NCAA DIVISION II CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Dates: Wednesday, March 12 – Saturday, March 15, 2014
- Location: SPIRE Institute, Geneva, Ohio (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champions: Drury
- Live Results: Available
- Live Video: Available Here (Click on Date on Scroll Bar)
- Championship Central
The final day of competition is underway at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio. On the agenda today included the 100 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 200 breaststroke and 400 freestyle relays. The 1650 freestyle will begin this afternoon, with the top eight swimming tonight for the timed final event.
Drury and Wayne State have quite the battle ahead of them for the women’s Championship title tonight. While the Drury men have built a comfortable lead heading into finals tonight.
Women’s 100 Freestyle
Three swimmers broke under the 50 barrier this morning, with Wayne State’s Ana Azambuja leading the way at 49.66. She had a big time drop, coming in seeded at 51.73. Simon Fraser’s Nicole Cossey is second at 49.86, and Drury’s Wai Ting Yu in third at 49.89. The rest of the A final is very tight, just .4 between fourth and eighth – from first to eighth it’s only a 1.1 spread.
Men’s 100 Freestyle
Ruben Gimenez of Bridgeport cut one and a half seconds to sit first for tonight in 43.61. Drury’s Nicholas McCarthy is second, also under 44, at 43.95. Bridgeport had another swimmer in the top three with Oscar Pereiro at 44.20. Like the women’s A final, here it is even closer, so the top eight are not even separated by a full second — Martin Hammer is eighth for Tampa at 44.44.
Women’s 200 Backstroke
Delta State’s freshman Anastasia Klyarovskaya is first at 1:57.62. Her seed time of 1:56.44 is under the D2 NCAA record; look for it to be broke tonight. Wingate’s Kathryn Peil is second in 1:57.71, and close behind is Caroline Arakelian of Queen at 1:57.90 for third.
Drury has one swimmer in the A with Yakaterina Rudenko, while Wayne State has none here.
Men’s 200 Backstroke
Queen’s freshman Matthew Josa is first in 1:44.07. The NCAA Record is 1:43.4, and Josa’s seed of 1:43.0 is under the mark — leaving him a good shot for the record tonight. Thomas Nguyen of Florida Southern is second at 1:44.42, his teammate Luis Rojas is third at 1:45.42. The two swimmer both dropped a second in prelims this morning.
Drury is in with two swimmers, Sean Feher, fifth, and Igor Kowal, seventh.
Women’s 200 Breaststroke
Drury’s senior Agnieszka Ostrowska has the record in sight, after finishing at 2:13.46 this morning. Her seed time has her under the 2011 standard. Katharina Fischer of West Chester and Hannah Mattar of Ashland are second and third at a pair of 2:14’s – 2:14.71 and 2:14.98. The rest of the A final is filled with three 2:15’s and a pair of 2:16’s.
Men’s 200 Breaststroke
Queen’s Niclas Eriksson leads the field by nearly two seconds with his 1:55.58 this morning — nearly a two second drop for himself as well. UC San Diego’s Nicholas Korth is second at 1:57.38 and Banjo Borja of Drury are third at 1:57.47. The rest of the A final, fourth through eighth, sits at 1:58’s.
Women’s 400 Freestyle Relay
Drury will come into tonight seeded first in 3:23.36. Their two 49 splits from Tinsley Andrews and Wai Ting Yu keep them ahead of Bridgeport, who is second at 3:24.18. For the title chase for tonight, Wayne State made the final heat, as they are seeded sixth at 3:25.35.
Men’s 400 Freestyle Relay
Florida Southern is first in 2:56.86 with two 43’s splits this morning. Queen is second at 2:57.24, with just one 43 split from Matthew Josa this morning. Drury is in third, 2:57.38, as they also had two 43’s on board.