2020 NAIA Men’s Swimming & Diving National Championship
- Dates: March 4-7, 2020
- Times: Prelims 9 AM; Finals 5 PM
- Location: Allan Jones Aquatic Center – Knoxville, Tennessee (Central Time Zone)
- Defending Champions: Keiser University (2x) (results)
- Psych Sheet
- Live Results: Available here
- Live Video: Available here
- Championship Central
Day Two
SCAD narrowed Keiser’s lead on paper by about 27 points but the battle for leadership in the men’s contest continued on Day 2 in Knoxville. Marcel Nagy of Keiser tied the NAIA Championship Meet Record in the 50 free with 19.71.
Men’s 200 Yard Freestyle Relay – Prelims
- Meet Record: 1:18.43 Oklahoma Baptist University, Oklahoma Baptist (L Lassley, R Robbins, D Ramirez, G Sullivan) 3/7/2014
Top 8 qualifiers:
- SCAD 1:22.74
- Keiser 1:23.32
- Cumberlands 1:24.58
- Lindsey Wilson 1:24.68
- Midland 1:24.74
- Loyola New Orleans 1:24.86
- Ambrose 1:25.18
- Union College 1:25.69
SCAD dropped nearly 7/10 to top the field in the 200 free relay with swims from sophomore Irvin Hoost (20.94), junior Miles Kredich (20.53), freshman Samuel Page (20.91), and junior Zoltan Monori (20.36). Keiser added a couple of tenths to finish second with 1:23.32. Ismail Lahrichi (21.19), Matias Lazzerini (20.94), Lasse Jorgensen (21.05) and Marcel Nagy (20.14) contributed to the effort. Keiser did not use Jared Ingram in prelims; he qualified second behind Nagy in the A final of the 50 free. Lazzerini and Jorgensen both made the B final of that event.
Cumberlands qualified third for the final with sophomore Julio Heck da Silva (21.54) and a trio of freshmen: Zane Spurlock (20.62), Nathan Souza (21.29), and Mats Kamnes (21.13). They combined for 1:24.58, improving their seed time by more than 2/10.
Midland sophomores Jake Bell (21.62), Gabe Martinez (21.25), Hayden Robbins (21.68), and Scott Cain (20.19) broke a school record en route to their 5th-place finish with 1:24.74.
Men’s 500 Yard Freestyle – Prelims
- Meet Record: 4:20.35 Joel Thatcher, SCAD 3/2/2017
Top 8 qualifiers:
- Joel Thatcher, SCAD 4:26.49
- Calvin Coetzee, Lindsey Wilson 4:29.84
- Pol Roch, Keiser 4:32.86
- Kristof Monori, SCAD 4:33.26
- DJ Nowacki, SCAD 4:33.66
- Manuel Laguna Gomez, WVU-Tech 4:35.75
- Michael Richmond, Midland 4:36.45
- John McDonald, Cumberlands 4:36.62
Meet record-holder Joel Thatcher of SCAD, back after a two-year absence while serving a Mormon Mission in Cusco, Peru, topped the field in prelims with 4:26.49. Lindsey Wilson freshman Calvin Coetzee qualified second with 4:29.84. Defending champion Pol Roch of Keiser took 1.3 seconds off his seed time to land the third spot for finals.
SCAD qualified two more for the A final: freshman Kristof Monori (4:33.26) and junior DJ Nowacki (4:33.66, an improvement of 4.9 seconds). Michael Richmond of Midland University dropped 9 seconds to break his program record with the 7th-fastest time of the morning, 4:36.45.
Manuel Laguna Gomez of West Virginia Tech and John McDonald of Cumberlands, the only other 2019 A-finalists in this field, also earned spots in the top 8.
Men’s 200 Yard Individual Medley – Prelims
- Meet Record: 1:47.55 David Hibberd, Simon Fraser 2011
Top 8 qualifiers:
- Anton Smal, Life University 1:51.00
- Marti Ranea, Keiser 1:51.21
- Andrew Clifford, College of Idaho 1:51.54
- Zoltan Monori, SCAD 1:51.99
- George Harsanyi, SCAD 1:52.07
- Lukas Macek, Keiser 1:52.73
- Joshua Smith, Lincoln / Dillon Hall, SCAD (tie) 1:52.79
- –
Life University freshman Anton Smal knocked .96 off his entry time to lead the morning qualifiers in the 200 IM with 1:51.00. Keiser freshman Ranea wasn’t far behind with 1:51.21, while Andrew Clifford of College of Idaho, 10th in last year’s final, dropped 1 seconds to qualify in the 3rd spot with 1:51.54.
Zoltan Monori of SCAD, the defending champion, was one of three Bees in the A final. George Harsanyi, who finished 3rd last year, and freshman Dillon Hall also made it to the top 8. Hall improved his seed time by nearly 3 seconds to tied with Lincoln freshman Joshua Smith for 7th place with 1:52.79. Smith bettered his entry time by .7. Keiser senior Lukas Macek qualified 6th with 1:52.73.
Men’s 50 Yard Freestyle – Prelims
- Meet Record: 19.71 Logan H Lassley, Oklahoma Baptist 3/6/2014
Top 8 qualifiers:
- Marcel Nagy, Keiser 19.71
- Jared Ingram, Keiser 20.27
- Scott Cain, Midland 20.56
- Paulo Dias Ignacio Jr, WVU Tech 20.61
- Quentin Cooper, St Andrews 20.77
- Irvin Hoost, SCAD 20.84
- Ethan Bainbridge, Thomas 20.86
- Jack Jackson, Loyola New Orleans 20.88
Keiser senior Nagy, the defending champion, tied the meet record in prelims with 19.71. That was his best time this season by 1.5 seconds. Last year he won the event in 19.97. Teammate Ingram went 20.27, improving his seed time by .26, for a 1-2 Keiser punch at the top. Midland sophomore Scott Cain, 5th in the 2019 final, qualified third with 20.56.
WVU Tech’s Paulo Dias Ignacio Jr dropped .63 to jump from 11th seed to 4th qualifier. Quentin Cooper of St Andrews (-.24), Ethan Bainbridge of Thomas (-.38), and Jack Jackson from Loyola New Orleans (-.81) also improved on their seed times to make the A final. SCAD’s Hoost, who was 3rd last year, qualified 6th.
Keiser loaded up the 50 free, placing 2 in the A final and 2 in the B final, which will be helpful as it tries to keep SCAD at bay in the race for the team title.
Men’s 400 Yard Medley Relay – Prelims
- Meet Record: 3:12.88 Oklahoma Baptist University, Oklahoma Baptist (D Ramirez, G Penny, G Sullivan, L Lassley) 3/7/2014
Top 8 qualifiers:
- Keiser 3:22.55
- Midland 3:24.64
- SCAD 3:25.34
- Lindsey Wilson 3:25.81
- Ambrose 3:26.16
- College of Idaho 3:26.87
- Cumberlands 3:28.43
- Olivet Nazarene 3:30.25
Keiser’s Garrett Green (50.45), Levente Sardi (55.68), Niklas Nyblom (49.95), and Jorgensen (46.47) combined for the morning’s top time of 3:22.55. Midland (Richmond, Tyler Penney, Gabe Martinez, and Cain) took 3.1 seconds off their seed time to qualify second with 3:24.64. SCAD went 3:25.34 with Gio Zachar, Hall, Maik Rieffenstahl, and Kredich.
Lindsey Wilson (-.43), St Ambrose (-4.55), College of Idaho (-3.54) and Olivet Nazarene (-1.47) all dropped in prelims to make the A final. Cumberlands was just a tick off their seed time to qualify 7th.
Men’s Team Scores – Day 1
- SCAD Savannah 40
- Keiser University 34
- Lindsey Wilson College 32
- Midland University 30
- College of Idaho 28
- University of the Cumberlands 26
- Union College 24
- Loyola New Orleans 22
- Olivet Nazarene University 18
- Asbury University 14
- Life University 12
- St Ambrose 10
- Morningside College 8
- Simpson University 6
- Milligan College 4
- Campbellsville University 2