Saturday, April 17
Geneva, OH
ALL DAY
George Washington University
vs
Atlantic 10 Championships
A-10 CHAMPS: Men's Swimming & Diving Takes Title
4/17/2021 10:35:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Buff & Blue are conference champs for fourth time in five years
GENEVA, Ohio - GW men's swimming and diving finished a season unlike any other on Saturday night back in familiar position on top of the Atlantic 10 standings.
The Buff and Blue celebrated their fourth conference title in five years after another dominant night at the SPIRE Institute. They claimed six more medals, including five golds, to close out the four-day meet with 828.5 points, well clear of second-place George Mason at 564.
After a sensational week in which he won six gold medals, first-year Karol Mlynarczyk earned both Most Outstanding Performer and Most Outstanding Rookie Performer awards. He's just the second to sweep both honors, joining GW Athletic Hall of Famer David Zenk, who completed the feat in 2006.
After an inauspicious start Thursday night with a disqualification in the meet-opening relay, GW left no doubt, showcasing the quality and depth throughout its lineup by piling up 21 medals, including 14 golds, while setting four conference and seven program records.
All 20 Colonials - 17 swimmers and three divers - contributed points to the winning total in a bounceback effort after coming up just short last February.
"I could mention all the great individual performances this week, but this is such a team award," said Head Coach Brian Thomas, who was named A-10 Coach of the Year for the second time in three seasons. "Maybe what some people don't realize about swimming is how important the team component is, and these guys lived it every day. From when we got back to campus in August, finding a way to make it happen all year long was just kind of the hallmark of this team."
GW surged into the lead Thursday and kept building on Friday to take the drama out of Saturday's finish. The Buff and Blue delivered anyway, medaling in all five individual races.
Mlynarczyk, Marek Osina, Emils Pone and Tyler Kawakami recorded individual wins, and then, that quartet closed out the meet in style, combining to win the meet-closing 400 free relay in a program-record time of 2:55.68.
Mlynarczyk won the 200 back in 1:43.04 for his third individual gold of the meet and later set the program record in the 100 free with his lead-off split of 43.66 seconds in the relay victory. His tremendous performance at the meet was highlighted by a Friday swim in the 100 back that would've been good enough to get invited to this season's NCAA Championship and rank No. 21 on the psych sheet.
Kawakami earned his second gold of the meet, finishing the 100 free in 44.18 seconds to win by five-hundredths of a second. The sophomore from Honolulu, Hawaii, also finished the week with six medals, five of them gold.
Osina cruised to gold in the 200 breast in 1:56.93, narrowly missing out on a conference record with his third individual medal of the week. He also finished the week with five golds and six total medals.
Pone took down the program record in the 200 fly with his prelims swim and then went even faster in the final to break the conference mark with his winning time of 1:45.19. It was his second individual record swim of the meet after taking down his own 400 IM mark on Friday.
The graduate student from Jurmala, Latvia, has been a part of all four championships in this run. By adding six medals this week, he now has 15 in his career collection.
In Saturday's first race, DH Hwang took bronze in the 1,650 free in 15:37.07, leading a group of five Colonials in the top 10 that also included Josh Legge, Zach Hu, Brendan Conley and Ian Molloy.
The night would end with the program's fourth title celebration in five years in recognition of a sensational week to cap an unprecedented campaign.
The Buff and Blue celebrated their fourth conference title in five years after another dominant night at the SPIRE Institute. They claimed six more medals, including five golds, to close out the four-day meet with 828.5 points, well clear of second-place George Mason at 564.
After a sensational week in which he won six gold medals, first-year Karol Mlynarczyk earned both Most Outstanding Performer and Most Outstanding Rookie Performer awards. He's just the second to sweep both honors, joining GW Athletic Hall of Famer David Zenk, who completed the feat in 2006.
After an inauspicious start Thursday night with a disqualification in the meet-opening relay, GW left no doubt, showcasing the quality and depth throughout its lineup by piling up 21 medals, including 14 golds, while setting four conference and seven program records.
All 20 Colonials - 17 swimmers and three divers - contributed points to the winning total in a bounceback effort after coming up just short last February.
"I could mention all the great individual performances this week, but this is such a team award," said Head Coach Brian Thomas, who was named A-10 Coach of the Year for the second time in three seasons. "Maybe what some people don't realize about swimming is how important the team component is, and these guys lived it every day. From when we got back to campus in August, finding a way to make it happen all year long was just kind of the hallmark of this team."
GW surged into the lead Thursday and kept building on Friday to take the drama out of Saturday's finish. The Buff and Blue delivered anyway, medaling in all five individual races.
Mlynarczyk, Marek Osina, Emils Pone and Tyler Kawakami recorded individual wins, and then, that quartet closed out the meet in style, combining to win the meet-closing 400 free relay in a program-record time of 2:55.68.
Mlynarczyk won the 200 back in 1:43.04 for his third individual gold of the meet and later set the program record in the 100 free with his lead-off split of 43.66 seconds in the relay victory. His tremendous performance at the meet was highlighted by a Friday swim in the 100 back that would've been good enough to get invited to this season's NCAA Championship and rank No. 21 on the psych sheet.
Kawakami earned his second gold of the meet, finishing the 100 free in 44.18 seconds to win by five-hundredths of a second. The sophomore from Honolulu, Hawaii, also finished the week with six medals, five of them gold.
Osina cruised to gold in the 200 breast in 1:56.93, narrowly missing out on a conference record with his third individual medal of the week. He also finished the week with five golds and six total medals.
Pone took down the program record in the 200 fly with his prelims swim and then went even faster in the final to break the conference mark with his winning time of 1:45.19. It was his second individual record swim of the meet after taking down his own 400 IM mark on Friday.
The graduate student from Jurmala, Latvia, has been a part of all four championships in this run. By adding six medals this week, he now has 15 in his career collection.
In Saturday's first race, DH Hwang took bronze in the 1,650 free in 15:37.07, leading a group of five Colonials in the top 10 that also included Josh Legge, Zach Hu, Brendan Conley and Ian Molloy.
The night would end with the program's fourth title celebration in five years in recognition of a sensational week to cap an unprecedented campaign.
A-10 Coach of the Year @GWCoachBThom recaps a 🏆 week from start to finish for our group! #RaiseHigh pic.twitter.com/3rF0q2xBnE
— GW Swimming & Diving (@GWSwimDive) April 18, 2021
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
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