Trinity Swimming and Diving: 2011 SCAC Men's Swimming and Diving Championships

Our 500 freestylers! Alex Miranda (SCAC and School Record Holder), Andrew Battles
(2011 Conference Champion), Michael Brew, and FYs Lucas Belury and Arthur Daigh
contributing to TU dominance in the 500.

Our men had an amazing meet. The goal coming into the 2011 SCAC Championships was to swim fast, dive well, and beat DePauw. We accomplished the first two of these and came really close to upsetting the defending champions.

Kevin Martin, 2011 Conference Diver
of the meet and Trinity's new 1-M
record holder.

The men's meet kicked off on Wednesday evening with 1-meter diving, where Kevin Martin and Andrew Snead went 1 - 2. Matt Hawley chipped in a 10th place finish, and TU jumped to a 40 - 25 lead over the Tigers from Indiana. It was a lead that was to jump back and forth for the next three days. Martin's was also the first of seven individual events captured by Trinity's men, nearly double that of any other team competing at the beautiful Conroe ISD Natatorium in Shenandoah, TX. DePauw took home four individual wins and Colorado College won three. The difference maker for this year's SCAC team contest was DePauw's sprint depth, which racked up points in the 50 and 100 freestyle events and the five relays that combined to ante up 220 points to the winner's grand total. Hats off to DePauw for that accomplishment. The cool thing for Trinity is the fact that we will not graduate a single swimming point this coming spring. Snead has come to the "end of the trail" as a college diver, but our swimming team comes back intact. A good recruiting class will only make us more competitive.

On Thursday night, we did well. Our 200 freestyle relay team (Zach Dielmann, Aaron Shaver, Drew Cauthorn, and Spencer Bard) earned All-SCAC honors with a 3rd place finish. The TU men then "owned' the 500 freestyle. Junior Andrew Battles led a 1 - 2 - 3 - 5 - 8 - 9 Tiger finish as our men put 87 points on the scoreboard. Andrew got out quick on his way to a 4:35.95 finish, edging team mate Alex Miranda for the first time in three SCAC 500 "big final" swims. First-years Lucas Belury and Arthur Daigh finished 3 - 5 with personal best times (4:38.42 and 4:41.51), insuring that Trinity will continue its tradition of excellence in this event. Over the last 17 years, we've won every end-of-season Championship 500 freestyle event contested.

The 200 IM proved to be another good race for us, with Sean Fronczak coming in a very close second. DePauw's Matt Gleason had a torrid last 50 and edged past our guy, with the two of them clocking 1:55.28 to 1:55.47. Matt Wey was sixth, his first of three Championship final finishes. Aaron Shaver then clocked a PR 21.26 to capture 3rd place in the 50 freestyle. Zach Dielmann was 6th and both Drew Cauthorn and Spencer Bard picked up consolation final points. We closed off the night with a solid 3rd place in the 400 medley relay, finishing just 3 one hundredths of a second behind Sewanee's medley relay foursome. A year down the road, I think we'll make a run a the SCAC meet record of 3:25.13. Let's see what happens with that prediction!

200 Medley Relay: Zach Dielmann, Aaron Shaver, Spencer Bard,
and Audel Mehrinfar.The guys broke the pervious school record set just last year.

Friday afternoon opened up with 3 – meter diving where Kevin Martin, Andrew Snead, and Richard Hawley went 1 - 2 - 4, chalking up 52 points to help maintain Trinity’s lead over DePauw going into the swimming events that night. All three men improved upon their scores and overall place in the 3 – meter standings from last year’s performances. It’s exciting to imagine what our returning divers might accomplish next year.

Friday evening opened with the 200 medley relay. Dielmann, Audel Mehrinfar, Bard, and Shaver hit 1:34.71 and tallied silver, finishing just behind DePauw once again. We then rebounded with a win in the 400 IM, as Alex Miranda racked up his third straight title in that event. Matt Wey was 5th and TU held on to its lead in the team race. Next up was the 100 butterfly, where Spencer Bard and Zach Dielmann posted times of 50.73 and 51.65. Bard broke his own school record and Zach clocked a PR as they, along with Drew Cauthorn and JJ Lubinski in the consolation heat, racked up more 100 fly points than any team competing. Our win in the 400 IM and our school record in the 100 butterfly was then followed with yet another win, this time in the 200 freestyle. Andrew Battles swam a PR 1:42.29 on his way to his first-ever 200 title, while Aaron Shaver clocked a PR 1:43.27 and finished 4th and Arthur Daigh posted a 1:47.02 in his second big final swim of the weekend. DePauw then came back with a win in the 100 breaststroke, outscoring us 45-14 and showing us how important depth is in meets like this. Something to work on in the future. Audel Mehrinfar's 6th place was our only top 8 finish there. DePauw then went 1 - 3 to our 2 - 4 in the 100 backstroke, with Sean Fronczak and Zach Dielmann recording very competitive times in the dorsal sprint. Our 800 freestyle relay finished the evening with a 3rd place effort as Miranda, Belury, Battles, and Daigh came close to an NCAA "B" cut and gave DePauw a good run for their money in a race they were favored to win handily.

End of the night Friday, we had a 5 point lead in the men's team scoring race. Pretty cool. Saturday evening started well, as Miranda, Belury, Brew, and Lubinski, finished 1 - 2 - 4 - 10. Alex hit a 16:05.50 and Lucas went the mile with a 103 degree fever. Tough performances and 59 points. Andrew Battles, Sean Fronczak, and Arthur Daigh then went 1 - 2 - 6 to DePauw's 3 - 4 -7 and we inched ahead a bit on the scoreboard. Really cool.

Next up was the 100 freestyle and that's where the table got turned on us. Despite Aaron Shaver's 46.46, a PR and a runner-up effort. DePauw put five guys in the championship final and clobbered us point-wise (68 to 17 all told). We for sure need some more sprinters next season! However, nice that Aaron was able to beat all five of their guys in what was DePauw's best event of the meet.

Unfortunately, their depth was evident in the last two individual events of the evening, and by the time we got to the 400 freestyle relay the deal was sealed as far as the meet's outcome was concerned. DePauw outscored us in the 200 breaststroke, although Audel Mehrinfar set a new school record (2:09.12) on his way to a 5th place finish, and then put three men in the big final of the 200 butterfly to put us away. Lucas Belury was our only finals qualifier there, but had to scratch out of the race (down with the flu). Big bummer for us. The night closed with another DePauw relay win, while our guys finished 3rd with a solid effort. Shaver split a 46.00 and Battles showed some good speed with a 46.72 - not bad for a guy who holds our school record in the mile!

We left Houston very pleased with our meet. The men raced hard and we are looking forward to next February. A good recruiting class will make a very good team even better, so we're already excited about the future. The SCAC Championships are slated to return to Shenandoah in 2012, and Trinity will be ready to rumble when we get there. To wrap up this summary of our 2011 experience, team scoring went as follows:

Depauw - 987.5

Trinity - 891

Sewanee - 456

Centre - 441

Colorado - 407

Rhodes - 348

Hendrix - 284.5

Southwestern - 205

Austin - 167

- Coach Ryan

For results and news coverage check out:

2011 SCAC Swimming and Diving Championships