The 2015 NCAA Division II Championships, a four-day event, begins Wednesday in Indianapolis, Indiana, with the dominant program in the history of the division, the Drury Panthers, seeking to repeat as both men’s and women’s champions.
As the quality of Division II swimming continues to rise, though, so does the excitement in the team battle, with the men and women from Queens University of Charlotte, especially, coming off of a Bluegrass Mountain Conference championship where they set several Division II national records. The challenge will be contending with the depth of a Drury team that has been building their dynasty for decades.
SwimSwam’s coverage will include daily real-time recaps (like this one), as well as a mid-day analysis of scoring opportunities earned in prelims.
NCAA Division II Championships – Hot Links
- March 11th-14th, 2015
- Indianapolis, Indiana (IUPUI Natatorium)
- Real-Time results
- Video link (expected to be available when meet starts)
- Championship Central
- Day 3 events: 500 free, 100 back, 100 breast, 200 fly, 800 free relay, men’s 1-meter diving
Women 500 Yard Freestyle
- Division II: 4:45.69 3/14/2008 Kristen Frost, Southern Conn St
In the first circle-seeded heat, a terrific battle played out in the middle of the pool over the entire second half of the race, and ended when Sarah Pullen of Drury and Alli Crenshaw of Florida Southern came in together at 4:54.59 and 4:54.60, respectively.
Queens’ Lillian Gordy put up a 4:53.80 in the very next heat to take over the lead. Then Patri Castro Ortega, the 22-year-old Spanish Olympian who is a freshman at Queens, lit up the pool with a 4:48.05. Allie Reynolds of Drury was not too far off, finishing with the second time overall, 4:53.52.
Making the championship final out of prelims were Castro Ortega (4:48.04), Reynolds (4:53.52), Gordy (4:53.80), Pullen (4:54.59), Crenshaw (4:54.60), Melanie Tombers of Delta State (4:54.97), Lindenwood’s Alecia McGillivray (4:55.19), and Megan Ouhl of Drury (4:55.38).
Men 500 Yard Freestyle
- Division II: 4:21.48 3/16/2012 Iaroslav Denysenko, Wingate
Juan Tolosa of Florida Southern led the first circle-seeded heat with a commanding 4:25.61 to set the pace for the remaining heats. Defending champion Victor Polyakov of West Chester and Daniel Bis of Saint Leo traded stroke for stroke at the end of their race, touching in 4:24.17 and 4:24.41, respectively.
The final heat featured a protracted battle, four-across, among Nick Arakelian of Queens (4:25.82), Jonathan Glaser of Missouri S&T (4:26.28), UCSD’s Chandler Pourvahidi (4:26.32), and Gustavo Silva Santa of Lindenwood (4:26.49).
The final qualifiers were Polyakov, Bis, Tolosa, Arakelian, Glaser, Pourvahidi, Silva Santa, and Leif-Henning Kleuver of Wingate (4:26.83).
Women 100 Yard Backstroke
- Division II: 45 3/14/2014 Mary Hanson, Cal Baptist
Top-seeded Katya Rudenko posted the top qualifying time in the final heat of the women’s 100 back, touching in 53.92. Defending champion and current record-holder, Mary Hanson of Cal Baptist, had the second-fastest time when she won the previous heat with 54.24. Delta State’s Anastasia Klyarovskaya qualified third in 54.41.
Joining them in the championship final tonight will be fellow qualifiers Claudia Owczarz of West Chester (54.68), Carson-Newman’s Natalie Burnett (54.87), Jessica Ward of Findlay (55.01), Hannah Peiffer of Queens (55.38), and Elly Maleski of Wayne State (55.43).
Men 100 Yard Backstroke
- Division II: 46.99 3/16/2012 Oscar Pereiro, Bridgeport
If there were a 4×100 back relay, there’s no question who would dominate: Lindenwood qualified the top three backstrokers in the men’s race, two of whom broke the NCAA record in their prelims swims.
In the penultimate heat freshman Krzysztof Jankiewicz threw down a 46.91 to dip under the previous NCAA mark, only to watch his classmate Serghei Golban eclipse it by .14 with 46.77. The third Lindenwood freshman, Jakub Jonczyk went 47.41 to earn lane 3 in tonight’s final.
Joining the trio of Lions in the championship final will be Dima Turkin of Peiffer (47.54), Catalin Ungur of Carson-Newman (47.56), Sean Feher (47.82) and Jordi Montseny Diez (47.85) of Drury, and Bryan Wiener of Lewis (47.85).
Women 100 Yard Breaststroke
- Division II: R 1:00.66 3/14/2014 Kayla Scott, Wayne State
Top-seeded Rebecca Matthews of Lynn maintained her place atop the field with the fastest qualifying time of 1:01.59. California University of Pennsylvania sophomore Jade Arganbright dropped .7 to qualify second with 1:02.63, just ahead of Caroline Rademacher of LIU Post (1:02.73) and Tyne Potgieter of Lynn (1:02.81).
Lindenwood freshman Ewa Dymarek posted a 1:02.82 for the fifth-fastest time, followed by Madisen Sechena of NMU (1:02.87), Alena Rumiantceva of Cal Baptist (1:02.98), and Wayne State’s Hannah Loesch (1:03.34).
Men 100 Yard Breaststroke
- Division II: R 52.43 3/13/2009 Aleksander Hetland, Tampa
Freshman Anton Lobanov of Nova Southeaster set the pace for the men’s 100 breast finalists with his prelims-leading time of 53.02. 2014 runner-up Piotr Jachowicz of Wayne State qualified second in 53.27. Cal Baptist’s Nikolay Klepikov improved on his seed time and moved up to third with 53.76.
Other qualifiers for tonight’s championship final include Nic Eriksson of Queens (53.82), Tobias Feigl of Limestone (53.82), Delta State’s Matteo Fraschi (53.91), Kacper Pelczynski of Drury (54.08), and Ivan Capan of Bridgeport (54.10).
Women 200 Yard Butterfly
- Division II: R 1:58.84 3/16/2012 Jaclyn Hynson, Indiana Univ Pa
Wingate sophomore Sofia Petrenko, who tied with Queens’ Peiffer for third place in last year’s championships, led the morning session of the 200 fly with 2:01.14. Peiffer and teammate McKenzie Stevens battled it out in their heat, with Stevens just out-touching the veteran Peiffer, 2:01.44 to 2:01.46.
Rachel Brooker of Bloomsburg dropped nearly two seconds off her seed time and climbed to the fourth position with 2:01.55. Wayne State’s Kristina Novichenko qualified fifth with 2:01.99. Simon Fraser’s Carmen Nam, eighth in last year’s final, qualified sixth in 2:02.73, just ahead of defending champion Joyce Kwok of LIU Post (2:02.81) and Hannah Vinyard of Lindenwood (2:02.87).
Men 200 Yard Butterfly
- Division II: R 1:42.99 3/11/2011 Jun Han Kim, Drury
Matt Josa of Queens, the newly-crowned tenth-fastest 100 butterflier of all time, held onto his top seeding in the 200. Josa dropped 1.1 seconds off his seed time and qualified with 1:43.85, less than a second off the NCAA record. Gianni Ferrero of Grand Valley and Thiago Sickert of Nova Southeastern both posted 1:46.22 to lead the rest of the championship final qualifiers.
Joining them tonight will be Delta State senior Vlad Zinca (1:46.35), Findlay freshman Janko Radmanovic (1:46.49), Stanislav Kuzmin of Drury (1:47.48), Raul Garrastazu of Florida Southern, and Wayne State’s Soren Holm (1:47.87).
Women 800 Yard Freestyle Relay – Timed Finals
- Division II: R 7:20.08 3/14/2014 Drury
With the fastest heat scheduled to swim in finals tonight, Tampa led the timed finals of the women’s 800 free relay to end Day Three’s morning session. Sophie Long (1:52.21), Brittany Bayes (1:53.06), Erin Plachy (1:51.09), and Briana Murphy (1:51.91) finished with 7:28.27 to establish the time to beat tonight. Limestone (7:30.38) was second and Lindenwood (7:37.10), third.
Men 800 Yard Freestyle Relay – Timed Finals
- Division II: R 6:27.73 3/16/2012 Florida Southern
Nova Southeastern bettered their seed time by more than 6 seconds to set the bar on the men’s side with 6:30.09 from Marco Aldabe (1:39.70), Sickert (1:34.67), Javier Caballero (1:38.80), and Shane Kleinbeck (1:36.92). Grand Valley finished second in 6:38.56, ahead of UCSD in 6:40.69.