Natalie Killion & Oscar Bjering Become First Conference Winner NCAA Qualifiers ...Middle East

By Will Baxley on SwimSwam

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships

Last night, the MAAC competed in its second day of competition of its conference championships. The mid-major organization is one of two conferences competing in this first weekend of conference meets. Since the other conference, the Big West, is behind in time zones, this means that tonight’s MAAC individual winners would be the first to ever qualify for NCAA via conference victory. Read more about this season’s NCAA changes that allowed this qualification avenue here.

The very first on the men’s and women’s side were the 500 free winners: Natalia Killion and Oscar Bjering.

Killion fired off a 4:49.75 to comfortably win her final. Though she was off from her 4:48.18 conference record from last year, the NCAA qualifying effort is unquestionably a watershed moment in the Niagara sophomore’s career.

Oscar Bjering, a junior from Marist University, earned the men’s honors. Bjering let Fairfield’s Aidan Schapf take the lead throughout the first 450, always staying within 1.5 seconds of the leader. On the last 50, Bjering reeled his rival in with a monster 25.60 split, compared to Schnapf’s 26.76. Their final times were 4:26.17 and 4:26.25, respectively.

Niagara Junior Alaina Pitton snagged the MAAC’s first conference record of 2026 with an incredible 2:00.99 effort in the 200 IM. Highlighted by a 33.45 breaststroke split, the swim takes down the supersuited 2:01.60 conference mark by Priscilla Modrov from 2009. Pitton repeated her title in this event from last year.

Then, Pitton’s freshman teammate Vilem Mikula made his first conference swim a conference title in the men’s 200 IM. Mikula turned in a 1:47.73, which beat his best time from before today by four and a half seconds. He hails from the Czech Republic, so MAAC’s is Mikula’s first tapered SCY meet. Fairfield freshman Bobby Regan scored second with a 1:48.25, setting up a potential rivalry with Mikula for the next three years.

Anna Kirby followed up her 22.54 50 free split from the first night with a flat-start win in the event. The Marist freshman stopped the clock in 23.27, a lifetime best, to outtouch runner-up Claire Gorton by .08.

In the men’s splash-and-dash, Iona junior Nick Patino reached the top of what has been an incredible ascension. He went from 21st at this meet in 2024 to 7th last year and now to first with a 20.02 lifetime best, over a second improvement from where he entered college at. He has punched his NCAA ticket, where he has a chance to crack 20.

The night culminated with the 200 freestyle relays. Mount Saint Mary’s won their first event of the meet in the men’s race, clocking a 1:19.72 to be the lone team sub-1:20. The relay’s hero was anchor Parker Koenig, who threw down a 19.42. Adam Jozsa, Lucas Hancock, and Austin Toland were the other members of the winning Mountaineer squad. On the women’s side, Niagara defended its title from last year with a 1:33.39 effort by the foursome of Megan Jackson, Claire Gorton, My-Ky Vo, and Alaina Pitton. This gave the upstate New York school three wins out of four on the women’s side for the session.

In terms of points, Marist leads the women with 457 with two days to go. Niagara and Sacred Heart trail with 412 and 366, respectively. Fairfield is the top men’s team at 473.5, ahead of t-2nd Marist and Niagara (397).

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