The second annual MPSF (Mountain Pacific Sports Foundation) Open Water Swimming Championships will be held on October 19th at the historic Marine Stadium in Long Beach, California. The 5 km race is open to all NCAA Division I, II, and III universities.
Last year at the inaugural MPSF Championship, Cameron Daniell of the University of Utah and Mark Kovacsics of California Baptist University won in two very different styles.
Daniell literally came from behind on the very last strokes (and steps) on the 5-loop 5 km course in Marine Stadium (site of the 1932 Olympic Games rowing competition). In contrast, Kovacsics led from start to finish in a commanding performance.
Daniell trailed teammate Abby Pope over the last lap in her first career open water swim. Pope took over the lead after early leader Reka Kovacs took a wrong turn on the second lap. When Kovacs lead the top six swimmers inadvertently astray, Pope, Daniell, and Milla Ruthven reacted more quickly than their competitors and jumped into a three-person lead pack.
Going into the fifth and final lap on a tranquil course, Pope held a very slim lead over her University of Utah teammates Daniell and eventual third place finisher Milla Ruthven. Around the last turn buoy, senior Daniell had a great 90° turn and sprinted even with freshman teammate Pope. The Utah duo stood up together in the shallow water, but the longer legs of Daniell enabled her to sprint to victory over the final 15m on the soft sand.
With a 1-2-3 finish on the women’s side and the 2-3 finish of Utah male teammates Dylan Becker and Tomas Chocholaty, the University of Utah swimming team captured the overall team title and both relay events at the inaugural MPSF Open Water Swimming Championships.
“We were incredible today,” said associate head coach Michele Lowry who later swam in the masters 5 km race over the same course. “We took home team championships for both men and women and the team had incredible energy and so much support for one another. Open water is a totally different beast and the Utes performed incredibly. I am so proud of each and every one of them. We are hopeful the NCAA will recognize that there is strong support to add open water to the swimming lineup and we will be able to race more in the future.”
On the men’s side, Utah swimmers Becker and Chocholaty were in the lead pack from the beginning. As the pace quickened over the second half of the race, the duo hung close to the leader from Cal Baptist Kovacsics. But the sophomore from Hungary had too much in the tank over the last 300 meters and held strong for a six-second victory.
Race director Kaia Hedlund summed up the competition held on a sunny, cloudless day, “The MPSF Championships in Open Water Swimming could potentially lead to NCAA Emerging Sport status and ultimately a separate NCAA Championship; similar to cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field – where this is one discipline and 3 sports. Alumni from institutions invited to the MPSF Championship in Open Water Swimming have participated in every one of these Olympic Games and have medaled in both the men’s and women’s events (including Oussama Mellouli and Haley Anderson). Long Beach will serve as the host for the open water swimming and triathlon events at the 2028 Olympic Games.“
2023 Collegiate Men’s 5 km Results:
- Mark Kovacsics 54:58
- Dylan Becker 55:04
- Tomas Chocholaty 55:07
- Thomas Langlois 55:11
- Brandon Miller 56:39
- Cody Meyer 58:03
- Nathan Ramey 58:08
- Kyle Brill 58:11
- Josh Delizo 58:23
- Micah Ginoza 58:31
- John Sullivan 59:07
- Connor Martilla 59:29
- Owen Berry 59:32
- Vitaly Kostin 59:52
- Joseph Stephenson 1:00:56
- Kyle Capili 1:00:59
- Aidan Vulgas 1:01:11
- Jude DiStefano 1:03:07
- Paul Rasoumoff 1:04:38
- Atuhaire Ambala 1:05:04
- Nic Friedley 1:05:05
- Garrett Dykier 1:09:05
- Mark Kovacsics
2023 Collegiate Women’s 5 km Results:
- Cameron Daniell 59:39
- Abby Pope 59:40
- Milla Ruthven 59:48
- Reka Kovacs 1:01:20
- Marlene Sandberg 1:01:25
- Alice Ciobanu 1:01:46
- Summer West 1:01:56
- Chloe Thompson 1:02:06
- Gabriela Robles 1:02:07
- Paige Mitchell 1:02:18
- Raya Embury 1:02:21
- Ece Yildirim 1:02:39
- Aleksandra Wegrzynowska 1:03:30
- Madison Caserio 1:03:40
- Giulia Decataldo 1:03:52
- Taylor Kabacy 1:04:07
- Shyann Kissinger 1:04:10
- Diana Cgan 1:05:23
- Riley Baldwin 1:05:31
- Bryn McGinnis 1:05:56
- Maria Chatzi 1:06:04
- Sera Hanagan 1:06:09
- Bella Flaminio 1:06:18
- Ava Elliott 1:06:20
- Skylar Bruner 1:06:31
- Anna Vermeulen 1:06:37
- Abigail Rousseau 1:06:52
- Riana Barrett 1:07:02
- Erin Kau 1:07:03
- Krisalyn Henderson 1:07:06
- Tay Thomas 1:07:40
- Mackenzie Kawashiri 1:07:44
- Natalie Hogenboom 1:07:45
- Ryann Dorris 1:07:47
- Grace O’Connell 1:07:48
- Bella Cabral 1:08:15
- Ellie Davis 1:08:16
- Mati Dixon 1:13:05
- Anna Dycherhoff 1:13:19
- Kenzi Cook 1:13:31
- Anna Doherty 1:13:57
- Madison Rishwain 1:14:22
2023 Collegiate Team Standings – Women:
- University of Utah 208
- San Jose State University 120
- Grand Canyon University 93
- Fresno State University 89
- San Diego State 76
- University of San Diego 75
- California Baptist University 64
- Loyola Marymount University 39
- University of the Pacific 22
- Whittier College 6
- Pepperdine University 2
2023 Collegiate Team Standings – Men:
- University of Utah 190
- California Baptist University 140
- Grand Canyon University 103
- Whittier College 84
- UC Santa Barbara 100
- University of the Pacific 46
MPSF Open Water Swimming Championships
The NCAA Division I sanctioned event will also have an opportunity for masters swimmers and alumni of MPSF institutions to compete in separate 5 km races for individuals and a MPSF Open Water Swim Championship 2000 Meter Men’s and Women’s Relay (where 4 athletes swim 500 meters each with an onshore hand exchange)
A men’s and women’s 5 km and 1 km swims will be held between the collegiate events that are open to adult swimmers 18 years and over where Junior College, NAIA, Collegiate Club, and Alumni Club swimmers are encouraged to participate.
Hedlund explains open water swimming’s current NCAA sports status, “The College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association (CSCAA), USA Swimming, and the USOPC have established a working group of invested stakeholders to introduce Open Water Swimming, an existing Olympic sport, into the NCAA sport sponsorship framework. Their goal is to simultaneously increase open water swimming opportunities for college athletes and enhance the long-term sustainability of swimming programs on campus. The NCAA is pivotal in nurturing top-tier athlete development and generating early interest in sports. As a result, both pool swimming and open water wwimming stand to benefit mutually from this initiative. Adding open water wwimming alongside varsity swimming & diving, like the cross country and track and field model, would allow institutions to have their current varsity men’s and women’s swimmers train for and participate in open water swimming competitions during the Fall.”
The participating universities include MPSF Charter and Member Schools, and many of the Top NCAA Division I universities in the western United States.
Marine Stadium was built for the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics rowing competition and used for the 1968 USA Olympic rowing trials, the 2010 USA Swimming National Open Water Swimming Championships, the 2010 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, and several triathlons in the 1980’s.
The MPSF member institutions include:
- Stanford University
- Air Force Academy
- UCLA
- University of Southern California
- University of California San Diego
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of California Davis
- University of California Santa Barbara
- University of California Riverside
- University of California Irvine
- California State University Fullerton
- California State University Northridge
- California State University Long Beach State
- California State University Bakersfield
- California State University San Jose
- University of Hawaii
- Arizona State University
- Indiana University
- Portland
- Oklahoma
- University of San Francisco
- California Polytechnic University
- Hawaii Pacific University
- Pepperdine University
- Brigham Young University
- Alaska-Anchorage
- Sacramento State
- Southern Utah University
- Texas Woman’s University
- University of the Incarnate Word
- Wheaton College
- Concordia University
- Grand Canyon University
- Augustana Austin College
- Penn State Behrend
- Washington & Jefferson
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