2026 Men’s Swimming NAIA National Championship Preview

Men’s Swimming and Diving | 3/3/2026 5:00:00 PM

COLUMBIA, Ky. – The 2026 NAIA Swimming and Diving National Championships open Wednesday, March 4 contained in the Elkhart Aquatic Center in Elkhart, Indiana. This 12 months, 9 student-athletes will signify the Lindsey Wilson males’s swimming crew, together with six returning NAIA All-Americans.

The Blue Raider males are making their sixteenth look on the nationwide meet since 2010, having positioned contained in the top-10 in every of the final six years. One 12 months in the past, Lindsey Wilson completed seven total with 209 factors.  A 3rd-place effort with 267 crew factors in 2020 nonetheless stands as this system’s greatest ever placement and rating.

Based on Swimcloud’s efficiency factors scores, the lads are ranked ninth total and second amongst Mid-South Conference faculties, trailing Cumberlands (Ky.), which sits in second place.

Jose Rivas is making his third profession look on the nationwide championships. He earned All-American honors within the 200 and 400 particular person medleys in 2023 and is seeded 18th and twenty eighth, respectively, for 2026. Rivas actively holds the college file within the 200 particular person medley, which he set throughout the nationwide championships three years in the past. The senior can also be slated to swim the 200 butterfly, the place he’s seeded twenty third.

Ethan Butler is one other three-time nationwide qualifier for the Blue Raiders and can swim within the meet’s longest occasions. He is already a two-time NAIA All-American within the 1,650 freestyle and appears to develop into the primary swimmer in program historical past to earn three All-American awards within the mile as he checks into the race ranked sixth. Butler’s second occasion is the five hundred freestyle — seeded tenth.

Clinton Eales, a 2025 All-American within the 200 breaststroke, is coming off his second Mid-South Conference gold medal within the occasion. He is presently seeded eleventh within the 200 breaststroke, ninth within the 100 breaststroke, and twenty eighth within the 50 freestyle. Eales is the college record-holder within the two breaststroke races.

Sergio Ybarra made a strong first impression in his freshman season final 12 months, garnering All-American standing within the 1,650 freestyle. He boasts the nation’s third-best time within the mile getting into the meet and can also be seeded contained in the top-eight for the 400 particular person medley and 500 freestyle. Ybarra controls the college information within the 1,650 freestyle and 400 particular person medley.

Dan Spinola, a 2026 All-Conference finisher within the 100 and 200 breaststrokes, superior to the “B” closing in each occasions throughout final 12 months’s nationwide championships. He is seeded fifteenth and twelfth, respectively, for this week’s meet. Spinola’s private greatest occasions within the 100 and 200 breaststrokes are every lower than one second off Eales’ college information.

Max van Schagen has been a key piece of Lindsey Wilson’s relay success throughout his profession, having earned six All-American awards throughout three earlier appearances on the nationwide championships. He will search so as to add particular person honors to his title, as properly, as he swims the 50 and 100 freestyles — seeded seventeenth and sixteenth, respectively.

Adam Lamhiti, Oliver Greaves, and Lorenz Hof are every making their first profession journeys to the NAIA National Championships.

The latter of the three completed runner-up within the 200 freestyle on the convention meet final month and is seeded eleventh for nationals. He can also be slotted twenty second within the 100 freestyle and thirty eighth within the 50 freestyle.

Greaves is seeded twenty seventh for the five hundred freestyle, sixteenth for the 400 particular person medley, and sixteenth for the 1,650 freestyle, whereas Lamhiti ranks twenty ninth within the 200 particular person medley, twenty fifth within the 100 breaststroke, and 14th within the 200 breaststroke.

Lindsey Wilson’s highest seeded relay is the 200 freestyle, which is available in eighth.

The 2026 NAIA Swimming and Diving National Championships start at 4 p.m. CST on Wednesday, March 5.