Eastern Michigan leads after day two of the 2015 Mid-American Conference Men's Swimming & Diving Championships here at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio. The Eagles tallied 266.50 points, followed by Missouri State with 236 points and Southern Illinois with 236 points.
Southern Illinois Till Pallmann started off the evening claiming his second straight MAC title in the 500 Freestyle. He finished with a new MAC Championship record time of 4:19.68.
Missouri State's Uvis Kalnins won back-to-back 200 Individual medley titles finishing the race with a MAC Championship record time of 1:44.03 and was followed teammate Paul Le (1:44.03) in second and Eastern Michigan Andrew Henry (1:46.70) in third.
Miami's Joe Baumgartner took first place in the 50 Freestyle with a time of 22.69. Buffalo's Antonio Lanzi took home second place with a time of 20.12, while Eastern Michigan Brian Moore placed third (20.04).
Southern Illinois Kegan Skelton claimed the 1-meter diving title with a score of 362.45. Missouri State's Garrett Nevels finished second with 350.25 points, while Eastern Michigan's Alexander Chan took home third place with 344.35 points.
The night concluded with Miami winning the 200 Freestyle Relay. The team of Joe Baumgartner, Lucas Brock, Ross Westrick, and Jack Strauss finished the race in a time of 1:19.90. Following the Salukis was Buffalo (1:20.22), while Southern Illinois finished third (1:20.28).
Action continues on Friday at SPIRE with preliminaries set for 11 a.m. and the finals set for 7 p.m.
MAC Men's Swimming & Diving Team Results (Following Day 2)
1. Eastern Michigan 266.50
2. Missouri State 236
3. Southern Illinois 219
4. Miami 189
5. Buffalo 185.50
6. Evansville 76
7. Ball State 42
Missouri State
Miguel Davila and Uvis Kalnins both broke school records as the Missouri State men’s swimming and diving team completed the second day of the 2015 Mid-American Conference Championships on Thursday, March 5, at the SPIRE Institute.
Davila finished runner-up in the 500 free A-final in a school-record 4:21.02, besting the previous MSU record of 4:22.66 set by Caleb Schuermann at last season’s conference championships. His finish also topped his previous ‘B’ standard time (4:24.25) he achieved earlier this season at the Louisville Invitational.
Freshman Ethan Bresette placed sixth for the Bears in the 500 free A-final after swimming a personal-best 4:27.52 in the preliminaries.
MSU went 1-2-4 in the 200 IM A-final, with Kalnins breaking the school and MAC record in the event with a 1:44.03 finish.
Paul Le led part of the race and finished runner-up in a time of 1:44.33, which would have broken the previous school record he held in the event. Freshman Kacper Cwiek earned fourth-place with a ‘B’ cut time of 1:47.49.
MSU’s Aaron Dennis swam consecutive season best marks in the 200 IM, placing fourth in the B-final in a time of 1:51.50.
Isaac McKnight led the way for the Bears in the 50 free by qualifying for the A-final and earning fifth in a career-best 20.36.
In the B-final, Jack Snow and Vitalii Baryshok both touched the wall in season-best times, with Snow placing third (20.74) and Baryshok fifth (20.80). Both Will Brand and Uldis Tazans competed in the 50 free prelims and set career marks of 21.07 and 21.30, respectively.
Bears senior Garrett Nevels earned a runner-up finish in the 1-meter diving finals with 350.25 points after also finishing second in the prelims with 365.40 points.
In the final event of the night, MSU’s 200 free relay squad of Le, Snow, Brand and McKnight placed fifth (1:20.62) with the Bears’ top time of the season.
Miami (OH)
Miami University’s men’s swimming and diving team moves from fifth to fourth place in the overall standings after a successful day two of the MAC Championship. Miami boasts two first-place finishes and added another 133 points to their overall score.
Senior Joe Baumgartner contributed twenty points after he claimed first place in the 50-yard freestyle, clocking an impressive time of 19.90. Sophomore Lucas Brock also competed in the same event and earned eighth with his time of 20.53.
The 200-yard freestyle relay team brought home another first for the RedHawks. Baumgartner, Brock, freshman Ross Westrick, and sophomore Jack Strauss completed the event with a final team time of 1:19.90, earning another 40 points for Miami.
Junior Cole Fryman participated in the one-meter diving finals where he accumulated a total of 319.65 points, finishing sixth. Miami was represented in the 500-yard freestyle by sophomore Bryan McNamara who swam to a seventh-place finish, touching the wall at 4:30.60.
