Indianapolis, Ind. - University of Wisconsin-La Crosse's
Preston Nygaard earned All-America honors with a sixth-place in the 200 breaststroke at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Swimming & Diving Championships Saturday night at the IU Natatorium.
Indiana University Indianapolis served as host of the championships.
He finished sixth with a time of 1:58.79, becoming the first swimmer in school history to earn All-America honors in the 200 breaststroke at the national championships. Nygaard set a school record in Saturday's preliminaries with a time of 1:58.37, breaking his own record of 1:58.65 set earlier this season.
Nygaard is the second swimmer in UWL history to earn All-America accolades in the 200 breaststroke.
Adam Baryenbruch was a 2021 All-America Second Team selection based on verified performances in bona-fide competition submitted by their respective coaches. The 2021 NCAA Division III Championships were canceled due to the COVID-19 public health threat.
Nygaard placed 17th in the 100 breaststroke preliminaries (54.80) and 49th in the 50 freestyle preliminaries (21.23) at this year's NCAA III Championships.
UWL finished 41st at this year's national meet with 13.0 team points.
He captured a pair of individual titles at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championships, taking the 100 (54.57) and 200 (1:58.65) breaststroke while setting school records in both events. He was also second (1:49.76) in the 200 I.M.
Nygaard was a member of three relays to win conference titles, including the 200 and 400 freestyle relay and 400 medley relay. He was joined on the 200 and 400 freestyle relay with
Tyler Hartmann,
Jesse Hammes and
Jacob Ketterling. Nygaard,
Coby Zander, Ketterling and Hartmann captured the 400 medley relay. UWL finished third in the 800 freestyle relay with
Gavin LaBeau,
Davin Evans,
Caleb Jondle and Nygaard.
UWL, led by head coach
Steve Mohs, captured its fifth WIAC title in school history and first since 1971 at this year's league championships as Mohs was selected the WIAC Men's Coach of the Year.
Jack Englehardt serves as UWL's assistant coach.
The top-eight finishers in each event earn NCAA III All-America honors while ninth through 16th-place earn NCAA III Honorable Mention accolades.
