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 1 events: 200 IM, 50 free, 200 medley relay, 1000 free, men’s 3-meter diving
A morning DQ from the Queens University men’s 200 medley relay will have a huge impact on the meet’s final outcome, but the women’s side still remains hotly contested. See the up/downs to set the stage, as the defending champion Drury women and the upstarts from Queens University are already separating themselves from the field.
Also keep an eye on two NCAA Records, in the women’s and men’s 200 IM’s, that went down in prelims and could be broken again on Wednesday in finals.
Women’s 1000 Free – Timed Final
- NCAA D2 Record – Kristen Frost, 9:50.49, Southern Connecticut State, 2008
Also getting into the hunt was Drury senior Allie Reynolds, who dropped a whopping 19 seconds from her season-best and 15 from her lifetime-best to go 10:00.31 for second.
Both McGillivray and Reynolds got in ahead of defending national champ Alli Crenshaw of Florida Southern, who went 10:02.53.
After a big morning from Queens, sophomore Camden Johnson did her part with a 4th-place finish in 10:03.19, just barely touching out UCSD’s Stephanie Sin (10:03.22) and Drury’s Megan Ouhl (10:03.40).
Men’s 1000 Free – Timed Finals
- NCAA D2 Record – Mitch Snyder, 8:57.06, Drury, 2009
As the men of Queens try to claw back from their relay DQ in prelims, they got a big boost when freshman Nick Arakelian won the men’s 1000 free in 8:58.47. He took command of this race early, and held about a two-second margin on the field for most of the nine-minute race, eventually placing ahead of top-seeded Daniel Bis, who is also a freshman, from St. Leo’s.
That time is 11-seconds faster than Arakelian’s previous lifetime best. He’s the younger sister of Queens junior Caroline Arakelian, and while he came out of high school as a highly touted recruit, the distance freestyles weren’t necessarily a focus for him over most of his high school career. He was very good in his early teens, but this time represents a total of 56 seconds of improvement in his freshman season alone.
In a race top-heavy with underclassmen, Florida Southern’s Juan Tolosa placed 3rd in 9:06.19, followed by West Chester’s Victro Polyakov in 9:07.71. Each of the top four is listed as an underclassmen.
The first senior finisher was Queens’ Alex Menke, who was 5th in 9:09.93, while the defending champions from Drury drew their first points when sophomore Alec Morris touched in 6th place in 9:10.11.
Women’s 200 IM – Finals
NCAA D2 Record – Patricia Castro, 1:58.91, Queens (prelims)
Queens went 1-2 to take an early points lead, with Caroline Arakelian posting her second-consecutive runner-up finish in the event. Arakelian was 2:00.35, using the field’s best backstroke split to jump into the lead at the halfway mark and only falling behind Ortega after breaststroke.
Just .02 behind her was Wingate’s sophomore Sofia Petrenko in 2:00.37 – Petrenko closed hard and nearly ran down Arakelian, but ran out of room at the end. She did pass up Lynn junior Rebecca Matthews, who went 2:00.61 for fourth.
West Florida’s Anna Macht (2:01.79) beat Ashland junior Hannah Mattar (2:01.95) on the home-stretch after both hit the 150-wall nearly dead even. Rounding out the A final were LIU Post’s Caroline Rademacher (2:02.83) and another Queens Royal, Hannah Peiffer (2:03.65).
With that big 3-up performance, Queens leads Drury 74-50.
Men’s 200 IM – Finals
NCAA D2 Record – Matthew Josa, 1:43.18, Queens (prelims)
Queens sophomore Matthew Josa is already well on his way to earning National Swimmer of the Year honors thanks to a record-crushing 1:41.94 to win the men’s 200 IM. That breaks his own NCAA Division II Record of 1:43.18 done in prelims, which in turn broke his old record of 1:43.96.
Josa actually went out much slower in finals than he usually does, splitting just 22.1 on his fly, but his backstroke and freestyle legs were a big improvement.
Grand Valley State’s Gianna Ferrero took 2nd in 1:45.90, followed by Saint Leo’s Pawel Trenda (1:46.35).
Grand Valley had two in the top four, including the only A-finalist freshman, with Metin Aydintaking 4th place in 1:46.89.
Queens also picked up a second big-point finish with a 1:47.49 from Benjamin Taylor, who tied with Cal Baptist’s Joshua Hanson for 5th place.
Drury’s Kacper Pelczynski placed 7th in 1:48.51. He’s expected to be a factor in the title chase for the breaststrokes later in the meet, but was key in this race to stop the bleeding a little for the defending champs, who were 40 points behind coming out of the event.
Women’s 50 Free – Final
NCAA D2 Record – Ana Azambuja, 22.54, Wayne State, 2014
Meanwhile in the team battle, Drury used this event to make a run at Queens’ points lead with two A-finalists. Sophomore Wen Xu took second in 22.66 and senior Janet Yu, last year’s runner-up, took fourth in 22.84. One small indicator of how much faster this meet has gotten: Yu actually went faster than she did at last year’s nationals and still moved down two spots.
In between the two Panthers was Northern Michigan’s Debbi Lawrence, who went 22.79 to move up from her 2014 5th-place finish.
The lone A-finalist from Queens was senior Lillian Gordy, who went 23.06 for fifth place. Fellow senior Emily Reh of Limestone went 23.23 for sixth, with Bridgeport’s Tatiana Shepel taking 7th in 23.36. Carson-Newman’s Natalie Burnett was the last A finalist, and was DQ’d in the event.
That event erased much of Queens’ big lead, and Drury now sits just 9 points behind heading into the diving break.
Men’s 50 Free – Final
- NCAA D2 Record – Andrey Seryy, 19.39, Wayne State, 2011
At last year’s NCAA Championship meet, Bridgeport’s Ruben Gimenez was the title-winner in the 100 free and 100 breaststroke, but didn’t score in the 50 free at all.
He’s now added his 3rd individual National Championship though, as a senior, with a 19.67 to just edge-out Lindenwood freshman Serghei Golban (19.70).
Nova Southeastern’s Thiago Sickert, who has been one of the most talked-about stories in D2 this season, was 3rd in 19.92 – just missing his seed time.
Swimming toward the outside of this field was a pair of Drury Panthers, with Rodrigo Caceres placing 6th in 20.11 and Samuel Olson placing 7th in 20.14. Those two swims, along with two B-Finalists, helped the Panthers claw back up into 2nd place and showed off where their strengths will be at this meet (mirroring the women’s team).
Queens, meanwhile, had just one scorer (13th-place Nic Eriksson), but when the relays roll around will be able to add Matthew Josa to bolster their sprint ranks. Though he didn’t swim the 50 here, Josa is likely the fastest 50 freestyler in Division II.
Men’s 3-Meter Diving – Finals
- NCAA D2 Record – Heath Calhoun, 615.95, Clarion, 2014
Wayne State senior Dylan Szegedi, with the graduation of last year’s NCAA Record breaker, improved from silver to gold in 2015, winning the 3-meter with a score of 587.65.
Grand Valley State’s Tyler Keelean took 2nd with a score of 566.50, and Clarion’s Collin Vest was 3rd with 546.50 points.
Neither Queens nor Drury had any divers in the A-Final, but Grand Valley State had two in the top six finishers to pull within half-a-point of Queens for the lead.
Women’s 200 Yard Medley Relay – FINALS
NCAA D2 Record – Drury, 1:40.45, 2014
Cal Baptist took second, getting a huge lead on Mary Hanson‘s 24.39 backstroke split that crushed the rest of the field. That team went 1:40.89. About a second back was Wingate, at 1:41.87, led by Rita Koryukova‘s 25.86 backstroke leg, the closest swimmer to Cal Baptist’s Hanson and Drury’s Rudenko.
Nova Southeastern took fourth in 1:41.93, getting the best fly split of the A final from 50 free champ Bryndis Hansen (a blazing 23.66). UCSD was also quick in the fly, getting a 24.13 from senior Jaclyn Amog. UCSD finished in 1:42.41, just about a tenth ahead of Queens’ 1:42.55.
Closing out the top 8 were St. Cloud State (1:42.71) and Delta State (1:42.90). That leaves the Drury women in the points lead, but only by 5 over Queens, an entertaining showdown that should continue over the next few days.
Men’s 200 Yard Medley Relay – FINALS
- NCAA D2 Record – Wayne State, 1:26.02, 2014
The Wayne State Warriors won the 200 medley relay at last year’s NCAA Championship meet in 1:26.02, which set a new Division II Record.
They weren’t able to match that time this season, despite returning the same first three legs from last year’s relay, but on the strength of a 23.70 breaststroke from Piotr Jachowicz did repeat as champions in 1:26.17.
Jachowicz’s split was the difference-maker as they beat out runners-up Lindenwood, who swam a 1:26.73 with three freshmen and a sophomore on their relay.
Drury placed 3rd in 1:27.09 to jump ahead of Queens for 3rd place, though both were behind Lindenwood and Grand Valley State, who end day 1 tied for 1st.
The silver lining for Queens, even with the relay DQ, is that they’re still within 22 points of the lead, and still have four Josa relays to go.
Team Scores After Day 1
Women
1. Drury 128
2. Queens (Nc) 123
3. Wingate 67
4. Nova S’Eastern 57
5. Ucsd 51
6. Cal Baptist 37
7. Delta State 29
8. West Florida 26
8. Florida Southern 26
10. St. Cloud State 24
11. Lindenwood 21
12. Wayne State 20
13. Limestone 19
14. Tampa 18
14. Liu Post 18
16. Nmu 16
17. Lynn 15
18. Simon Fraser 14
19. Ashland 13
20. Bridgeport 12
21. Grand Valley 11
22. Carson-Newman 8
23. Msu Mankato 4
24. Bloomsburg 3
25. Hillsdale 1
25. Adams St. 1
Men
1. Lindenwood 94
1. Grand Valley 94
3. Drury 91
4. Queens (Nc) 72.5
5. Wayne State 69
6. Bridgeport 65
7. Saint Leo 58
8. Florida Southern 51
9. Nova S’Eastern 48
10. Tampa 44
11. Cal Baptist 43.5
12. St. Cloud State 39
13. West Chester 35
14. Delta State 34
15. Clarion 23
16. Lewis 12
17. Limestone 11
18. Carson-Newman 8
19. Colorado Mesa 7
19. Wingate 7
19. Pfeiffer 7
19. Florida Tech 7
23. Ucsd 6
24. Missouri S & T 4