Dyer grabs another title, de Oliveira takes 6th

ELKHART, Ind. -- For the second consecutive night, Katherine Dyer stood on the top podium.

Friday night it was the women's 400 yard IM, breaking the NAIA championship record with a time of 4:21.33 at the 2025 NAIA Swimming & Diving Championships in Elkhart, Ind.

This is the third individual national championship for The Master's in program history and second for the freshman Dyer.

"The 400 IM is one of the hardest races you can swim," Dyer said. "I wanted to win and I wanted the meet record, which I got. I prayed before [the race] and I asked the Lord to just give me peace because since it's a really tough race I tend to panic a lot. So I wanted peace and I wanted to enjoy it. I've had a great year in this event and to end it on a championship win and a meet record is pretty incredible. So I can't be more thankful for that."

"She came out and did what she needed to do," said TMU Head Coach Curren Bates. "We had our eyes on the title and the meet record and she came out and executed to plan."

Kylee Sears set out to defend her national title from a year ago in the 200 Freestyle, but had to settle for second with a time of 1:49.94.

"In this event there was a Division I transfer from Washington State that came in as the clear favorite for this year," Bates said. "And Kylee raced her down. She was gaining on her [toward the end of the race] and almost beat her. She just ran out of room at the end. And they were clearly so far ahead of the rest of the field. So I think this will give her really good motivation for next year to regain the title."

With just Dyer and Sears representing the women's team, TMU stands in 13th out of the 38 teams with one more day to go. Camryn Bussey will add her name to the roster as she swims the 100 Free on Saturday, along side Dyer and Bussey.

On the men's side, Nilton Dos Santos de Oliveira finished 6th in the men's 100 Butterfly with a program record 48.65.

"It's a love/hate relationship," de Oliveira said. "For four or five years I was stuck at the same time, but last year I started dropping like crazy. So I was thankful to the Lord to allow me to be blessed in that way. And the times just kept going down. In this [national championship] meet, I just wanted to go fast. So I PR'd in the prelims, Praise the Lord. Then the finals came and I broke another barrier going 48, which is really hard. So I was again very thankful for how gracious the Lord was in that race."

"Nilton has been awesome and throughout his years at Masters he has been increasing his versatility," Bates said. "When he came in he was really only competitive in the Fly, but now he's competitive in every single event we put him in. But the 100 Fly has always been his bread and butter. And getting 48 in the 100 Fly puts you into the upper echelon of butterfliers, and that shows with being an All-American and 6th-place finish at nationals."

Dylan Crane came in 7th in the 200 Free, setting a new TMU record of 1:37.47 in the prelims Friday morning.

"That event has gotten way faster in the last two years," said Coach Bates. "Last year he would have been runner-up and two years ago he would have walked away with it. So it's a super-competitive event. And that time is super elite, 1:40 is one of those barriers that once you go past that you're elite, elite, elite."

Charley Sears set a new program standard with his 4:02.01 in the men's 400 IM, finishing 13th. David Kugler took 16th with a 4:11.97.

The men's 400 Medley Relay team of Tyler LeDet, Sears, de Oliveira and Crane took 7th with a 3:21.71 to cap off the night. It is the fourth relay to be made All-American for The Master's in this meet, which ties the team record. And with that 7th-place finish, the men moved up to 8th in the overall standings.

"We have one more relay to race [on Saturday], and if we do well in that we will get our fifth relay All-American, which will break the record for us," Bates said. "And we're missing some of our pieces because of the relay rules. So Desmond (Sutanto) would be on the relay usually."

Day four prelims will be held in the morning with the finals getting underway at 5 p.m. ET, 2 p.m. PT. You can watch the meet by clicking HERE and see official results by clicking HERE.