ALBION, Mich. – Tyler Kimbrell and Nate Kozycki won a pair of gold medals Friday as Albion College shaved 27 points off the Calvin College lead in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Swimming and Diving Championship.
The Britons racked up 314 ½ points Friday, bringing their total to 583 ½.
Kimbrell and Kozycki were joined by Alec Nyboer and Len Ciemniecki for the win in the 200-yard medley relay. The Britons final time of 1:29.71 met the B-cut qualifying standard and it would have been good enough to advance to the NCAA Division III Championship last year. The time also broke the MIAA and school records.
"We were excited about the medley relay on paper and it did not disappoint," head coach Jake Taber said. "We did a nice job from that point building on that momentum, continuing to race well."
Kozycki won his second career MIAA 100 butterfly title, racing to a time (48.29 seconds) that would place him with the top five swimmers in Division III so far this season. The school record time is also the fastest in MIAA history.
The 100 fly produced a scoring haul for the Britons with Nyboer (third), Evan Wonner (fourth) and Ciemniecki (fifth) joining Kozycki in the championship race.
Albion also had four up in the championship race of the 100 breaststroke. Kimbrell achieved a B-cut of 55.76 to win the event, while Lucas Harder (third), Matt Hooper (in a tie for fifth) and Hunter Jackman (seventh) displayed Albion's depth in the event.
"Kimbrell made a couple technical adjustments from his morning swim and he went out and broke Albion's school record in a time that ranks in the top 20 in the country right now," Taber said.
One of the most important swims in the impact of the team scoring came in the 200 freestyle. Parker Belmore qualified seventh in the morning preliminary, but he moved up to second in the championship race in 1:41.20. Mac Robertson added points with a fourth place finish in the championship race and Matt Anderson was runner-up in the consolation heat
The Britons also generated points in the 100 backstroke with Ian Moran (third), Kurt Jolly (fourth), Nyboer (eighth) and Seth Fleming (ninth) all scoring.
First-year swimmer Jake Huttenlocher touched the wall ahead of a couple of Calvin swimmers in the 400 individual medley. Huttenlocher was third. Jackman finished seventh in the championship race. Harder and Chris Breen tacked on important points with a one-two finish in the consolation heat.
The MIAA Championship winds down Saturday with 3-meter diving, the 1,650 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly and 400 freestyle relay.
Follow the Britons on Twitter: @AlbionSwimming
