×

Northern Michigan University Wildcats’ Ondrej Zach, Roberto Camera runners-up at NCAA swim finals

Ondrej Zach

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The men’s swimming and diving team from Northern Michigan University had a historic day at the NCAA Division II Swim and Dive Championships on Saturday as a pair of swimmers broke records and the team had its best finish ever at the national meet.

The men’s team, which was reinstated in the fall of 2015, finished 12th at the CrossPlex Complex in Birmingham, Alabama, with 127 points, beating out its previous best of 18th, according to accounts from NMU Sports Information.

On Saturday, the fourth and final day of the meet, NMU senior Ondrej Zach finished as runner-up in the 1,650-yard freestyle in 15 minutes, 10.35 seconds, just over 15 seconds behind national champion Fabio Dalu of McKendree. Zach also finished five-plus seconds ahead of the third-place finisher and 17 seconds ahead of the fourth- and fifth-place swimmers in this long-distance event that approximates the mile.

Zach’s time broke NMU and GLIAC records, too.

Sophomore teammate Roberto Camera also had the same close call in the 200 breaststroke, finishing second in 1:56.52, about three-quarters of a second behind champion Filipe Pinheiro of McKendree. Camera also had about three-quarters of a second on the third-place finisher and more than a second on the rest of the finals field.

Roberto Camera

Like Zach, Camera set an NMU record, but this was one that he set earlier in the day in the preliminaries.

They earned All-American honors for their feats.

Northern freshman Thibault Auger, who finished 15th in the 200 backstroke, was named an Honorary All-American after he swam the event in 1:47.52.

In addition, the 400 freestyle relay of Camera, Zach, junior Felipe Lemos and Auger were also named Honorary All-Americans for their 13th place finish in 3:08.41.

On the women’s team, Mand

y Baird had two All-American performances in diving, earning 25 points by herself and single-handedly earning the Wildcat women 18th place in their meet.

Mandy Baird

She was eighth in the one-meter on Thursday with 418.25 points, missing first place by about 30 points and sixth place by less than 2 1/2 points.

Baird was even better on Friday in the three-meter event, where she finished fifth with 458.40 points, also about 30 points out of first and about 12 points out of third.

Also Friday, Camera earned his first All-America award by coming in eighth in the 100 breast in 54.12 seconds. He missed first place by less than a second and a half and was less than a quarter-second out of fifth.

Zach earned an Honorary All-America award after placing 14th in the 500 free in 4:30.24, as did Lemos in the 200 butterfly after he was 12th in 1:48.33.

Erikas Kapocius, Zach, Auger and Lemos were 10th in the 800 free relay in 6:50.40 for another Honorary All-America distinction.

Back on Thursday, Zach was again a national runner-up and All-America winner, this time in the 1,000 free in 9:04.88. He finished about 10 1/2 seconds behind the winner, Dalu, and about 3 1/2 second ahead of third place and more than six second faster than the rest of the field.

Kapocius earned Honorary All-America status in two individual medley events. In the 400 IM, he clocked 3:53.54 for 13th place, while in the 200 IM, he came in at 1:49.53 for 16th.

Three relays also earned Honorary All-America status, too. The same team of Auger, Camera, Lemos and Kapocius finished 12th in the 200 medley relay in 1:29.95, 12th again in the 200 free relay in 1:23.86 and 13th in the 400 medley relay in 3:16.98.

With the official season over, the Wildcats conclude their campaign at Northern’s PEIF pool for their spring scrimmage exhibition at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 16.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today