CHAMPIONSHIP HOME | COMPLETE RESULTS
FORT PIERCE, Fla. – With a collective 1,386 points after four days, Indian River State (Fla.) blew past the competition for its 42nd consecutive NJCAA men's swimming & diving championship.
Finishing in second with 635.5 points was South Georgia State, while Iowa Central tallied 497 points for third.
The Pioneers' dominance started quickly as Craig Emslie claimed the 50-yard breaststroke in 24.20 seconds with Matt Ankerholz coming in second at 25.18. Andrew Wojcik and South Georgia State's Mitchell Graham shared third place with a time of 25.76.
In the 1,000-yard freestyle, Jason Van Der Touw, Matt Nielsen and Alexa Berggren followed with their own 1-2-3 finish for Indian River State. Van Der Touw headlined the trio with a time of 9:14.36. Nielsen earned second as he was clocked at 9:21.17 with Berggren following at 9:42.29.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the quartet of Danny Hartley, Gavin Erdmann, Josh Fauteux and Joesy Sedacca helped the Indian River State cause as they came in at 1:20.99. Southwestern Oregon's foursome of Thomas Crawford, Carlos McClerkin, Wyatt Engler and Thomas Reams came in second at 1:25.01.
The first NJCAA championship record of the meet fell on the third day, when Emslie's 100-yard breaststroke time of 52.57, surpassed Emmett Walling's 2009 mark of 53.83. Indian River State went on to also claim second through fifth with finishes from Fauteux (55.30), Sergi Marten (55.69), Wojcik (55.81) and Ankerholz.
Emslie took down another NJCAA record with help from Van Der Touw, Fauteux and Cameron Newton during the 800-yard freestyle relay as the team was clocked at 6:31.84, just 0.06 seconds faster than previous mark set by the Pioneers the year before.
The final record to fall came during the 200-yard breaststroke as Emslie' s time of 1:56.01, edged out Seth Van Neerdan of Broward's 23-year mark of 1:57.04.
Photos courtesy of Robert Lane.