The Master’s University’s Katherine Dyer finished second in the 100-free and Dylan Crane grabbed seventh on the final night of the 2025 NAIA Swimming & Diving National Championships in Elkhart, Ind., March 5-8.

The men’s team finished 9th overall, its second-best finish in program history. The women’s team, with just three swimmers and no relays, came in 13th out of the 38 teams. The Master’s came away with two national championships and two national runners-up.

Dyer’s time of 49.58 not only placed her as the national runner-up, but set a new program record in the Women’s 100 free. Kylee Sears finished fifth in the same event (51.62) and Camryn Bussey tied for 13th (52.67).

“The 100-free was our best event of the day by far,” said TMU Head Coach Curren Bates. “On the girls’ side we just soaked up a ton of points in that event, and being able to break 100 points on the women’s side without swimming any relays is huge. So I’m really excited for next year because we return Katherine and Kylee and adding a lot of speed with new swimmers.”

Dylan Crane took seventh in the men’s 100-free with a record time of 44.32. Nilton Dos Santos de Oliveira finished 24th with a 46.13 in the same race.

J.D. Torres took 13th in the men’s 1,650-yard-free (the mile) with a 16:15.91. Charley Sears finished 14th in the 200 breaststroke (2:04.70) and David Kugler came in 25th in the men’s 200-fly (1:54.95).

In the final race of the championships, the Men’s 400-free relay, The Master’s team of Tyler LeDet, Charley Sears, Nilton Dos Sants de Oliveira and Dylan Crane finished seventh in a program-record time of 3:02.07.

“Super strong swims on the guy’s side all around,” Bates said. “The relay at the end was super exciting and we went five for five with All-American relays. First time ever. And with the level of speed that this meet has I am really happy with how we finished.”

The night also came with a fair amount of emotion as Camryn Bussey, Tyler LeDet, Nilton Dos Sants de Oliveira, David Kugler and J.D. Torres all swam their final race as members of the Mustangs.

“This is my first big senior class,” Bates said. “When I took over the program, these were the freshman. And seeing them grow into real competitors at this meet and at this level is really exciting.”

“They were the catalyst that started the ball rolling,” Bates continued. “Nilton, Dave and J.T. (Sears) were the three pinnacle leaders of that freshman team. And they started the ball rolling. And people saw their success that started to make people believe in the program more and more and what I could do as a coach to help them. So it’s sad to see them go but I think they are happy because they are leaving a legacy that is The Master’s swim program.”

The road to the national championships was not easy for this team, with the year of trials it had to endure this season.

“I am so thankful to the Lord for bringing us to this meet,” Bates said. “With sickness, facility closures, the fires… we didn’t have a place to train for an entire month, and we only missed one day of practice, which is amazing. The Lord really blessed us to be able to get here and perform well.”