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Before the preliminary action of the 2018 NAIA Championships got underway this morning the SCAD women’s quartet of Rebecca Justus (1:54.55), Sarah Dostie (1:54.78), Julie Henninger (1:51.83) and Shayna Salzman (1:53.59) took win in the women’s 800 freestyle relay in a quick time of 7:34.75.
The Oliver Nazarene men’s squad of Daniil Kuzmin (1:39.09), Charles Bennett (1:38.86), Joshua Bouma (1:39.88), Iran Cavalcante-Almeida (1:39.97) swam a 6:37.80 to nab a win in over Keiser (6:42.42).
During this morning session we saw Olivet Nazarene post the top time in the women’s 200 free relay with a 1:36.28, ahead of SCAD who posted a 1:37.14. In the men’s race Keiser earned the rights to lane four tonight in a 1:23.42 with Thomas University just .01 behind in a 1:23.43.
The women’s 500 free featured Morningside’s Suzanna Gonzalez earning the top spot with her 4:59.70. Freshman Karla Islas took the second spot leading into tonight with her 5:06.46 while Loyola’s Paige Carter took the third seed with a 5:06.53. Ashbury’s Hope Clark turned in a 5:10.86 to earn lane eight in the A final tonight.
In the men’s 500 free Olivet Nazarene’s Joshua Bouma took ownership of lane four in the A final tonight with his 4:32.72 from this morning while Lindenwood’s Niels Engeln swam a 4:33.45 to take the second seed going into tonight. Keiser’s Wyatt Engler (4:34.15) earned the third seed with a 4:34.15.
The women’s 200 IM A final will be lead by Cumberlands’ Christina Klouda (2:06.54), Olivet Nazarene’s Andrea Vega (2:07.21) and SCAD’s Sara Lacusky (2:08.34). Rounding out the A final tonight will be Annamaria Zombai who swam a 2:09.25 this morning.
The men’s 200 IM A final will feature a showdown between Keiser’s Lukas Macek (1:49.23) and Olivet Nazarene’s Daniil Kuzmin (1:50.99). Earning the third seed going into tonight was Lindenwood freshman Martin Le Pays du Tei who swam 1:51.62 this morning.
Olivet Nazarene’s Leanne Latocha posted a 23.58 ahead of Lindsey Wilson’s Alexis Kessler who posted a 23.63 for the second seed. The College of Idaho’s Madison Kelly swam a 24.07 to earn the third seed in tonight’s A final.
Keiser Junior Andrei Stukov posted a 20.31 to take the lane four position tonight while SCAD’s Zoltan Monori (20.51) and Thomas University’s Alex Haymond (20.58) will flank him in lanes three and five in tonight’s A final.
The women’s 1-meter diving preliminaries will take begin at 1 p.m.
