A long and grueling week the Scarlet Hawks swimmers and divers had at the NAIA National Championship meet in Oklahoma City, but despite the challenges, the Hawks came home with more than just a handful of accomplishments. Over the weekend, the Hawks gained a National Champion, three new school records, a multitude of personal best times, and all around outstanding swims by all the athletes representing IIT at the meet. Junior Ian McNair had an impressive meet, finishing 2nd on the men’s 3 meter board and leaving with his second National Championship title on the 1 meter board. McNair scored 281.00 points on 3 meter on Wednesday, the first day of the meet, and on day two bested senior Christopher Salgado (Concordia University) on the 1 meter board to finish 1st with a score of 326.85. Senior Jeff Reilly also competed on both boards as a first time National competitor, finishing 6th on 1 meter (214.70) and 7th on 3 meter (209.90). When asked what his strategy was for winning, McNair simply said “I just did what I’ve always done and I guess this time it was enough to win. It was more fun just being a part of a competition where if you missed just one dive, that was it.” Ever the humble athlete, McNair says he didn’t feel any different than anyone else at the meet, giving props to all the athletes and commenting that “everyone was at such a high level that day (Thursday on 1 meter) it was so exciting. It really felt like everyone walked away from that competition with some type of accomplishment- mine just happened to come with a plaque.” Overall, the men’s team finished 5th of 15 teams, and the women’s team finished 12th of 17. Throughout the three days of swimming competition, the Scarlet Hawks really showed their determination, giving every swim their all despite any odds working against them. The ladies placed top 16 in all five relays they competed in. The 200 Medley Relay (seniors Andrea Zuniga, Julia Duarte Morgan Curran and Melanie Koto) and the 400 Medley Relay (Zuniga, Curran, junior Aimee Dewante and Koto) both placed 12th with final times of 1:55.33 and 4:12.19 respectively, their 800 yard Freestyle Relay (Koto, sophomore Abby Maze, Curran and Dewante, 8:19.37) and 400 yard freestyle (Dewante, Curran, Zuniga, Koto, 3:45.25) relays both placed 11th, and the 200 yard Freestyle Relay came in 14th (Dewante, Zuniga, Curran and Koto, 1:45.92). Individually, Curran placed 10th in the 400 yard Individual Medley (4:43.33) while Dewante took 15th in the event (4:50.65), and Duarte placed 14th in the 100 yard Breaststroke with a 1:10.28. The men’s team also had all five relays place top 16, and a handful of amazing individual swims, three of which resulted in new team records. The 200 yard Medley Relay took 4th overall with a time of 1:34.43. The relay consisted of senior Carlos Tejero, junior Eric Grunden, and sophomores Michael Bodzay and Yoni Pruzansky. The 200 yard Freestyle Relay (Grunden, Tejero, junior Matthew Rosenfeld and Pruzansky) finished 9th overall (1:25.42), as did the 400 yard Medley Relay (Tejero, Grunden, Bodzay, and Pruzansky, 3:28.33), while the 400 yard Freestyle Relay finished 8th (Grunden, Tejero, Bodzay and Pruzansky, 3:09.47). Individually, Pruzansky swam a personal record in the 500 yard Freestyle, finishing 16th with a 4:42.18. Grunden finished 8th in the 200 yard Individual Medley (1:57.10), while Bodzay finished 15th in the event (1:56.72) and 9th in the 400 yard Individual Medley with a 4:03.97, setting a new team record. In the 200 yard Freestyle, Pruzansky finished 7th (1:40.95), while Grunden finished 14th in the 100 yard Breaststroke (58.17) and Tejero finished 10th in the 100 yard Backstroke (51.59, a new team record). On the final day of the meet, Tejero finished 11th in the 200 yard backstroke (1:54.21), Grunden achieved a new team record in the 200 yard Breaststroke (2:07.73) and finished 14th in the event, and Bodzay finished 9th in the 200 yard Butterfly. All in all, the team finished out a very difficult season on a high note. The team graduates nine seniors, all of whom have been on the National team at some point, and six of whom competed on the National team this year.
