KINGSPORT, Tenn. - For the second year in a row, Lindsey Wilson claimed second place in the Mid-South Conference Championships at the Kingsport Aquatic Center in Kingsport, Tennessee. The Blue Raiders accumulated 548 points and trailed only Cumberlands' (Ky.) score of 772 as the Patriots claimed their third-straight conference title.
James de Goede received MSC Swimmer of the Year honors, the second Blue Raider in a row to earn the award after Calvin Coetzee did so in 2020. Adding to the accolades, head coach Alicia Kemnitz was honored as the men and women's MSC Coach of the Year for the third time in her career.
In the first final of the day, de Goede, Chase Hickman, Reece Kincaid, and Tyler King scored Second Team All-MSC with a second-place finish and an A-cut standard of 3:08.82 in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Will Thilwind scored Lindsey Wilson's first victory of the evening in the 200-yard backstroke. The sophomore notched a time of 2:02.02 for sixth place in the preliminaries and a spot in the A-final. Thilwind found an extra few gears during the final as he knocked over ten seconds off his prelim time to claim the win and First Team All-MSC with a provisional standard of 1:51.67, just 14 hundredths off the school record.
De Goede acquired another victory for the Blue Raiders in the 100-yard freestyle. A trio of Lindsey Wilson swimmers secured spots in the A-final. King (47.25) and de Goede (47.76) recorded provisional standards and finishes of second and third in the prelims while Jordan Schaffer (49.95) came in eighth. Joshua Seltz (50.59) and Connor Barton (51.59) earned a trip to the B-final with 10th and 12th place finishes, respectively.
In the A-final, de Goede (45.89) swam to a slim lead after the first 50 yards and held on until the end to earn First Team All-MSC. King (46.07) was just inches behind in second for Second Team All-MSC honors and Schaffer (49.58) stopped the clock in eighth. Seltz (50.45) received a third-place result in the B-final and Barton (50.64) improved his time by over one second to take fourth.
Tyler Buffel (2:11.81) and Bryce Rice (2:11.92) finished side-by-side in third and fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke preliminaries. Both times were provisional standards and good enough for the A-final. The two Blue Raiders could not separate in the final either as Buffel (2:10.64) notched a fourth-place finish and Rice (2:14.62) was one place behind in fifth.
Hickman (1:58.82) and Kincaid (1:59.05) followed with provisional standards in the 200-yard butterfly as the two garnered placements of third and fifth to reserve a lane in the A-final. In the last event of the championships, Hickman earned a place on the podium and Third Team All-MSC by clocking in at 1:56.61 for third while Kincaid (1:59.89) took sixth.
This concludes the 2020-2021 campaign for Lindsey Wilson men's swimming as the NAIA National Championships are canceled due to multiple host sites withdrawing because of COVID-19 concerns.
