Stephen Gilbert finishes fourth in men’s 200 IM, Buffs earn All-America status in four relays and seven school records fall on day two of NAIA National Championships

COLUMBUS, Ga. (March 3, 2022) – Sophomore Stephen Gilbert posted the highest individual men's finish in program history, seven school records fell and the Milligan University swim teams earned four All-America honors in relay events on the second day of the NAIA National Championships in Georgia.

Milligan opened the second night of the NAIA National Championships with a pair of All-America showings in the 200-yard freestyle relays. Maggie Blazo, Emma Rae Phillips, Liz Mahan and Gabby MacPherson were seeded ninth but jumped up to a fifth-place finish in the timed finals with a school record time of 1:38.18.

Milligan took fourth in the men's 200 free relay as Cole Brusher, Andre Bazzana, Witkor Perkowski and Gilbert posted a program record time of 1:23.13.

Gilbert went on earn All-America status in the men's 200 IM. He logged a Milligan record time of 1:48.48 to finish fourth, the top individual finish in program history.

The Buffs closed the evening with two more top-four All-America relay finishes in the 400 medley relay. Tyler Cates, Kaylee Williams, MacPherson and Blazo combined to swim 3:53.90 to finish fourth, the highest women's relay showing in team history.

Milligan's men recorded their third top-four relay finish as Perkowski, Aubin Dulin, Bazzana and Gilbert recorded a school record time of 3:21.51.

MacPherson was ninth in the 500 free (5:08.17) and Cates took 13th with a lifetime best of 5:12.51. In the men's 500 free, Bazzana set a team record of 4:36.74 to finish 11th and Ben Hawkins notched a personal best (4:39.55) to finish 14th.

After swimming a school record in the 50 free prelims (24.20), Blazo finished 10th overall in 24.33.

In the men's 50 freestyle, Perkowski finished 11th in 21.27 and Brusher was 14th (21.43).

In the morning prelims, Dulin logged a personal best in the 200 IM (1:55.35) to finish 17th. Bre Coley swam a lifetime best and set Milligan's team record in 200 IM (2:13.83) to finish 18th in qualifying. Liz Mahan made her individual national championship debut with a 24th-place showing in the 50 free (24.89). Ethan McCosh swam a season-best 4:44.63 in the 500 free in his first individual race at the national championships.

The NAIA Swimming & Diving Championships continue tomorrow morning in Columbus with prelims for the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast and 100 back at 9:00 a.m. Finals for those events and the 200 medley relay are set for 5:00 p.m.