NAIA Championships: Vicky Sui, Courtenay Mulhern Piling Up Titles at Meet

SAN ANTONIO, Texas, February 29. THE Simon Fraser dynamic duo of Vicky Sui and Courtenay Mulhern kept SFU rolling during the third day of competition at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Championships held in San Antonio, Texas. By the end of the evening, the pair each owned six titles at the meet.

Cal Baptist, however, demonstrated the depth needed to win team titles with 503 points for the women and 382.5 for the men. Simon Fraser stands second with 393 and 356 points, respectively.

Simon Fraser kicked off the night as the women's 200 free relay team of Sui, Mulhern, Addie Kolybaba and Jessica Verheyden just missed the NAIA record of 1:35.18 set in 1995 when the quartet won the event in 1:35.29.

In the men's 200 free relay, the Savannah College of Art and Design foursome of Danny Recordon, Allan Cox, Robert Hess and Vitali Pushkar-Verbitsky raced through the championship heat with a title-winning effort of 1:22.99.

Mulhern added her fifth title of the meet with a swift time of 4:30.49 in the women's 400 IM. Along with the 200 free relay from earlier in the night, Mulhern also claimed titles in the 200 medley relay, 800 free relay and 200 IM last night.

Then, in the men's 400 IM, SFU's Niels Muntzenburger crushed the field with a top time of 4:05.43. That matched his win from last night in the shorter distance medley when he clocked a 1:52.79 to win the 200.

The Sui-Mulhern tag team continued in the women's 100 fly as Sui joined her teammate with her fifth title. On top of the 200 medley relay, 200 free relay and 800 free relay wins, Sui won the 50 free last night.

Pushkar-Verbitsky nabbed his second title of the night with a triumph in the men's 100 fly when he held off Fresno Pacific's Carl Weigley, 49.14 to 49.52, for the win.

Fresh off a win in last night's 800 free relay, SFU's Gia Bogetti touched out Cal Baptist's Katelyn Butler in the women's 200 free, 1:52.05 to 1:52.21.

Matt Hood of Asbury had a touch out of his own in the men's 200 free when he clocked a time of 1:40.91, a finger nail ahead of SFU's David Hibberd – who took second in 1:40.92.

In the 100 breast, SCAD's Liz Roberts walked away with the women's title in 1:06.69, while teammate Thomas Gibson came up just short of the NAIA record with a winning time of 55.29. SFU's Trevor Brekke's standard of 55.24 from 2004 will live yet another year.

In another close race, Cheyenne Coffman of Fresno Pacific touched out Nicole Shipman of Cal Baptist, 57.79 to 57.98, in the women's 100 back, while Cal Baptist's Vicente Andrade touched out Lindenwood's Thomas Bourdin, 50.62 to 50.90, for the men's 100 back title.

In diving, Lindsey Cline of Cal Baptist emerged with the women's three-meter title with a 432.95-point tally.

SFU kept rolling in the relays as Emma West-Sadler, Mulhern, Sui and Verheyden won the women's 400 medley in 3:53.24. That gave the partnership of Sui-Mulhern an incredible six titles each.

Simon Fraser completed a strong evening of swimming when the men's 400 medley relay of David Geary, Sean Nugent, Muntzenburger and Andrew Poznikoff won in 3:21.67.

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