Tuesday's Results
Updated Men's Records
Updated Women's Records
Wednesday Prelims Heat Sheets
CANTON, Ohio – The C.T. Branin Natatorium was buzzing with activity from the first session and start of the 2021 Great Midwest Athletic Conference/Mountain East Conference Swimming & Diving Championships on Tuesday evening.
Three different conference championship meet records fell on day one while one overall combined men’s conference record was shattered.
Findlay’s men with the foursome of Paul Pavala (50 backstroke), Luca Chiandussi (100 breaststroke), Tim Stollings (150 butterfly) and Aidan Shue (200 freestyle), officially broke the conference championship meet record in the 200 medley relay, piggybacking off an Oilers’ women’s victory in the same event.
That group combined for a time of 1:29.09, ranking second all-time in combined conference history behind Stollings, Isaac Stretch, Colin Martin and Trent Williams, in the 2019 Calvin Winter Invitational.
The previous conference championship meet record was established in 2018 by Trae Gulgin, Janko Radmanovic, Stretch and Williams (1:31.66).
UF’s grouping of Ashton Klopp (50 backstroke), Kristina Coleman (100 breaststroke), Zoey Fedele (150 butterfly) and Rachel Poling (200 freestyle) also found their way into the record books with a top 10 time of 1:45.25 with tonight’s victory from lane four.
The Oilers also grabbed a first-place finish in the 1,000 freestyle courtesy of Kristofer “Dags” Bregis, just a freshman. Bregis was about five seconds away from logging a top-10 conference time with his effort.
Findlay then broke the conference overall and championship meet record in the 800 freestyle relay with Bregis, Nathan Bourne, Daniel Garcia and Adam Hornak, all contributing. They combined for a time of 6:46.52, just 0.07 second faster than the Oilers in 2018.
The 1-meter diving initially led things off at 6 p.m. ET as UF’s Dalton Shevlin was able to get his preliminary attempts in to start reclamation of the conference title he captured back in 2018, the inaugural combined championship offering.
Shevlin then polished off his dives in the 1-meter finals following the 1,000 freestyle to earn his place as conference meet champion. Shevlin accumulated 415.15 points, which ranks fifth in combined conference history.
The Oilers’ men are aiming for their fourth consecutive team title in this format. Findlay has a total of 192 points after day one followed by Fairmont State with 180 and Notre Dame College with 166.
Hillsdale sophomore Leah Tunney was the top Great Midwest finisher in the 1,000 freestyle, an event that featured six different women’s heats. Tunney swam to a time of 10:37.39 and teammates Sarah Clark and Madison Pyhel were not far behind in fourth and sixth, respectively.
The Chargers are defending conference meet women’s team champions. Hillsdale paces the field in the day one team scoring with 271 points. In second is UNC Pembroke with 161 and Findlay has 156.
UNC Pembroke’s Nathalia Silva posted the fourth-fastest time in the 1,000 freestyle to touch the wall first. She also holds the overall and conference meet record as well. The Braves also broke the conference meet record in the 800 freestyle relay. Three different teams accounted for new top-10 times in the records, including the Braves, runner-up Hillsdale and Findlay in third.