INDIANAPOLIS – Freshman Antonio Thomas and sophomore Artur Osvath are set to begin competition at the 2017 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships on Thursday, Mar. 23, at the IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI in downtown Indianapolis, Ind.
 
The first freshman in program history to swim at the national level, Osvath makes his return to the big stage where he will compete in the 100 and 200 breast, as well as the 200 IM. Thomas, Missouri State's second freshman and 10^th Bear in program history to qualify for the national meet, is set to swim in both the 500 and 1650 free.
 
"I think it's really going to help having a teammate there," head coach Dave Collins said. "Last year it was just the coaches and Artur by himself, so for these two to be able to have a teammate to share a room with, to warm up with and just be at the meet with is going to be really positive for both of them."
 
The two simmers extended the Bears' appearance streak at the championship meet to now five consecutive years and are they are the only two swimmers in the Mid-American Conference to make it to the meet. Similarly, both Thomas and Osvath earned MAC Freshman of the Years honors in their respective freshman campaigns.
 
Osvath, a sophomore, begins the championship meet with the 200 IM on Thursday, Mar. 23, in which he ranks 59^th. Sitting 42^nd in the 100 breast, the Budapest, Hungary native is set to compete in his second event on Friday, Mar. 24 and will wrap up the NCAA Championships Saturday as the 25^th seed in the 200 breast – his main event.
 
"I am very excited and I think that having this same experience last year is really going to help my performance this time around," Osvath said. "Now I know what to expect and I know what kind of swimmers I am going up against. There are Olympians and swimmers who have beaten Michael Phelps, so I am really excited to go race with these guys and show what I can do."
 
Missouri State's first distance swimmer to qualify for the NCAA Championships, Thomas begins competition with the 500 free on Thursday, Mar. 23. The Fayetteville, Ark., native will close out the championships as the 27^th seed in his main event – the 1650 free – Saturday, March 25.
 
"For me, my whole philosophy on big meets is not to psych myself out," Thomas said. "I did what I wanted to accomplish at the MAC Championships. I wanted to go under 15 minutes in the mile. For me, beating the person next to me is the ultimate goal because I don't want to be last.
 
"Working with Dave this year has really helped me improve," Thomas explained. "We've worked on turns, underwaters, as well as shaving tenths of seconds off 50 yards and it's all coming together really nicely."
 
Prelims for the meet begin at 9 a.m. (CT) each day, followed by finals sessions slated for 5 p.m. The championships will be held March 22-25 at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis. Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and the Indiana Sports Corp. will serve as co-hosts.
 
A total of 270 participants (235 swimmers and 35 divers) will compete in the championships. Swimmers qualified for the championships by meeting the established minimum time for the events in which they entered. The complete lists of all swimmers competing in the championships is available at www.usaswimming.org/ncaa.
 
ESPN3.com will live stream finals sessions on Friday and Saturday. Wednesday's evening session, Thursday's sessions along with the morning sessions on Friday and Saturday will be streamed live on www.ncaa.com and www.indianasportscorp.org/ncaasd. Additionally, ESPNU will air a two-hour show at 5 p.m. Eastern time, Wednesday, April 5.
 
For more information about the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, visit NCAA.com/sports/swimming-men.