COLUMBUS, Ga. - Kylee Sears and
Freddie Cole earned individual All-American status by finishing in the Top 8 in their respective events Thursday at the NAIA Swim & Dive National Championships in Columbus, Ga.
The women's 200-yard Freestyle Relay finished sixth, adding three more podiums to the three that were won on the first day.
Sears finished sixth in the women's 500-yard Freestyle with a time of 5:07.84, seven seconds off her fastest time. And while it is her fifth All-American performance, as she earned it four times in 2023, she was disappointed.
"It definitely was not my best race," Sears said. "I tried a new race plan going into it. I went out a little bit too fast and I didn't have enough energy to finish. So it was more of a learning experience, I know what I need to do to come back better next time I swim it."
Cole finished seventh in the men's 200-yard IM with a 1:52.59, the highest individual finish on the men's team at the NAIA national championships in program history. It is the junior's first All-American honor individually and fifth overall.
"I could have spun my wheels a lot less in the backstroke and freestyle," Cole said. "My butterfly and breaststroke felt really smooth. All in all I can't be mad with seventh place. All praise to my Lord and Savior Jesus."
Tyler LeDet and
J.D. Torres swam in the B-Final of the men's 500-yard Freestyle. LeDet touched the wall in 4:36.78, while Torres finished with a 4:42.95.
David Kugler made the B-Final in the men's 200-yard IM, swimming a 1:54.83.
In the fastest sprint of the event,
Dylan Crane swam the B-Final of the 50-yard Freestyle in a time of 20.85.
The final event of this second night was the 200-yard Freestyle Relay, with both teams from The Master's making the B-Final. The women's team of Camryn Bussey, Emma McMurray, Trudy Patterson and Kylee Sears swam the race in 1:36.82 to place sixth, while the men's team of
Nilton Dos Santos de Oliveira,
Tyler LeDet,
Ryan Tanis and
Dylan Crane finished with a 1:25.88 for ninth.
Day three of the four-day national championships will feature the 400-yard IM, 100 Butterfly, 200 Freestyle, 100 Backstroke and 100 Breaststroke. Preliminaries begin at 9 a.m. ET, with finals starting at 5 p.m. In addition, the 400-yard Medley Relay will be contested as the final event of the day.
