I know, I know, it’s not a big glamour conference… It’s not even a DI conference!  But the New South Intercollegiate Swim Conference is the most-decorated conference in recent DII history, home of upteenth-time defending champion Drury as well as several other teams that have gotten podium spots at the national meet in recent years.  It’s also the conference I know best, having competed in the meet for my four years of college swimming.  So I thought it was time to give the meet, which starts tomorrow, a good preview.

The men’s meet boasts 5 teams ranked in the final CSCAA Coaches Poll.  Drury takes the lead at #4, although they don’t typically bring their NCAA-locked swimmers, which I will take into account in the event previews.  Also ranked are #14 Ouachita Baptist, #16 Missouri S&T, #18 Delta State and #21 Henderson State.  S&T comes in as the 5-time defending conference champion, but this meet will be as close as it has been since it’s inception.

Freestyle:

OBU’s Marcus Schlesinger is the class of this conference in terms of sprinting.  His seed of 20.47 will be the top entry time at the meet.  He’ll be challenged by S&T’s pair of Sean Deegan and Jacob Dole, the latter of which made the big final at the national meet last year.  Dole and Schlesinger are tied for the top non-Drury time in the 100 with matching 45.16s, also by far the best entry times at the meet.  Also to watch are DIII Centenary College’s contingent of sprinters.  Devin Ross was DI Summit Leage champion last year, and he and Caleb McSorley have been 20s and 46s.

For the mid-distance races, Delta State’s Yvan Nys, S&T’s Luke Norris and Henderson’s Adam Milecz come in with season best times under 1:42 in the 200, while Truman’s Jerod Simek and Delta’s Vlad Zinca, Wolfgang Mairinger and Ben Vaughan will be the favorites in the 500.  Take away Zinca and add S&T’s Matt Welsh and Ryan Layne and Drury’s Jason Bell and Cory McVey and you have the favorites for the long-distance races.

Dark Horses: S&T’s Hayden Price, HSU’s Terrance Fogle, HSU’s Robert Fisher

Backstroke

Schlesinger is also the defending 100 backstroke champ, he’s already gone faster this year.  He’ll be pushed by fellow sub-50 club member (though not this year yet) Deegan and Henderson’s Nick James.  The 200 back has traditionally been S&T’s biggest scoring event of the meet, and they should be able to get a fair number of points again this year with returning runner-up Nate Kamrath and 4th place Hayden Price, who has already been over a second faster this year.  Arturo Castro-Diaz and Nate Weiss of Drury will also be in the running.

Dark Horses:  OBU’s Emile Maritz, S&T’s Luis Nesrala

Breaststroke

This event lost a lot of senior strength from last year with several All-Americans reaching the end of their eligibility.  Matt Pope of OBU and Delta’s duo of German Toby Tombers and Clayton Boyd will be the favorites in the 100.  S&T’s star freshman Ethan Goldfarb holds the best 200 time by almost 2 seconds over Pope, and Andrew Simek, also of S&T has been a solid point-scorer in both events.

Dark Horses:  S&T’s Alex Griffin, HSU’s Aaron Jost

Butterfly

Or maybe Schlesinger will choose to do the 100 fly?  He’s the top time in this event as well at 48.5.  After him, Delta’s Zinca and Ouachita’s Adam Zajac have been under 50 this year, while Delta’s Michael Dubose was under 50 last year.  The 200 ought to be a dual between Delta’s Zinca and S&T’s Phil Arve, although neither may be tapered since they have both basically locked up national spots.  They still are by far the favorites, though the times may not be as stellar as you’d expect.

Dark Horses:  OBU’s Carl Thomas, S&T’s Alfredo Martinez-Aguilar

Individual Medley

S&T’s Goldfarb will have the best entry time in both IMs.  He’s squarely on the NCAA bubble so expect him to be looking to drop, especially his 3:59.9 400 IM.  OBU’s Kristian Krc has been a solid performer through his senior year, expect more of the same in his final conference meet.  Besides Krc, S&T’s Kamrath is the only returning A-finalist in this event, though HSU’s James has put up some good times in the B-finals.  DSU’s Zinca has only done the 200 IM unrested, but he’s been 1:54.9 already.  Could be ready to drop depending on if he enters the 500 or the 200 IM.  In the 400, Drury’s Bell will look to join Goldfarb under the 4 minute mark.  He’s been very close this year but he needs to drop a little more to give himself a good shot of making the big show his senior year.

Dark Horses:  S&T’s Layne, Delta’s Lorenz

Relays

Overall team depth has a big effect on relay scoring in this meet, as both A and B relays score points.

OBU has the advantage in the medley relays, no matter whether Schlesinger swims back or free they have three very strong legs and one above-average with Jake McLain probably manning the remaining spot with A-final pedigree in either stroke.  Their sprint free relays are very strong as well.

S&T should as usual be stronger in the longer medley relay, their stroke swimmers tend toward the 200s but Dole is one of the best relay anchors in the nation.  The also have the best foursome of sprinters, with Dole and Deegan joined by sophomores Price and Matt Zieger to add up to four guys with NCAA relay finalist experience.  They have a dearth of guys to pick from for the 4×200, they usually can put together two very strong relays there.

Henderson lost its ace in the hole Grant Beahan to graduation but still bring back a pretty good stable of relay swimmers.  Their weakness will be in the breaststroke leg for the medleys.

Centenary has a very good group of sprinters, they return three guys from a 1:21 200 free and 3:02 400 free relay.  Delta State could surprise in the medleys with Nys, their breastrokers and Zinca able to stay with the best in the conference.

Final Team Predicitions:

In a VERY close one…

1.) S&T
2.) OBU
3.) HSU
4.) Centenary
5.) DSU
6.) Drury
7.) Truman