FREMONT, Neb. – The No. 6 Olivet Nazarene University men's swim and dive team traveled to Nebraska for the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) Conference Championships Thursday through Saturday.  The Tigers saw great results and won the KCAC Conference Championship for the first time in the Championship's history. Head Coach Kelly Essler won Coach of the year.    

The Tigers got off to a good start in the 200-yard freestyle relay.  The team of Erik Firganek, Alejandro Evreinoff-Salinas, Demarcus Washington, and Timothy Braun raced to a third-place finish with a time of 1:25.37.  Mason Beall followed that up with a victory in the 500-yard freestyle.  Beall broke the meet record racing to a 4:39.44 time.  The Tigers kept up their impressive start to the meet as Connor Harrison and Firganek finished second and fourth, respectively, in the 200-yard IM. After Braun finished third in the 50-yard freestyle, the Tigers saw another record-setting result in the 400-yard freestyle relay.  The team of Nicholas Klenner, Evreinoff-Salinas, Christian Mikrut, and Braun finished first with a time of 3:22.54.  The Tigers also saw success on the diving board as Kyle Lovell finished second in the 1-meter diving and Joshua Whaley finished third.  After one day of events, ONU is currently in first over Morningside.  

The Tigers started day two of the championships with a record-setting performance in the 200-yard medley relay.  The team of Klenner, Evreinoff-Salinas, Mikrut, and Braun won the race with a time of 1:32.08.  After Liam Kuiper swam to a third-place finish at the 400-yard IM and Mikrut swam to a second-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly, Beall, Braun, and Firganek placed second, third, and fourth, respectively in the 200-yard freestyle.  Beall finished with a time of 1:42.68.  A few of events later, Klenner and Chase Aruskevicus finished first and second in the 100-yard backstroke.  Klenner finished with a record-setting time of 51.68 seconds and Aruskevicius finished with a time of 52.19 seconds. The Tigers ended the day with another meet record-setting time in the 800-yard freestyle relay.  The team of Beall, Firganek, Evreinoff-Salinas, and Braun finished with a time of 6:58.13.   

Mason Beall kicked off the final day of action for the Tigers by winning the 1650-meter freestyle with a time of 16:43.16. Beall won by nearly 13 seconds. Braun then followed up with a second-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle. Then, just like in the 100-yard backstroke on day two, Klenner and Arskevicus took first and second in the 200-yard backstroke. Klenner won with a time of 1:53.14. After Evreinoff-Salinas and Peter Adams took third and fourth places at the 200-yard breaststroke, Harrison and Mikrut took the first two places in the 200-yard butterfly. Harrison won the race with a time of 1:52.06. The Tigers finished up the meet with a third- place finish in the 400-yard medley relay with a final time of 3:07.93.       

Below are the top four finishers for the Tigers 

*New KCAC Championships Record 

WHAT'S NEXT?  

The No. 6 Tigers travel to Columbus, Ga. on Wednesday, March 2nd through Saturday, March 5th for the NAIA National Championships.  Please visit onutigers.com for more information.  

--ONU— 

*Contact: Sam Viebrock, Sports Information Director, stviebrock@olivet.edu