The men's swimming and diving team finished its season on Saturday with an impressive showing on the national stage. The Lions finished seventh overall in the NCAA Division III Championships, scoring 157 points and competing seven swimmers.
"We definitely finished our season on a high note," junior Thomas Nawrot said. "We had our best finish at Nationals ever. Everyone contributed to this success."
Defending champion Kenyon College scored 635 points to win its record 29th consecutive national title. The Lions finished their season in Oxford, Ohio, at Wooster College on the campus of Miami University.
Finishing his 19th season, head coach Brian Bishop has produced over 100 All-Americans and led this year's team to its highest finish at NCAAs in school history. The previous high was an eighth-place finish in 2003. Only Bishop has coached the Lions to top-20 finishes in school history, doing so 13 times and finishing in the top 15 eight times. Last year, the College finished in 16th and produced 17 All-Americans.
"Every individual brought everything they could to create this team that I am very proud to have been a part of," Nawrot said.
In the three-meter dive event, senior Greg Lloyd sat in sixth place after a first-round score of 441.60 but finished in third place with a final score of 487.65. An 11th-place finish earlier in the meet in the one-meter event earned Lloyd an All-America Honorable Mention.
Lloyd, now a four-time All-American, was new to diving when he began his career at the College but has earned All-America honors in the three consecutive NCAA Championships in which he has competed.
The Lions gained more All-America recognition after finishing eighth in the 400-meter freestyle relay. Senior Josh Forsman, senior co-captain Liam Gallagher, freshman Shawn Kircher and junior Tom Nawrot contributed to the race. The team finished in 3:04.17, the same time it notched in its trial.
In the 100-meter freestyle event, Forsman finished 21st in a time of 46.02 and Nawrot finished in 22nd with a time of 46.05. Neither swimmer qualified for the final round.
Sophomore Myles O' Connor posted a time of 2:09.66 in the 200-meter breaststroke, giving him a 27th-place finish. In the 200-meter backstroke, Gallagher competed but was disqualified for a false start. Freshman Tom Medvecky finished 30th in the 200-meter butterfly event with a time of 1:55.66.
"(Gallagher and Medvecky) really manned up after getting very sick while down there," Nawrot said, "and they fought through it to swim as hard as they could."
The College broke five school records at NCAAs this year. Forsman broke the record for the 100-meter butterfly (49.17) as well as the 100-meter freestyle (45.90) and 200-meter freestyle (1:41.78) while O' Connor set the new standard in the 100-meter breaststroke (55.60).
The College also set a new school record for the 200-meter medley relay. Finishing in 1:31.70 were Nawrot, O' Connor, Forsman and Kircher. Including postseason meets, the College finishes the season at 7-5.
