2021 NCAA Division II Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships
- Wednesday, March 17 – Saturday, March 20, 2021
- Birmingham CrossPlex / Birmingham, AL (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending champion: Queens (5x) – 2019 results
- Streaming
- Championship Central
- Live Results
- 2021 NCAA Division II Men’s psych sheet
Day Three
McKendree’s Fabio Dalu, who has already won the 1000 free and 400 IM, is looking to pick up his third victory in the 500 free tonight but he has to get past Christian Hedeen of UIndy, who put up the morning’s fastest time. Findlay’s Tim Stollings and Delta State’s Emanuel Fava will battle for the backstroke crown. It’s a tight field at the top in the 100 breast, but Joao Santos of Emmanuel was the lone sub-53 of the morning and looks to be in good position for the title. Wingate’s Iran Almeida and 2019 NCAA champion and current record-holder Alex Kunert of Queens are the ones to watch in the 200 fly.
Men’s 500 Yard Freestyle – Finals
- NCAA DII Record: 4:17.09 – Dion Dreesens, Queens (NC) (2016)
- Meet: 4:17.09 – Dion Dreesens, Queens (NC) (2016)
Top 8:
- Fabio Dalu, McKendree – 4:19.88
- Luke Erwee, Queens – 4:23.20
- Christian Hedeen, UIndy – 4:23.28
- Luke Mikesell, IUP – 4:24.67
- Sebastian Wenk, UIndy – 4:24.70
- Hendrik Faber, Queens – 4:26.93
- Jonas Soerensen, Wingate – 4:27.40
- Mohamed Hegazy, Queens – 4:30.33
McKendree sophomore Fabio Dalu jumped out to a quick start and was already up by two body lengths over the field at the 200 mark. He continued to build his lead and won by 3.32 seconds with 4:19.88, nearly 1.2 seconds faster than his seed time coming into the meet.
Behind him, a couple of good races were taking place. Luke Erwee of Queens and Christian Hedeen from UIndy were battling for second and third places in lanes 3 and 4, while UIndy’s Sebastian Wenk and IUP’s Luke Mikesell were trading stroke for stroke in lanes 1 and 2 for the next spot. On the other side of the pool, Queens’ Hedrik Faber was only half a body length behind Wenk and Mikesell.
Erwee beat Hedeen for second place by .08.
Mikesell won out by .03 over Wenk for fourth place.
Faber got to the wall half a second ahead of Wingate’s Jonas Soerensen for sixth.
Grand Valley State’s Eric Hieber won the consolation final in 4:25.74.
Men – Top 10 Teams – Through Event 22
- Queens (Nc) 356
- Drury 271.5
- Indy 191
- McKendree 187
- Lindenwood 177
- Delta State 160.5
- Wingate 127
- Wayne State 111
- Grand Valley 108
- Florida Southern 70
Men’s 100 Yard Backstroke – Finals
- NCAA DII Record: 45.09 – Marius Kusch, Queens (NC) (2019)
- Meet Record: 45.09 – Marius Kusch, Queens (NC) (2019)
Top 8:
- Giulio Brugnoni, Delta State – 46.77
- Tim Stollings, Findlay – 46.97
- Nathan Bighetti, Drury / Emanuel Fava, Delta State – 47.07 (tie)
- –
- Brandon Dyck, Florida Southern – 47.26
- Daniel Aizenberg, Florida Tech – 47.27
- Lamar Taylor, Henderson State – 47.29
- Finn Howard, Queens – 47.59
Delta State senior Giulio Brugnoni pulled off an upset in the 100 back final. The field was tightly bunched at the 50 wall, with Daniel Aizenberg of Florida Tech flipping first in 22.1, just before top-seeded Tim Stollings from Findlay (22.4). Brugnoni was .05 behind Stollings and just in front of Drury’s Nathan Bighetti and Delta State’s Emmanuel Fava.
Brugnoni had the fastest back half and managed to get the touch just head of Stollings, 46.77 to 46.97. Bighetti and Fava came to the wall another tenth of a second behind and tied for third place with 47.07/
Karol Ostrowski from Drury won the consolation final with the fastest time of the night, 46.55. He was a full second ahead of Iksender Baslakov of Fresno Pacific (47.50), the runner-up at 2019 NCAAs.
Men – Top 10 Teams – Through Event 24
- Queens (Nc) 367
- Drury 298
- Delta State / UIndy – 196 (tie)
- –
- McKendree 193
- Lindenwood 177
- Wingate 127
- Wayne State 115
- Grand Valley 108
- Florida Southern 84
Men’s 100 Yard Breaststroke – Finals
- NCAA DII Record: 51.63 – Anton Lobanov, Nova S’eastern (2015)
- Meet Record: 51.63 – Anton Lobanov, Nova S’eastern (2015)
Top 8:
- Joao Santos, Emmanuel / Gerald Brown, Lindenwood – 52.77 (tie)
- –
- Filipe Pinheiro, McKendree – 53.48
- Mahmoud Elgayar, Colorado Mesa – 53.54
- Dawid Nowodworski, Drury – 53.88
- Jan Zuchowicz, UIndy – 54.01
- Jan Delkeskamp, Queens – 54.04
- Roberto Camera, Northern Michigan – 54.12
Emmanuel senior Joao Santos and Gerald Brown of Lindenwood, swimming in lanes 4 and 5, respectively, gave the crowd another tie in the following heat, but this one was for the NCAA title. Santos, runner-up in the 100 breast at 2019 NCAAs with 52.94, had gone 52.40 in prelims to notch a PB. In the final, he went out half a second faster than Brown, as quickly as he had been in the morning heats, but he came back half a second slower.
McKendree freshman Filipe Pinheiro touched out Colorado Mesa junior Mahmoud Elgayar for third place, 53.48 to 53.54. Drury junior Dawid Nowodworski led the next wave of finishers with 53.88.
2019 runner-up and Emmanuel senior Joao Santos dropped .76 from his seed time to win the final heat in 52.40. McKendree freshman Filipe Pinheiro, swimming out in lane 7, took .8 off his seed time to touch out Queens junior Jan Delkeskamp, 53.83 to 53.89.
Drury junior Caleb Carlson went 54.34 to win the consolation final.
Men – Top 10 Teams – Through Event 26
- Queens (Nc) 379
- Drury 321
- McKendree 214
- UIndy – 209
- Delta State 196
- Lindenwood 195.5
- Wingate 127
- Wayne State 115
- Grand Valley 108
- Florida Southern 84
Men’s 200 Yard Butterfly – Finals
- NCAA DII Record: 1:41.19 – Alex Kunert, Queens (NC) (2019)
- Meet Record: 1:41.19 – Alex Kunert, Queens (NC) (2019)
Top 8:
- Alex Kunert, Queens – 1:42.85
- Iran Almeida, Wingate – 1:43.50
- Yannick Plasil, Queens – 1:44.60
- Dominik Karacic, Drury – 1:44.63
- Patryk Winiatowski, Lindenwood – 1:46.51
- Andy Huffman, Missouri S&T – 1:46.55
- James Brown, Drury – 1:47.15
- Miguel Bernotti, Florida Southern – 1:47.77
Queens junior and NCAA Record-holder Alex Kunert successfully defended his 2019 title with 1:42.85. He had an easy front 100 and looked like he might cruise to victory without much challenge, but Wingate senior Iran Almeida had other plans for the race. He crushed his third 50 and pulled within .2 of the leader, but fell off pace over the final 50 yards and had to settle for second place. Kunert split 48.4-54.4 for a final time of 1:42.85. Almeida went 49.3-54.1, with a 25.8-28.3 on that final 100.
Queens freshman Yannick Plasil edged Drury sophomore Dominik Karacic, 1:44.60 to 1:44.63, for third place.
Drury junior Andrew Rodriguez dropped 1.4 seconds to win the consolation final with 1:46.45.
Men – Top 10 Teams – Through Event 28
- Queens (Nc) 416
- Drury 357
- McKendree 214
- Lindenwood 209.5
- UIndy – 209
- Delta State 199
- Wingate 144
- Wayne State 119
- Grand Valley 115
- Florida Southern 95
Men’s 800 Yard Freestyle Relay – Timed Finals
- NCAA DII Record: 6:18.46 – Dreesens, Pijulet, Kusch, Arakelian, Queens (NC) (2017)
- Meet Record: 6:18.46 – Dreesens, Pijulet, Kusch, Arakelian, Queens (NC) (2017)
Top 8:
- Queens – 6:22.59
- Drury – 6:23.89
- Grand Valley – 6:30.09
- Wingate – 6:30.95
- Lindenwood – 6:32.26
- McKendree – 6:33.38
- UIndy – 6:35.88
- Florida Southern – 6:37.79
Queens won the NCAA Division II 800 free relay title for the seventh time in a row, this time with 6:22.59 from freshman Balazs Berecz (1:36.77), junior Skyler Cook-Weeks (1:35.89), junior Luke Erwee (1:36.60), and junior Alex Kunert (1:33.33).
Drury finished second in the heat and in second place overall with 6:23.89. Senior Ahmed Wahby (1:37.48), junior Ean Vandergraaf (1:37.60), and sophomore Dominik Karacic (1:36.36) set it up but freshman Karol Ostrowski, despite his 1:32.45 anchor, couldn’t quite run down Kunert.
UIndy won heat 1 in 6:35.88. Grand Valley State took heat 2 with 6:30.09.
Men – Top 10 Teams – Through Event 31
- Queens (Nc) 456
- Drury 391
- McKendree 240
- Lindenwood 237.5
- Indy 233
- Delta State 217
- Wingate 174
- Grand Valley 147
- Wayne State 119
- Florida Southern 117