championships
- Wednesday-Saturday, February 28th-March 3rd
- Oxford, OH
- Short course yards
- Championships Central
- Day 1 results
TEAM STANDINGS (DAY 1)
- Missouri State/Eastern Michigan – 72
- –
- Miami – 68
- Southern Illinois – 60
- Evansville – 56
- Ball State – 52
In the first session of the 2018 Men’s MAC Championships, Missouri State shattered their own MAC record in the 200 medley relay, and came out of day 1 tied with Eastern Michigan for first in the scoring.
The Missouri State 200 medley relay team of Jake Schultz, Blair Bish, Artur Osvath, and Samuel Senn shattered their own MAC record of 1:26.36, set just a couple months ago. The relay that held the previous record had Conner Ripp on backstroke instead of Jake Shultz. Schultz split 22.25, while Bish threw down a 22.93 split on the breastroke leg, then Osvath went 20.66, and Senn anchored in a 19.41. Bish, who transfered from Arizona to Missouri State this season, put up one of the fastest breast splits in any conference meet this season. Missouri State’s middle 100, where they went 43.59, would be competitive with the rest of the NCAA field that have A cuts, buts Missouri State will need to get an A cut in a relay this weekend in order to swim the 200 medley at the NCAAs. They also broke the pool record of 1:26.74, which was set by Kenyon back in 2008.
Other highlights from the 200 medley relay include Miami’s Nick Ward splitting 19.29 to anchor the relay, which was the fastest free split in the field. Eastern Michigan’s Tosh Kawaguchi split 22.15 to lead off his relay, which was also the fastest backstroke split in the field. Bish and Osvath had the fastest breast and fly splits in the field respectively.
Eastern Michigan won the 800 free relay in a new pool record time of 6:29.05. The team of Matan Segal (1:37.53), Logan Burton (1:37.46), JF Murphy (1:38.41), and Jake Tyson (1:35.35) had the fastest lead-off split in the field with Segal, and the fastest overall split in the entire field with Tyson anchoring. EMU was 4.6 seconds off their own MAC record, which was set by a relay team that included Murphy, Burton, and Tyson back in 2016.
Excellent swim! Can’t wait to see what he does in the future!
So, I might have missed this last year, but why did he transfer? I have some theories just based on the schools and reputations/ stereotypes, but that would be ignorant of me…. so is it because of coaching or being close to home? A significant other? A fear of Wildcats and a love of Bears?
He gave a pretty lengthy statement on his transfer which you can read here: https://staging2.swimswam.com/arizonas-blair-bish-transfer-missouri-state/
To paraphrase it, he basically says that he has big goals for his swimming career, and because of Missouri State’s recent successes with developing swimmers to the NCAAs, he believes that it’s the best place for him.
Okay, that was a good answer from you… but I’m not buying it from him unless there is more to it. What names am I forgetting when it comes to Missouri State Swimming? Is it the coach? Is the coach new and they have developed All-Americans elsewhere? I get the whole Busch situation there at AZ now, being VERY familiar with how that experiment worked out at Virginia, and dont really have questions about the leaving of AZ as much as the going to Missouri State. I think we can all name 10-20 programs/schools that have done a better job of developing NCAA swimmers than Missouri State in the last 1-15 years….
and if I’m beating a dead horse that… Read more »
It’s close to Arkansas where he is from.
And there are also at least 3 of his club swimming teammates on the team.
The dead horse you’re beating is the stereotype that someone can’t be successful at a mid-major school.
In my opinion, Missouri State is one of the most well-coached teams in the country. The Bears have been on a steady rise over the last decade, even managing to score a few men at NCAA’s in the last few years. Considering the recruiting disadvantages they have as a mid-major school with one of the weakest facilities out there, their coaches have knocked it out of the park. Hell, they got a diver in a couple years ago and they only have access to one 1-meter and one 3-meter board and their diving coach is a part-time guy who was hired from the maintenance staff!
If I remember right, MO State was on Bish’s short list while he was being… Read more »
Thank you for the response, and every below thank you as well. I couldn’t remember if he was from Arkansas or Alabama. I know you can be successful at a “mid-major” you see it in football, basketball, and baseball all the time. Swimming just has been different in this regard. Not that there hasn’t been success stories from mid-majors. I really remember Dan Gallagher from UNC-Wilmington who placed very highly in the 50 free back in the late 90s or early 2000s maybe. I know Delta State had a foreign breastroker who was really good, and Johns Hopkins had Scott Armstrong, and Wyoming had the olympic breastroker a few years ago. But, how many mid majors have finished in the… Read more »
Pretty fast time considering their butterflier went 1:53 in the 200 breast at the ND invite about a month or so ago.
Son of a…
Boy, bet Texas wish he transferred to them!
Ya bish!
*Kendrick Lamar voice*
That’s a heck of a swim. Saw he scored at NCAAs last year in the 100. What does he go in the 200? No time from last years ncaas, or this years mid season invite.
He’s a sprint breastroker. As far as I can tell his best 200 is 1:57.
Meh. Should be better than 1:57. Also, isn’t a 200 considered a sprint, or just not for breaststroke?
YASSSS, BISH!!!!