ONU PLACED NINTH IN THE 2022 NAIA SWIM AND DIVE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

COLUMBUS, Ga.  – The No. 6 Olivet Nazarene University men's swim and dive team competed in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) National Championships inside the Columbus Aquatics Center on Wednesday through Saturday.  The Tigers finished in 9^th place with a final score of 161 points.   

The Tigers got off to a great start in day one of competition.  In the only race of the day, the team of Mason Beall, Erik Firganek, Alejandro Evreinoff-Salinas, and Timothy Braun raced to an eighth-place finish, earning All-American honors, with a final time of 6:55.65, in the 800-yard freestyle relay.  The Tigers got off to a good start to the Championships. 

On the first event of day two, the team of Braun, Firganek, Evreinoff-Salinas, and Demarcus Washington finished in 12^th place in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:26.26.  Then, Beall and Nicholas Klenner finished in 15^th and 16^th place in the 500-yard freestyle.  In the 50-yard freestyle, Braun hit the pad in 21.41 seconds which was good for 13^th. The Tigers then followed that up with a 5^th place finish in the 400-yard medley relay with a final time of 3:22.22.  The Tigers finished day two with 67 points and stand in 9^th place overall. 

On the third day of competition, the Tigers started the meet, turning in an All-American performance.  The team of Klenner, Evreinoff-Salinas, Christian Mikrut, and Braun finished in fourth place in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:32.33.  In a few events later, in the 200-yard freestyle, Beall placed 16^th win a time of 1:43.43. In the next event, Evreinoff-Salinas achieved All-American status as he placed 5^th in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 55.80 seconds.  To this point, this is the first individual All-American performance for the Tigers.  Klenner and Kuiper then competed in the 100-yard backstroke finished in 12^th and 14^th, respectively. ONU finished day three in 7^th place with 120 points. 

In the final day of competition, Beall kicked off the day in the pool for the Tigers with a 13^th place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle.  Beall finished with a time of 16:37.80.  Then, Klenner gathered All-American honors as he finished sixth in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:50.03.  Kuiper finished 11^th in the race.  A couple of races later, Evreinoff-Salinas settled for a 11^th place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke.

The Tigers concluded the meet with an 11^th place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay.  The team of Firganek, Evreinoff-Salinas, Washington, and Braun finished the race with a time of 3:08.49.  The Tigers finished in 9^th place overall.   

Below are all of the finishers for the Tigers in the Championships

*All-American

Congratulations on a great season and to the seniors, good luck on your future endeavors. 

--ONU—

*Contact: Sam Viebrock, Sports Information Director, stviebrock@olivet.edu