Huge Day for Wildcats in MSC Championships
KINGSPORT, Tenn. – The Mid-South Conference men's swimming & diving championship crowned eight conference champions and set three meet records on Friday night with strong performances at the Kingsport Aquatic Center. The University of the Cumberlands (Ky.) remains a top the team standings as they have accumulated 613 points.
Mikolaj Synowiec of Bethel (Tenn.) captured the final conference title of the meet as he clocked a time of 4:04.78 to win the 400 IM. The Wildcats are in fifth place of the team standings.
The Patriots won six events on the evening, including all three new meet records. Cumberlands' opened and closed the final session with their relay winning in record time as the 200-medley relay went 1:33.06, while the 800 free relay clocked a time of 6:50.81. Mikolaj Kala bested his previous meet record by going 56.36 to lead a Patriot podium sweep in the 100 breast. Nick Davis (1-meter dive), Ruben Gonzalez de Oliveira (200 free) and Kacper Sobieszuk (100 fly) also garnered gold medals on the day.
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) has tallied 418 points to sit in second place. The Blue Raiders notched a one-two finish in the 100 back as William Thilwind captured he conference title with a time of 50.86 as James de Goede touched the wall in 51.23 to the silver. Lindsey Wilson added runner-up finishes in both relays and the 200 free.
Campbellsville (Ky.) is in third place with 307 points highlighted by a trio of bronze medal finishes.
Loyola (La.) is in fourth place with 200 points, while UT Southern is tied with Bethel for fifth place with 184 points apiece. Shawnee State (Ohio) is in seventh place with 158 points as Lincoln (Ill.) has 91 points and Midway (Ky.) is sitting with 49 points.
Swimmers swim in Preliminaries in the morning and Top 16 swimmers of each event advance to the Finals session which is held every night of each day.
BETHEL RECAP:
Bethel had eight swimmers advance to Finals.
The Men's 200 Medley Relay qualified for Nationals with a school record time of 1:37.40 and finished 4th overall.
Mikołaj Synowiec became Bethel's first ever conference champion in the 400 IM along with breaking a school record (4:04.78).
Tania Ranero Badillo finished 12th in the 100 Fly with a time of 1:02.42.
Eric Edwards finished 14th in the 200 Free with a time of 1:53.68.
Fanni Kovacs finished 15th in the 100 Breast with a time of 1:15.
Evan Minter finished 13th in the 100 Breast with a time of 1:02.20.
Keyshawn Erskine finished 16th in the 100 Breast with a time of 1:06.17 and a personal best.
Brock Lane finished 7th in the 100 Back with a time of 52.94.
Ben Williams finished 16th in the 100 Back with a time of 1:09.73 and a personal best.
The final day of competition begins at 9:00 a.m. ET on Saturday, with the final session starts at 5:00 p.m.
Live video is available for all sessions of the 2022 Mid-South Conference Swimming Championship at https://stfanclub.com/live/.
As a reminder, no spectators will be allowed in the venue during the championship.