CLEVELAND, Miss. -- The Missouri S&T swimming team wrapped up their second straight New South Intercollegiate Swimming Championships title Saturday night, getting several high finishes and another national qualifier to win the team title by nearly 100 points.
Although the Miners didn't win any of the races Saturday, they did post three second place finishes and five thirds and finished the meet with 830 1/2 points, well ahead of the 733 posted by Ouachita Baptist.
One of the runner-up finishes came from freshman Aaron Schmidt in the 200-yard backstroke as he posted a time of 1:51.55 in the finals. Earlier in the day, Schmidt reached the finals with a time of 1:50.68 to become the 13th member of the team that will head to Columbia, Mo., next month for the NCAA Division II Championships.
Schmidt was one of four Miners to finish among the top seven in the 200-backstroke, as Jeff Enge was third in 1:52.62, Kyle Kammer was fifth in 1:54.74 and Rory Swift placed seventh in 1:56.61.
The Miners also got a second place effort from Zlatan Hamzic in the 200-yard breaststroke with an impressive time of 2:04.92 -- which fell under the automatic mark in that event -- and Andrew Trowbridge in the 1,650-freestyle in 15:53.41.
Matt Hug took third in the 1,650-free in 16:04.12 and Danny Murphy was seventh in that event in 16:32.73. In the 200-breaststroke, David Calcara finished fourth in 2:07.49 and Mitch Berggren was eighth in 2:11.83.
The Miners' other third place finishes on an individual basis Saturday came from David Sanchez-Turner in the 100-yard freestyle in 46.18 seconds and Zach Lemons in the 200-butterfly where he posted a time of 1:53.33.
S&T also had a sixth-place finish from Dustin Spieker in the 200-butterfly in 1:55.82, followed by Brian Howell in 1:55.96. In the 100-free, Kyle Gordon took seventh in 47.19 seconds and Mark Chamberlain was eighth in 47.56 seconds.
The Miners also had a third place showing from its 400-yard freestyle relay team of Chamberlain, Gordon, Hug and Sanchez-Turner, with a time of 3:05.60 that fell below the automatic qualifying standard in that event (all four swimmers had already qualified for nationals).
Missouri S&T's next competition will take place at the NCAA Division II Championships, which begins March 12 at the Mizzou Aquatics Center at the University of Missouri in Columbia.
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