The Miami Redhawks extended their lead on night two of the Mid-American Conference Championships in their home pool as they are trying to win their second MAC title in three seasons after last winning in 2019.
Team Scores:
- Miami, 629
- Missouri State, 447
- Southern Illinois, 384.5
- Ball State, 309.5
- Evansville, 199
The Redhawks got the night started with a 1:25.91 in the 200 medley relay, missing the meet record of 1:25.1 from 2018 as the team of Owen Blazer (21.91), Noah Barr (24.05), Henju Duvenhage (20.37) and Ben Chatwin (19.58) won handily ahead of Southern Illinois (1:28.56) and Ball State (1:29.44). Missouri State’s relay was disqualified.
It didn’t take Duvenhage long to put that race behind him as he returned to win the 400 IM with a 3:48.03, ahead of Missouri State’s Dylan Moffatt (3:48.67) and AJ Huskey (3:49.87). Duvenhage put himself 59th in Division I this season as he is making his collegiate debut this season, hailing from South Africa. He was one of two rookie Redhawks to win titles on Friday in Oxford as Owen Blazer won the 100 back (47.68) ahead of defending champion Adam Cernek (47.79) of Southern Illinois.
Juniors Ryan Sego and Nic Wamsley also went 1-2-3 in the 100 butterfly with Blazer for Miami, with Sego winning at 47.92 and Wamsley and Blazer tying for second at 48.20.
Ball State had something to celebrate on Friday in Oxford as freshman Joey Garberick (53.99) won the 100 breaststroke for the program’s first MAC champion since 2006. He beat Missouri State’s Michael Hampel (54.19) and Miami’s Noah Barr (54.26) to the wall in what was a historic event for the Ball State Cardinals and coach J Agnew.
Missouri State closed the night with a win in the 800 free relay at 6:30.21 over Miami at 6:31.30. The Bears’ team of Dylan Moffatt (1:38.48), Pawel Krawczyk (1:35.87), Jonathan Hill (1:39.96) and Arthur Curry (1:35.90) ran down the Redhawks’ team of Uros Djokovic (1:36.79), Gordon Wheeler (1:37.76), Chatwin (1:38.91) and Wamsley (1:37.84).
“I knew it was going to be close, but I was pretty chill behind the blocks,” Curry reflected. “I had trained for moments like this so I was ready to go and have some fun.”
Krawczyk also won the individual 200 free at 1:36.20 in a 1-2 finish with teammate Curry (1:36.52), matching their finish from last year when Curry beat Krawczyk to the wall.
“Sharing the podium with a teammate is one of the greatest feeling, especially when you are going 1-2 and that guy is one and only Arthur Cury,” Krawczyk said.
The MAC decided to shorten its championship meet to three days instead of the usual 3.5 day format that the conference had used since 2015, moving the 200 medley and 800 free relays on Wednesday.