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Garcia Wins National Title | Oilers Conclude NCAA DII Championship
Posted: Mar 11, 2023

Garcia Wins National Title | Oilers Conclude NCAA DII Championship

Results

Indianapolis, Ind. – The University of Findlay men's and women's swimming and diving teams concluded their trip to Indianapolis for the 2023 Division II Swimming & Diving National Championship on Saturday, March 11. It was a historic day in the IUPUI Natatorium for the Oilers as the men went on to finish seventh in the country, the highest finish in program history and two spots higher than a season ago. Findlay's women ended the week in 23rd, the team's highest finish at nationals since 2016 when they finished 18th.  

In total, Findlay garnered 15 individual all-American awards, seven of which were first team and eight of which were second team. The Oilers men also earned all-American in all five relays while the women took all-American in one relay for a grand total of 21 times in which Findlay earned a top-16 finish. 

Daniel Garcia was the Oilers most decorated athlete of the week, bringing home three first team all-American awards, including a national championship, and one second team award. He also earned all-American in three different relays. 

On the women's side, it was freshman Emily Mears-Bentley who earned second team all-American in two individual events to go along with a second team effort in the 200 free relay, as well. 

Quotes from Coach Andrew Makepeace

This week was one for the record books and marked our greatest NCAA finish for the men and a big return to the stage for the women.

The best part about this week was the resiliency our team showed during tough times. A seventh-place finish wasn't what our men wanted, they wanted a trophy, but seeing that outside a few banner performances, we were able to best some of the traditional powers shows that when we are on, our team is as dangerous as any in Division II. This leaves us hungry for next year!

Our women also had a solid meet. We had six ladies who were all on the biggest stage for the first time and now they know what to expect and plan for in the coming years. We weren't as sharp as we'd like, but showed that we are a top team with a tremendous future ahead.

We return all those who competed to our roster next year, which is exciting as their continued development will only allow for hopefully better results next year. There was a lot to learn from this week. Handling stress and emotions against the best competition in the country is a challenge. Daniel Garcia's title only demonstrates that. He had a tough first couple of days and his results weren't what we anticipated, but he brought it in the finale and capped an incredible year. Tim Stollings had a great meet also and continues to be a leader on our team in good times and in bad.

All the successes of the week came to a peak in the final individual event of the championship, the men's 200 breaststroke. Findlay standout junior Daniel Garcia entered the event with something to prove. Yesterday, in the 100-breaststroke final, Garcia led through 50 yards but was out touched at the wall, finishing the event in third. 

On Saturday, Garcia's prelim time in the 200 breaststroke was the second-best of the morning and gave him a middle lane for the evening's finals. The Bucaramanga, Colombia native spent much of the race biding his time, lurking in the wake of his competitors. Through the first 50 yards, Garcia was in fourth and through 100 yards, he remained in that spot. He had moved up into third with just 50 yards to go and that is when the extra gear kicked in. 

In his final 50 yards, Garcia dusted the field, swimming the final two lengths in a time of 29.38, picking up more than a second-and-a-half on the two competitors who had led for the entirety of the race. By the end of the race, Garcia had clocked in a school record time of 1:54.51 and finished a half-second ahead of the field. He slapped the water in celebration as the junior had earned his first-ever NCAA DII event championship. It is just the second event national championship in program history, placing Garcia along teammate Tim Stollings who won the 100-butterfly at the 2021 NCAA DII meet. 

Not to be lost in the magnitude of that moment was the performance by junior Marko Priednieks in the same event. Priednieks earned his way into the consolation finals with a very good prelim swim in the morning. In the finals he clocked a time of 2:00.12 which gave him 16th in the event, good for second-team all-American. 

The final all-American awards for Findlay came in the men's 400 freestyle relay. Sophomore Angel Margaritov, Stollings, junior Dags Bregis, and sophomore Camilo Marrugo teamed up to earn a 12th place finish, garerning second team all-American with a time of 2:57.22. 

In the morning prelims, freshman Emily Mears-Bentley came up just shy of a spot in the finals in the 100 free. Her time of 50.90 was one-hundreth of a second behind the spot in front of her and placed her in 17th, one spot out of a trip to the consolation finals. 

Freshman Katie Susi also narrowly missed a trip to the finals in the women's 200 breaststroke. She finished her prelims in 19th with a time of 2:19.39, less than three-tenths of a second out of a top-16, consolation finals spot. 

Freshman Randy Keener II took 26th in the 200 backstroke with a prelim time of 1:48.59 while Dags Bregis was 30th in the 100 free with a time of 44.74. 

Freshman Matteo Filippi ended his debut week at the event with the 1650 freestyle. He would finish the event in 22nd with a time of 15:50.72.