Men’s swimming made tremendous strides at the Division III swimming national meet in Shenandoah, Texas, last week with swimmers breaking team records and qualifying for the finals heats.

Noah Cutting, ‘20, Matt Hanson, ‘19, Neirton Oliveira, ‘19 and Victor Brasil, ‘18, had stellar swims at the meet.

Cutting broke a school record in the morning preliminaries on Thursday for the men’s 100 butterfly and then had a faster time in the consolation finals to share ninth place overall. Cutting finished in 49.02 seconds in the preliminaries heat which improved his Northwest Conference Championships time of 49.11. In the consolation finals heat, Cutting clocked 48.76 and finished in a tie for first place in the heat. Cutting’s record-setting swim earned him an All-American honorable mention.

Cutting, Brasil, Hanson and Oliveira set the 400 medley record in the preliminary heat on Thursday. They cut their time from their previous tie at the Northwest Conference Championships. They finished just short of their goal of reaching the evening finals and placed 21st overall.

Individually, Oliveira swam a 20.82 in the men’s 50 freestyle, placing 28th in a field of 48 competitors.

To extend Cutting’s success, he had only 12 minutes to recover from his butterfly to his 100 backstroke, placing 25th with a time of 50.41,  one spot behind his teammate Oliveira who was 24th in 50.26.

Brasil competed in the 100 breaststroke and swam a 57.64, placing 32nd.

“Victor put it all on the time for the relays with his fastest splits of the season,” said Wildcats head swimming coach Kyle Kimball.

Kimball said that in the 400 medley relay, “Neirton had a great race strategy, but didn’t get off the start with his normal speed.” “Noah was out fast in the first 50 yards, but got tired in the end” Kimball said.

The team left the NCAA Championships satisfied with having quite the success for the program this season. Cutting’s top 16 finishes earned 14 points for Linfield, enabling the men to place 28th overall.