2018 NCAA Division II Men’s Championships – Day 2 Finals Live Recap

2018 NCAA Division II Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships

• Dates: Wednesday, March 14 – Saturday, March 17
• Swimming: prelims 10am, finals 6pm; Diving: 2pm
• Location: Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, North Carolina (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champions: Queens (results)
• Psych Sheet
• Video
• Live Results
• Championship Central

Day 2

Men’s 200 Yard Freestyle Relay – Finals

• NCAA DII: 1:17.27 3/10/2016 Tampa (Hammer, Augier, Borgen, Parker)
• Meet: 1:17.27 3/10/2016 Tampa (Hammer, Augier, Borgen, Parker)

1. Oklahoma Baptist 1:18.11
2. Queens (NC) 1:18.68
3. Florida Southern 1:20.20

Oklahoma Baptist led from start to finish and won the 200 free relay with 1:18.11. The all-senior quartet mixed up the order from prelims, switching Julien-Pierre Goyeche and David Lambert from leadoff to anchor and vice versa. Lambert went 19.35 to put the Bison in front of the field. He was followed by Chad Brandon (19.39), Andre Del Rio (20.10) and Lambert (19.27).

Queens finished second with 1:18.68, with Bradford Hancock (20.13), Dmytro Sydorchenko (19.40), Enzo Pazos (19.68), and Christopher Mayes (19.47).

Florida Southern (Noah Franz, Nico Campbell, Luka Matacin, and Talor Hamilton) went 1:20.20 to edge Delta State (1:20.33) for third.

Florida Tech (1:20.42), Fresno Pacific (1:20.53), Wingate (1:20.70), and Cal Baptist (1:21.09) rounded out the championship final.

Men’s 400 Yard Individual Medley – Finals

• NCAA DII: 3:43.84 3/12/2015 Nick Arakelian, Queens (NC)
• Meet: 3:43.84 3/12/2015 Nick Arakelian, Queens (NC)

1. Matthew Holmes, JR Florida Southern 3:47.18
2. Nicholas Arakelian, SR Queens (NC) 3:47.49
3. Cristian Vasquez, JR Lindenwood 3:49.16

Simon Fraser sophomore Rolando Hernandez got things started with a quick butterfly leg, clocking a 51.75 to lead after 100 yards. He was followed closely by Florida Southern junior Matthew Holmes and Lindenwood junior Cristian Vasquez. Three-time defending champion Nicholas Arakelian of Queens, swimming in lane 2, took over after the backstroke leg, moving in front of Holmes, Hernandez, and Vasquez. Arakelian’s strength is the breaststroke, and he surged to a 2 body length lead. The group of three he’d left behind all outsplit him on the first half of the freestyle leg, and they began to regain ground. Holmes led the charge, and he made up a half-second on the leader, who he was now trailing by 1.6 seconds. He motored home in 25.96 though, and just got the touch on Arakelian.

Holmes went 3:47.18 for the win. Arakelian took second with 3:47.49. Vasquez (3:49.16) was third, followed by Brandon Schuster of Cal Baptist (3:49.72), Hernandez (3:50.52), Truman State’s William Shanel (3:52.02), Drury junior Young Tae Seo (3:54.44), and Wayne State sophomore Joao Ribeiro (3:56.13).

Men’s 100 Yard Butterfly – Finals

• NCAA DII: 44.89 3/12/2015 Matthew Josa, Queens (NC)
• Meet: 44.89 3/12/2015 Matthew Josa, Queens (NC)

1. Paul Pijulet, SR Queens (NC) 45.81
2. Aleksei Averchenko, SO Fresno Pacific 47.13
3. Pavel Semochkin, FR Drury University 47.19

Queens senior Paul Pijulet already led by .32 at the 50, and he continued to extend his lead with each 50. He improved his prelims time by .64 and won in 45.81. Wingate senior Sebastian Holmberg was in second at the halfway mark, with Drury freshman Pavel Semochkin right behind. Fresno Pacific sophomore Aleksei Averchenko, swimming in lane 8, came from behind and passed them all, clocking a 47.13 for second place. Semochkin was third in 47.19, followed closely by Holmberg (47.30), McKendree freshman Matija Pucarevic (47.40), Delta State freshman Giulio Brugnoni (47.41), Nova S’eastern sophomore Magnus Poulson (47.60), and Queens senior Zach Bunner (48.04).

Men’s 200 Yard Freestyle – Finals

• NCAA DII: 1:32.46 3/10/2016 Dion Dreesens, Queens (NC)
• Meet: 1:32.46 3/10/2016 Dion Dreesens, Queens (NC)

1. Marius Kusch, JR Queens (NC) 1:32.74
2. Guilherme Zavaneli, JR Indy 1:34.42
3. Joan Casanovas, SO Drury University 1:36.01

Queens junior Marius Kusch, who won the 200 IM on Wednesday with a new NCAA Division II and meet record, looked like he might do it again in the 200 free on Thursday. Out in 44.99, he was right at record pace at the 150 wall with 1:08.69. Kusch came home in 24.0 for a final time of 1:32.72, just .26 off the meet mark.

Indy junior Guilherme Zavaneli, third in this event last year, maintained the second position behind Kusch throughout the race and finished all alone with 1:34.42, a body length behind Kusch and a body length ahead of Drury sophomore Joan Casanovas (1:36.01).

Truman State junior Samuel Heveroh took fourth in 1:36.89. McKendree freshman Alexander Skinner was fifth (1:37.04), ahead of Queens freshman Alen Mosic (1:37.26), Cal Baptist junior Justin Quiroga (1:37.30), and Cal Baptist junior Jerome Heidrich (1:37.89).

Men’s 1 Meter Diving (M) – Finals

• NCAA DII: 618.70 3/10/1994 Dario DiFazio, Oakland Univ
• Meet: 618.70 3/10/1994 Dario DiFazio, Oakland Univ

1. Ammar Hassan, FR Colorado Mesa 564.30
2. Joshua Zylstra, SO Indy 523.20
3. Otto Lehtonen, SO Oklahoma Baptist 517.25

Colorado Mesa freshman Ammar Hassan was the most consistent performer on the 1-meter board all day, and he won the championship final with 564.30 points. Indy sophomore Joshua Zylstra had an outstanding session, moving from sixth in the morning to runner-up at night. He scored 523.20 points, beating Finnish national champion, Otto Lehtonen of Oklahoma Baptist, by 5.95 points.

St. Cloud State senior David Sufficool came in fourth, scoring 508.40. Colorado mesa senior Sage D’Ambrosia, sixth a year ago, moved up one spot to fifth with 506.65 points. Indy sophomore Payton Staman (502.65), Cal Baptist senior Zachary Parry (481.50) and Clarion junior Cary Johns (481.05) rounded out the championship final.

Men’s 400 Yard Medley Relay – Finals

• NCAA DII: 3:07.38 3/9/2017 Queens (NC) (Pijulet, Fedyna, Kusch, Dreesens)
• Meet: 3:07.38 3/9/2017 Queens (NC) (Pijulet, Fedyna, Kusch, Dreesens)

1. Queens (NC) 3:08.56
2. Florida Southern 3:12.23
3. Indy 3:12.53

Queens got off to a quick start with Pijulet on backstroke; his 46.53 leadoff put the Royals out front by close to a body length. Arkelian followed with a 53.42 breast. Kusch, fresh off winning the 100 fly individual event in 45.81 from a flat start, split 44.99 on the relay. Mosic anchored in 43.62 to give Queens a final time of 3:08.56.

Florida Southern and Indy battled for second place. They went out together, then Florida Southern was faster over the middle 200 yards. Indy outsplit them by nearly 1 second on the freestyle but by then Florida Southern was far enough ahead that they got to the wall first, edging Indy, 3:12.23 to 3:12. 53. Brandon Dyck (47.88), Luis Jasso (52.52), Noah Franz (47.89), and Matthew Holmes (43.94) made up the Moccasins’ relay. Indy featured the quartet of Rodrigo Codo Berti (47.89), Jan Zuchowicz (53.56), Ante Lucev (48.04), and Guilherme Zavaneli (43.04).

The rest of the championship final consisted of Wayne State (3:13.09), Wingate (3:13.12), Cal Baptist (3:13.64), UC San Diego (3:14.76), and Northern Michigan (3:18.40).

Note: Nova S’eastern was DQd in the consolation final. Lindenwood, which was thought to have qualified 7th for finals, was DQd after review later in the morning. That moved Northern Michigan into the championship final and Nova S’eastern into the consols.

Men’s Team Scores – Day 2

1. Queens (NC) 296
2. Indy 161
3. Cal Baptist 154
4. Oklahoma Baptist 150
5. Florida Southern 138
6. Drury 128
7. Fresno Pacific 107
8. Wingate 100
9. Delta State 83 / Wayne State 83
10. –
11. Florida Tech 64
12. Grand Valley 57 / Colorado Mesa 57
13. –
14. Lindenwood 56
15. Saint Leo 51
16. Nova S’Eastern 46
17. McKendree 44
18. NMU 40
19. Simon Fraser 39
20. UCSD 34
21. Missouri S & T 32
22. Truman St. 31
23. Cloud St. 18
24. Tampa 13
25. Clarion 11
26. Henderson St 8
27. Findlay 6
28. Carson-Newman 2 / Bloomsburg 2
29. –
30. Jewell 1