Men’s swim and dive claim MAC title for the fourth year in a row

The Miami University RedHawks men’s swimming and diving team has claimed the Mid-American Conference title for the 2023-24 season. This is the team’s fourth consecutive year winning the title.

The team, led by head coach Hollie Bonewit-Cron, 2024 Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year, secured its win last weekend in Carbondale, Illinois, with a combined 724 points.

The championships kicked off March 6, beginning with two program record-setting performances from the swimmers. During the first event, Owen Blazer, Adrian Dulay, Henju Duvenhage and Jack Herczeg, finished first overall in the 200 medley, for the program’s record time of 1:25.72.

The second event saw Uroš Djokovic, Ian Kmiliauskis, Bryce Menchhofer and Allen Cotton finish the 800 freestyle relay in 6:26.53.

South African native and senior Duvenhage had multiple standout performances that weekend, winning the 200 individual medley (IM) on day two in 1:43.96, which qualified him for an NCAA B cut. On day three, Duvenhage won the 100 butterfly as well in 46.37, just .11 seconds ahead of his Southern Illinois University opponent, Jack Khrypunov.

Duvenhage set yet another pool record in the 100 backstroke, finishing first place overall (46.17) and qualifying for the NCAA tournament again. After the championship weekend, the MAC named Duvenhage as the most outstanding senior during the 2024 Men’s Swimming & Diving Postseason Awards, as well as being named All-MAC First Team.

Other All-MAC First-Team nominees were Cotton and Blazer. All-MAC Second Team swimmers were Djokovic, Menchhofer, Kmiliauskis, Yonatan Rosin, Mason Miller and Gabriel Perseguin.

Menchhofer finished second overall in the 500 freestyle clocking a time of 4:26.67 just moments behind the race champion. The first-year also finished second in the 200 freestyle, coming in at 1:36.64 before receiving his MAC recognition.

Other recognized NCAA qualifiers were Cotton in the 200 IM (1:45.98), 400 IM (3:48.46) and 200 butterfly (1:45.43) as well as Blazer in the 100 backstroke (47.20).

The post-season competition will continue with the NCAA Zone Diving Championships set to take place March 14-16 in Louisville, Kentucky, followed by the women’s NCAA Championships beginning March 20 in Athens, Georgia. The men’s NCAA Championships will begin on March 27 in Indianapolis, Indiana.