CANTON, Ohio – The Frostburg State Men's Swimming continued their push towards a first-ever Mountain East title after the third day of the GMAC/MEC Championships, while staying as the third-placed team overall.
 
The Bobcats started out in one of the team's top events, and as he has done throughout the championships, sophomore Nate Canapp continued to lead the way for the MEC, finishing second overall in the 500-yard freestyle and setting another program record on the way with a 4:40.53.
 
Not far behind, junior Noah Loper took fifth overall and Second Team All-MEC with a time of 4:45.08. He also swam a 4:44.69 during the preliminary rounds to set a new personal record that is the third-fastest in program history. Freshman Alex Whitton also placed top-10, as he swam 4:52.75 to put himself seventh on the all-time list.
 
In the 100-yard backstroke, junior Jackson Miller earned a top-10 overall finish to go with Honorable Mention All-MEC honors in 53.42, as well as swimming a 53.20 in preliminaries to set the second-fastest time in school history. In his first conference championship meet, freshman Josh Horner posted a 56.22 for sixth on the all-time list in the event.
 
Sophomore Luka Smith set a new personal record in the 100-yard breaststroke, as his 58.93 was also good enough for second all-time for the program. During the preliminary round, junior PJ Emrich also swam a new personal best, with a time of 59.27 putting him fourth all-time.
 
The event continued to pay dividends in getting Frostburg swimmers onto the top-10 list, as sophomore Mikkel Leblanc (1:00.11), freshman Andrew Wetherhold (1:00.47) and sophomore Tave Chanthavong (1:00.89) posted the seventh, eighth, and ninth-best times, respectively.
 
Another impressive individual performance from junior Andy Creelman saw him finish fourth overall in the 200-yard butterfly as the fastest MEC swimmer in the event at 1:53.69, just .07 seconds off his school record time.
 
To end the day, the 800-yard freestyle relay team of Loper, sophomore Jaden Tipton, Whitton, and Canapp earned a time of 7:03.65 for third-place overall as the second-fastest in school history, just 0.27 seconds off the record.
 
At the conclusion of the third day of events, the men maintained their third-place standing overall, 25.5 points behind second-place Ashland and 173 points ahead of Fairmont State as the next-closest MEC team. The Championships resume the last day of events on Friday, with finals set to begin at 5:30 p.m.
 
First Team All-MEC
Nate Canapp – 500 Free (4:40.53)
Andy Creelman – 200 Fly (1:53.69)
 
Second Team All-MEC
Noah Loper – 500 Free (4:45.08)
Noah Loper, Jaden Tipton, Alex Whitton, Nate Canapp – 800 Free Relay (7:03.65)
 
Honorable Mention All-MEC
Jackson Miller – 100 Back (53.42)
 
GMAC/MEC Men's Championship Standings After Day Three
1.Findlay (GMAC) – 1499
2.Ashland (GMAC) – 808
3.Frostburg State (MEC) – 782.5
4.Fairmont State (MEC) – 609.5
5.Notre Dame College (MEC) – 579
6.Davis & Elkins (MEC) – 458
7.Malone (GMAC) – 362
8.West Virginia Wesleyan (MEC) – 98
9.Wheeling (MEC) - 52