2019 Mid-American Men’s Championship Day 4: Miami Victorious

By Mark McCluskey, Swimming World College Intern

Maintaining the lead from Day 1 to Day 4, Miami University of Ohio finished the Mid-American Men’s Conference Championships with the win.

It was not an easy win, however, as Missouri State was on the prowl throughout the week, never allowing Miami (Ohio) to feel comfortable. On Day 4, the Mid-American men competed in 3 meter diving, 1650 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, and 400 freestyle relay.

Photo Courtesy: Twitter, @MiamiOHSwimDive

Scores

Miami University (Ohio): 957.5
Missouri State University: 899
Southern Illinois University 606.5
University of Evansville: 339.5
Ball State University: 320.5

Results

3 Meter Diving

Harrison Moncino (Miami) won the 3 Meter Dive, getting gold in his second event for the week, having taken the 1 Meter Dive on Day 2. His final score was 354.05 His teammate, Ryan Nash (Miami) finished in a close second, with 353.20 points, less than 1 point away from overtaking his teammate. Nash also finished second in the 1 Meter Dive on Day 2. Both came away with NCAA Division 1 A cuts.

The rest of the Top 8 consisted of Kai Hoffman-Dussome (Southern Illinois) getting third with 305.05, Michael Claunch (Missouri State) getting fourth with 291.95, Sam Widemann (Miami) getting fifth with 280.85, Eli Mercado (Southern Illinois) getting sixth with 256.95, Hunter Ongay (Ball State) getting seventh with 255.85, and John Spence (Missouri State) getting eighth with 251.80.

1650 Freestyle

The 1650 was run as a timed final, with Pawel Krawczyk (Missouri State) running away from the field and finishing nearly seven full seconds ahead of the nearest competitor. Missouri State showed their distance power in the 1650, taking the top four spots, with the rest of the competition far behind. After Krawczyk came Antonio Thomas (15:14.11), Minki Kang (15:17.66), and Sebastian Odent (15:24.95). All four finished with Division 1 B Cuts and were nearly 20 seconds ahead of the nearest competition.

Rounding out the top eight were Christopher Cole (Southern Illinois) finishing fifth in 15:44.75, Kevin Kluge (Southern Illinois) finishing sixth in 15:49.30, James McGuire (Miami) finishing seventh in 15:53.87, and Brandon Crist (Miami) finishing eighth in 15:56.35.

200 Backstroke

Connor Ripp (Missouri State) won the 200 backstroke, managing to be the only swimmer in the field to go under 1:47, managing a 1:46.65. He beat out Miami (Ohio) swimmers James Wray and Jake Precious who had a close battle for second, Wray taking second in 1:47.40 and Precious taking third in 1:47.46.

Behind them were Logan Ackley (Ball State) getting fourth in 1:48.74, Bryce Blattner (Missouri State) finishing fifth in 1:49.14, Thomas Heye (Missouri State) finishing sixth in 1:49.29, Ryan Lehane (Southern Illinois) finishing seventh in 1:49.33, and Christopher Cole (Southern Illinois) finishing eighth in 1:51.78.

100 Freestyle

A senior-freshman duel ended with a veteran on top as Lucas Paloschi (Missouri State) finished first in 44.28, just .07 ahead of freshman Nic Wamsley (Miami), who stopped the clock at 44.35. Paloschi seemed to be being chased by Miami (Ohio) as they took the second, third and fourth spots behind him.

Nick Ward (Miami) finished third in 44.49, Diego Valentim (Miami) finished fourth in 44.53, Samuel Senn (Missouri State) finished fifth in 44.59, Reilly Garman (Southern Illinois) finished sixth in 44.97, Tamas Hajtman (Southern Illinois) finished seventh in 45.21, and Zheng Yeap (Southern Illinois) finished eighth in 45.77.

200 Breaststroke

Noah Barr (Miami) touched the wall just ahead of Blair Bish (Missouri State), both finishing two full seconds ahead of the closest competition, but only .2 seconds between the two. Barr ended up finishing in 1:57.35 and Bish finished in 1:57.55, both achieving Division 1 B cuts.

Chris Phillips (Southern Illinois) finished third in 1:59.80, Alexander Stamatin (Missouri State) finished fourth in 2:01.11, Nikola Andjelic (Miami) finished fifth in 2:01.35, FuKang Wong (Southern Illinois) finished sixth in 2:01.47, Blake Brockman (Miami) finished seventh in 2:01.62, and Jimmy Dooley (Southern Illinois) finished eighth in 2:04.40.

200 Butterfly

After winning the 100 butterfly earlier in the week, Iago Moussalem (Miami) took the 200 butterfly in 1:43.30, ahead of Artur Osvath (Missouri State) who finished in 1:44.29. They were followed by Miami sophomores Kayky Mota (1:45.57) and Gordon Wheeler (1:46.64). All four swimmers qualified for a Division 1 B cut.

They were followed by Spencer Klinsky (Miami) who finished fifth in 1:47.48, Mohamed Abdelbaky (Missouri State) who finished sixth in 1:49.93, Ryan Sego (Miami) who finished seventh in 1:50.14, and Paul Cozzens (Evansville) who finished eighth in 1:54.38.

400 Freestyle Relay

In the final event of the championship, the Miami squad (Valentim, Wamsley, Ward, Moussalem) clinched the Mid-American Championship finishing less than a second ahead of Missouri State (Paloschi, Senn, Shultz, Ripp), the relays going 2:56.54 and 2:57.46, respectively.

Rounding out the relays were Southern Illinois (Garman, Hajtman, Chelberg, Yeap) who finished third in 2:59.88, Evansville (Pattinson, Duke, Sutphin, Hudson) who finished fourth in 3:03.54, and Ball State (Andrew, Weeks, Meyn, McLarty) who finished fifth in 3:05.91.

ITS PARTY TIME @MiamiOHSwimDive pic.twitter.com/uapJ5vkzja

— #MACtion (@MACSports) March 8, 2019

In the end, Miami University of Ohio were victorious at the Mid-American Men’s Championship, winning it for the first time since 2006. Missouri State University was definitely threatening to come back throughout the week, but just could not quite catch up after Miami took the early lead on Day 1. Southern Illinois finished third, well ahead of University of Evansville and Ball State University, who had a close battle for fourth, Evansville taking it just 19 points ahead of Ball State.

Miami University of Ohio managed to take many individual awards, Iago Mousallem voted Swimmer of the Year, Harrison Moncino voted Diver of the Year, Holly Bonewit-Cron voted Swim Coach of the Year, and Kongrong Li voted Diving Coach of the Year.

Missouri State University was honored with two awards, Pawel Krawczyk being awarded Freshman Swimmer of the Year and Artur Osvath being awarded Most Outstanding Senior.

The week was dominated by a lot of senior and freshman talent. While a large amount of the Mid-American Conference is leaving, it was proven that the new arrivals are more than ready to carry on the torch. Next year should prove to be just as exciting of a championship.

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Leandro Dizotti

5 years ago

Congrats Hollie Bonewit-Cron!!!!!

Hollie Bonewit-Cron

5 years ago

Reply to Leandro Dizotti

Leandro Dizotti Muito obrigada!!