Amanda Moran became the first female athlete in Olivet’s history to capture the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national championship in the same event in three consecutive years. She has inked her name forever in the ONU record books by capturing three 100 Backstroke and three 200 Backstroke titles. She currently holds the school record in both events and the NAIA record in the 200 Backstroke (1:56.87).
Competition among athletes from 23 men’s and women’s teams was unrelenting during the 2018 NAIA Nationals at the Columbus Aquatics Center in Columbus, Georgia.
Tiger women’s swimming and diving team
Highlights
In addition to Amanda’s strong performance, Andrea Vega set two new school records en route to her two breaststroke titles. She earned the NAIA Swim of the Meet honors for her efforts in the 100 Breaststroke.
The Tigers won four out of the five relays in the 2018 NAIA Nationals, setting three new school records in the process: the 200 Medley Relay (Amanda, Andrea, Kara DeLong and Leanne Latocha); the 200 Freestyle Relay team (Deirdre Gerke, Jordan Enders, Andrea and Leanne); the 400 Medley Relay (Amanda, Andrea, Kara and Deirdre); the 400 Freestyle Relay (Andrea, Karla Islas, Deirdre and Leanne).
Karla Islas captured the NAIA title in the 400 Individual Medley, also setting a new ONU record.
Find the detailed results for the Olivet women’s team here.
Final results
The women’s team placed second overall — just 84 points behind Savannah College of Art and Design (Georgia) in first place and 132 points ahead of University of the Cumberlands (Kentucky) in third place.
Scholar-Athletes
Six members of the women’s team — more than on any other team in the nation — were named to 2017–18 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete Team: Mattie Miller, a senior majoring in business administration; Deirdre Gerke, a senior majoring in engineering; Kristena Poll, a senior majoring in marketing; Margaret Carnahan, a junior majoring in business administration; Vanessa VanOost, a junior majoring in biology; and Adrienne Anderson, a junior majoring in psychology. In order to be nominated by an institution’s head coach or sports information director, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale and must have achieved a junior academic status to qualify for this honor.
Tiger men’s swimming and diving team
Highlights
In the 800 Freestyle Relay, Daniil Kuzmin, Charles Bennett, Josh Bouma and Iran Cavalcante-Almeida captured the title in this opening event of the 2018 Nationals and also broke the ONU record. The previous record was set on March 1, 2017, by Austin Bennett, Josh Bouma, Vlad Khoroletc and Daniil Kuzmin.
Iran left his mark on the 2018 Nationals in the 200 Butterfly, breaking both the ONU school record and the NAIA national record — the only NAIA record to fall during the four-day event. He also won the 100 Butterfly.
Daniil Kuzmin defended his NAIA title in the 400 Individual Medley for the third consecutive year.
Find the detailed results for the Olivet men’s team here.
Final results
The men’s team placed third overall — 150 points ahead of Lindenwood University in fourth place.
Scholar-Athletes
Four members of the men’s team were named as 2017–18 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes: Guilherme Magnoler, a senior majoring in engineering; Austen Marshall, a junior majoring in finance and accounting; Todd Suttor, a senior majoring in engineering; and Josh Bouma, a senior majoring in finance.
To learn more about the Tiger athletics program, contact the Office of Admissions at admissions@olivet.edu or 800-648-1463.
Published: 3/6/2018
