All In, All Season: The Future Seems Vibrant for Spire Swim

Leavenworth, Kan.—USM males’s swimming has quite a bit to be happy with this 2025-26 season, because it was a 12 months outlined by development, consistently displaying up for each other, and resilience within the pool. The Spire males capped off their season with a powerful illustration on the 45^th Annual Men’s Swimming and Diving National Championship from lone Spire, Ian Lucas, competing on the largest stage to showcase his group with satisfaction.

Along the way in which, the boys’s dedication to sportsmanship and integrity rightfully earned them the 2026 KCAC Men’s Swim/Dive Team of Character, highlighting not solely their athletic success but in addition the way in which they carried themselves all through the season. This honor acknowledges the leaders that coach Bresser’s program attracts and cultivates all through their years spent with USM Swim.

The USM males would discover themselves nationally ranked all season, however formally ending the 12 months at No. 6 within the KCAC and No. 24 in all of NAIA. Further, Ian Lucas and Mayson Thiebaud would stack their particular person accomplishments with NAIA “B” Standards—Ian proudly carries 3 NAIA B requirements – 50 Freestyle, 100 Butterfly, 100 Freestyle, because the Spires have been nationally ranked in all three. Mayson held 1 NAIA B commonplace within the 100 Breaststroke.

Veteran swimmers John Barger, Ian Hein, Andrew Eustace, Ian Lucas, and John Paul Robertson actually set the tone for what it means to characterize the Spires. Newcomers Nicholas Allison, Joseph Holland, Brandon Kendall, Silas Kirchoff, Ruben Hernandez, Ayden McFarren, Brayden Sneath and Nathan Troth slot in seamlessly and stepped as much as the decision to compete of their younger collegiate careers.

The Spire males would compile their hard-fought season was exemplified by an excellent outing on the KCAC Men’s Swimming and Diving Conference Championships because the meet noticed USM athletes on each the boys’s and girls’s sides with unbelievable private finishes with many high 3 and high 8—medaling finishes—within the ultra-competitive few days in Hobart, Indiana.

The Spire males’s 200-yard Freestyle relay group delivered a powerful opening efficiency in Indiana, incomes 7^th place general with a time of 1:28.19. Ian Lucas, John Paul Robertson, Joseph Hollands, and Ayden McFarren mixed velocity and precision to compete amongst a deep convention subject, securing a medaling end and shutting out the race with a strong effort.

Further, the boys’s 400-yard Freestyle relay group added one other robust end result with a medaling high seven end and a time of three:14.70. John Paul Robertson, Joseph Hollands, Ian Hein, and Ian Lucas stayed aggressive within the lanes from begin to end.

Nicholas Allison, Ian Hein, Brandon Kendall, and Nathan Troth mixed endurance within the 800-yard Freestyle relay delivering one other robust KCAC efficiency, incomes 6^th place general with a time of seven:24.26.

The USM relays would wrap with one more podium end within the 400-yard Medley relay, rounding out the convention last displaying in 7^th place and a last time of three:39.63 from Silas Kirchoff, Ian Hein, Brandon Kendall, and Nathan Troth.

On high of their grueling relay battles, a handful of USM males would add to their private spectacular resumes, capping off what was one other productive meet for a squad that was trending upwards on the proper time. Their success this season went far past the outcomes on the KCAC Championships, with junior Ian Lucas representing USM and incomes All-KCAC First Team Men’s Swimming. Adding to his spectacular season, Lucas would additionally earn KCAC Men’s Swimmer of the Week through the week of January 20^th after snagging just a few first-place finishes throughout dominant performances from December 15^th by way of January 18^th.

Ian would go away all of it within the pool as he was the only Spire males’s swimmer representing his group on the 45^th Annual Men’s Swimming and Diving National Championship. Lucas would compete with satisfaction within the extremely aggressive 100 Freestyle occasion and was the one particular person swimmer to qualify for finals in his finest occasion, the 100 Yard Butterfly, ending simply off his college report in a time of 49.66 and inserting 14^th general. Ian completed robust making the highest 30 record within the nation, coming in at 26^th general with a last time of 46.45.

The Spire teaching employees was thrilled for Ian’s efficiency on the large stage, stating “Ian was an exemplary sportsman and leader during the entire 25-26 Spire swimming season and we could not be prouder of his performance.

Coach David Bresser reflects proudly on his men’s season, explaining, “After graduating an enormous senior class final 12 months and bringing in a big freshmen class this 12 months, we witnessed unbelievable enchancment all through the season.  We can have the vast majority of the group returning subsequent 12 months since we solely lose 2 seniors.  The expertise gained this 12 months and the advance all through units us up effectively for subsequent 12 months.  The males’s group confirmed grit all through the season culminating with an excellent efficiency at KCAC Championships.  Ian Lucas continued the group scoring at National Championships.”

The University of Saint Mary is exceptionally happy with the way in which the Spire males’s swim group represented what it means to be a USM athlete. Congratulations on an extremely profitable 12 months out and in of the pool and all of us eagerly await what subsequent season brings.