GREENSBORO, N.C. (March 12, 2022) – Oklahoma Christian swimming coach Josh Davis knew the Eagles had something special in J.T. Amrein – in September, he privately predicted the freshman could win a national title – but for a season preview story on the OC website, he asked for Amrein's potential to be downplayed, not wanting anyone else to know before they had to.

Sorry, coach, but the secret is out now – Amrein is a national champion.

Amrein shot to the lead just before the final 50 yards and held on at the end to win the 200-yard breaststroke title on Saturday night in the NCAA Division II Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. His time of 1:55.47 edged Ludo Viberti of Florida Southern by .02 of a second and Davi Mourao of Drury (Mo.) by .07 of a second.

Amrein became only the second OC athlete ever to win a NCAA title in any sport, joining Landon Huslig of track and field, who won the 400-meter hurdles crown in 2018 (coincidentally not far down the road in Charlotte, N.C.). Amrein capped a week for the Eagles that included five All-America first-team honors – two for him and three for distance standout Victor Rosado, who added another on Saturday with a fourth-place finish in the 1,650 freestyle.

With a contingent of six freshmen and one junior, OC – making its first appearance at the Division II meet in the program's five-season history – rolled up 139 team points to finish 11th nationally, just five points outside the top 10. Coach after coach stopped by OC's poolside staging area to congratulate Davis, assistant coach Noah Yanchulis and pretty much anyone else wearing OC gear.

Amrein "is our first national champion ever and that's a big deal," Davis said. "He is very, very special. Oklahoma Christian has the top swimmer in the country. I've been around a national-championship Texas Longhorn team. I've been around several USA and Olympic teams and I know a good athlete when I see one – and we've got several."

Amrein, from Bonner Springs, Kan., started the four-day meet on Wednesday with a disappointing showing in the 200 individual medley, failing to qualify for the eight-man A final in one of his strongest events. He won the B final but visibly was frustrated by the turn of events.

Two days later, Amrein somewhat made amends by taking third in the 100 breaststroke. But all season, the 200 breaststroke has been his wheelhouse and he entered the meet as one of the favorites, with Division II's fastest time in the event. He'd openly talked about what it might feel like to win the title.

So was that feeling as good as he expected?

"The feeling is crazy," he said, still beaming more than an hour after he'd won. "I would never have thought I'd ever do this. … This week, I've had defeat, anger, loss and then just winning and happiness. I almost cried."

Amrein breezed through his morning prelims race, winning his heat in 1:55.64 but finishing second in the overall standings behind Viberti, another freshman who posted a time of 1:55.55. Amrein took that as a challenge and spent the afternoon analyzing video shot by Davis and Yanchulis, looking for areas in which he could improve.

In the final, Amrein didn't immediately shoot to the lead, as he often does. He waited until the third of the race's four circuits of the pool before moving to the front and entering the final 25 yards, he had opened up a visible lead over Viberti, but down the stretch, Viberti -- who beat Amrein two days earlier in the 100 breaststroke final -- kept closing.

"I focused on my second 50 and a strong middle 100 today," Amrein said. And after that, "I was just like, I've got to survive this last 50."

When the result flashed on the big scoreboard inside the natatorium, Amrein raised his right arm in the air in celebration and members of OC's contingent whooped and hollered and quickly made their way to Amrein to offer congratulations. The celebration continued during the award ceremony and afterward, with Amrein finding his way into the stands to greet his parents.

"We dreamed about having great racers like (Amrein)," Davis said. "Competitors like this don't come around that often and we love watching J.T. do his thing. He is a joy to coach. My old Olympic coach said there are certain athletes you'd coach for free. J.T. is one of them, because he works everything as hard as he can. He just wants to win everything he can. It's so fun to watch guys like that and coach a guy like that."

Perhaps lost a bit in the celebration of Amrein's title was another strong performance by Rosado, a freshman from St. Petersburg, Fla., who joined the OC roster at the semester and quickly emerged as one of Division II's top distance swimmers. He finished fourth Wednesday in the 1,000 freestyle and second Friday in the 500 freestyle before his fourth-place showing on Saturday in the 1,650 freestyle.

As in his other races, Rosado mostly bided his time just behind the leader (and eventual winner), Ondrej Zach of Northern Michigan. Rosado moved up to second for a time, but eventually fell back to third, then fourth place. His time of 15:17.19 smashed his former school record of 15:25.58, which he set while winning the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title last month.

"That was only my second time to swim the mile (1,650), so I don't know how to swim it yet, but once I get used to it, I think I'll have better results," Rosado said. "It was just trying to stay calm. It's a mile. It's like a marathon, so I didn't want to start out fast and die. I wanted to be strategic and see how it goes."

Davis said Rosado still has plenty of room to grow as a swimmer.

"What he did this week was incredible and changed our program forever," Davis said. "He was a diamond in the rough when we found him and nobody knew of him. I was able to recruit him and get him and now everybody knows him."

The Eagles closed the meet with another school record, with the quartet of Amrein, junior Brandon Heredia and freshmen Caleb Musser and Dereck Montgomery posting a time of 2:58.58 in the 400 freestyle relay. That was good for a 12th-place finish and the Eagles' final 10 team points.

Next year's Division II meet will be in Indianapolis and Davis believes the Eagles will have a larger contingent making the trip to the national meet in 2023.

"If we can get Brandon to come back for his fifth year, and these freshmen will be way smarter and stronger sophomores, it's real exciting. We have some nice freshmen coming in. We want more people here at this party. This is fun. It's fun to go fast. What we just did is a big deal.

"We want to let kids in high school know OC is a great place to come to get faster and have a great time all while getting a superb education."

MEET RESULTS