2015 NCAA Division II Championships: Day 1 Prelims Real-Time Recaps

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 1 events: 200 IM, 50 free, 200 medley relay, 1000 free, men’s 3-meter diving

Women’s 200 Individual Medley

(R=1:59.21,  3/12/2014, Katharina Fischer, West Chester)

Patri Castro Ortega, the freshman from Queens who represented Spain on the 4 x 200 free relay in London in 2012, began her NCAA career with a meet record in the 200 IM. Seeded with a 2:04, Castro Ortega blasted a 1:58.91 in prelims to lead the field by nearly three seconds. Rebecca Matthews of Lynn University posted a 2:01.78, which was good enough to qualify second, just ahead of Queens’ Caroline Arakelian (2:01.82). Arakelian was runner-up in last year’s final.

Ashland’s Hannah Mattar (2:02.19) and Wingate’s Sofia Petrenko (2:02.55), who were both part of last year’s championship final, qualified fourth and fifth, respectively. Caroline Rademacher of LIU Post (2:03.30) finished just ahead of Queens’ Hannah Peiffer (2:03.36), and West Florida’s Anna Macht (2:03.71).

Men’s 200 Individual Medley

(R=1:43.96, 3/12/2014, Matthew Josa, Queens, NC)

Defending champion and current NCAA record-holder, Matt Josa of Queens, lowered his own record in prelims with a 1:43.18, four full seconds ahead of the next-fastest qualifier. Ivan Capan of Bridgeport went 1:47.14 to earn the second spot for tonight’s final, just ahead of Pawel Trenda from Saint Leo (1:47.17).

Gianni Ferrero of Grand Valley State, who placed third last year, qualified fourth with 1:47.31. Also making the top-eight are Joshua Hanson of Cal Baptist (1:47.48), Benjamin Taylor from Queens (1:47.54), Metin Aydin of Grand Valley (1:47.94) and Kacper Pelczynski of Drury (1:48.29).

Women’s 50 Freestyle

(R=22.54, 3/13/2014, Ana Azambuja, Wayne State)

Bryndis Hansen of Nova Southeastern topped the field with 22.60. The Iceland native improved on her winning time from the Sunshine State Conference Championship by .08. Qualifying second is Drury’s Wen Xu with 22.63. Xu set the Great Lakes Valley Conference record in this event last month, tying the 22.54 NCAA mark. Teammate Janet Yu, last year’s NCAA runner-up, qualified third in 22.91.

BMC conference champion and new record-holder, Natalie Burnett of Carson-Newman, qualified fourth in 23.11, followed by Lillian Gordy of Queens (23.17), Debbi Lawrence of Northern Michigan (23.20), Limestone’s Emily Reh (23.24), and Tatiana Shepel of Bridgeport (23.26).

Men’s 50 Freestyle

(R=19.39, 3/10/2011, Andrey Seryy, Wayne State)

Bridgeport senior Ruben Gimenez led the field of qualifiers in the men’s 50 free with 19.82. Lindenwood freshman Serghei Golban went 19.83, and Thiago Sickert of Nova Southeastern, 19.88.

Saint Leo’s Matheus Assis, a 2014 finalist, qualified fourth in 20.04. Drury freshman Rodrigo Caceres Acosta (20.06), RB Borgen of Tampa (20.06), Tobias Feigl of Limestone (20.14), and Samuel Olson of Drury (20.18) also made the championship final.

Women’s 200 Medley Relay

(R=1:40.45, 3/12/2014, Drury)

Nova Southeastern (Emma Wahlstrom, Malin Westman, Bryndis Hansen, and Emma Lawrenz) won the first heat of women’s medley relays, besting Queens (Hannah Peiffer, Emma Durante, Madeleine Wallmon, and Alexandra Marshall), 1:42.27 to 1:42.42. Cal Baptist (Mary Hanson, Alena Rumiantceva, Kristina Tchernyschev, and Patricia Hapsari)) took heat 2 over Wingate (Rita Koryukova, Olga Kosheleva, Jasmine Arzadon, and Ana Fish), 1:42.31 to 1:42.35. The top qualifying time, however, came out of the final heat when Drury (Katya Rudenko, Martina Dankova, Vera Johnasson, and Wen Xu) put up 1:40.92 to earn the right to lane 4 for tonight’s final.

LIU Post qualified sixth with 1:42.68, while St. Cloud State (1:42.96) and Alaska Fairbanks (1:43.15) round out tonight’s championship final.

Men’s 200 Medley Relay

(R=1:26.02, 3/12/2014, Wayne State)

Men’s 200 Medley Relay

(R=1:26.02, 3/12/2014, Wayne State)

Drury (Jordi Joan Montseny Diez, Banjo Borja, Stanislav Kuzmin, and Aaron Buckingham)’s 1:28.64 led the way in heat one of the men’s medley relay, with Delta State (Yvan Nys, Matteo Fraschi, Vlad Zinca, and Fabrice Wendel) finishing second in 1:28.95. Lindenwood (Krzysztof Jankiewicz, Mateusz Pacholczyk, Serghei Golban, and Arturs Plots) claimed heat two with 1:27.30, while Wayne State (Juan David Molina Perez, Piotr Jachowicz, Soren Holm, and Joshua Schacht) finished just behind in 1:27.40.

Tampa (Jordan Augier, Wayne Denswil, Borgen, and Jeremy Parker) clocked a 1:27.90 to win heat three ahead of Queens (John Suther, Nic Ericksson, Josa, and Hayden Kosater), who got to the wall in 1:28.01.

Lindenwood (1:27.30) emerged at the top of the list for tonight’s final. Wayne State, Tampa, Queens, Florida Southern (1:28.03), Bridgeport (1:28.31), Drury (1:28.64), and Delta State also qualified for the championship final. Grand Valley (1:29.13), Nova Southeastern, West Chester, Lewis, Wingate, Saint Leo, Carson-Newman, and Missouri S&T (1:32.76) will contest the B final tonight.

Women’s 1000 Freestyle

(R=9:50.49, 3/12/2008, Kristen Frost, Southern Connecticut State)

Meridith Boudreaux of Queens, last year’s runner-up, led wire-to-wire in the first heat of the women’s 1000 (the top eight will swim with finals). She built up a three body length lead and finished with 10:06.71. Teammate McKenzie Stevens brought some outside smoke to lane 1 and took second in 10:10.77. Lindenwood’s Lena Kirschner came in just ahead of West Chester’s Lauren Carastro, 10:13.49 to 10:13.57.

Heat 2 showcased a blowout from lane 8, where last year’s 14th-place finisher, Drury’s Allie Reynolds, dropped nearly 20 seconds and smoked the field with 10:00.31. On the other side of the pool, in lane 1, Samantha Postmus of Grand Valley dropped 13.8 to finish with 10:06.03. Both moved ahead of Queens’ Boudreaux. Third in the heat was Sarah Pullen, also of Drury, whose 10:07.50 moved her into fourth place so far, just behind Boudreaux but in front of Stevens.

The third heat of the women’s 1000 belonged to a very fast Megan Ouhl of Drury, whose 17-second drop catapulted her into the second position with 10:03.40. Kristina Novichenko came in second at 10:12.76 to post the eighth-fastest time of the morning session. Novichenko was fourth overall last year.

Headed into finals tonight, it will be Reynolds’ 10:00.31 that will be the time to beat. Guaranteed to score top 16 are Ouhl (10:03.40), Postmus (10:06.03), Boudreaux (10:06.71), Pullen (10:07.50), Stevens (10:10.77), Caroline Hodgins of Bloomsburg (10:12.02) and Novichenko (10:12.76).

Men’s 1000 Freestyle

(R=8:57.06, 3/11/2009, Mitch Snyder, Drury)

The first heat of the men’s race was pure outside smoke, as Drury’s Alec Morris took control from lane 1 and won by a couple of body lengths in 9:10.11. The middle of the pool featured a much closer affair, with Alex Bryson of St. Cloud State and Gustavo Silva Santa of Lindenwood trading stroke for stroke down the middle of the pool through the 800. Bryson began to pull away, but Silva Santa wouldn’t let him go. Over the last 100 Silva Santa took over and finished second in the heat with 9:12.18 to Bryson’s 9:12.76.

Defending champion Victor Polyakov of West Chester won heat two by a long shot, clocking a 9:07.71, just off his winning time from 2014. Behind him was teammate Jared Haley (9:15.71). The third heat went to Ossian Arvidsson of Wingate (9:29.10).

The swimmers in tonight’s final will be shooting to beat Polyakov’s 9:07.71. Other scorers coming out of the morning heats include Morris (9:10.11), Silva Santa (9:12.18), Bryson (9:12.76), Haley (9:15.71), Makis Jorgensen of Delta State (9:18.36), Robert Griffith of Cal Baptist (9:19.55), and Igor Mijatovic of Lindenwood (9:22.05).