Midland Concludes Season at NAIA Nationals Behind Sener’s Top-10 Finishes
ELKHART, Ind. – Midland University returned to action for the final time this season, competing at the 2026 NAIA National Championships in Elkhart, Indiana. The Warriors had four individuals compete at the four-day meet, participating in 13 different events at the Elkhart Aquatics Center.
Martin Sener led the way for the Warriors with two top-10 finishes and school records in both the 100- and 200-yard backstroke. Competing in three events, Sener placed 31st in the 500-yard freestyle preliminaries before qualifying for finals in both the 100- and 200-yard backstroke.
He qualified for the A final in the 100-yard backstroke and finished eighth with a time of 49.83 seconds. He then competed in the B final of the 200-yard backstroke, touching the wall first with a time of 1:48.46 to earn ninth place in the event.
Manuel Tomm also competed in three individual events, swimming the 200- and 400-yard individual medley while also competing in the 200-yard breaststroke. Tomm did not qualify for finals in either IM race, finishing 20th in the 200-yard preliminaries and 17th in the 400-yard preliminaries. However, he qualified for the 200-yard breaststroke B final after finishing 12th in the preliminaries. In that race, he recorded a personal-best time of 2:03.03 to hold his position and finish 12th.
Reece Gray competed in both the 100- and 200-yard backstroke. He finished the preliminary rounds with times of 51.84 and 1:53.72, respectively, earning 27th in the 100-yard and 19th in the 200-yard.
While Nacho Salmeron did not compete individually, he joined the other three swimmers to represent Midland in five relay races. The Warriors placed 13th in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:33.32 before placing 10th in the 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of 6:54.29. Midland then placed 11th in the 200-yard freestyle relay and 14th in the 400-yard medley relay with times of 1:26.18 and 3:23.63.
"I am incredibly proud of how our four men, Martin Sener, Manuel Tomm, Reece Gray, and Nacho Molina, performed at NAIA Nationals and how well they represented Midland University and the entire Warriors community. With just four swimmers at the meet, we were able to surpass last year's team score by 47 points, which is a tremendous accomplishment.
Individually, we saw some spectacular performances. Martin Sener had an outstanding championship, becoming an All-American for the first time in the 100 backstroke and setting five school records across the backstroke events. Manuel Tomm finished among the top 12 swimmers in the nation in the 200 breaststroke, Nacho Molina played a key role in all five relays and broke the 46-second barrier in the 100 freestyle with a 45.81, and Reece Gray stepped up as our main flyer on the medley relays while also representing the team in the 100 and 200 backstroke.
All four of them set the standard for our program and are a blueprint for the culture, work ethic, and competitive mindset we want Midland Swimming to represent." commented head coach Wiktor Perkowski
The Warriors capped off their season in the 400-yard freestyle relay, finishing 13th with a time of 3:08.74.