2016 NCAA Division II Championships – Day 1 Prelims Recap

Division II Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships

• March 9-12, 2016
• IUPUI Natatorium, Indianapolis, Indiana
• Prelims 10:30 AM, Finals 6 PM – U.S. Eastern Time Zone (GMT -5 currently)
• Event schedule
• Real-time results – diving
• Real-time results – swimming
• Video link
• Championship Central

The NCAA Division II Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships begins this morning with preliminary heats of the 200 IM, 50 free, and 200 medley relay. The 1000 free will be swum as timed finals following the medley relays.

Women’s 200-yard Individual Medley

• NCAA DII: 1:58.60 3/11/2015 Patricia Castro Ortega, Queens (NC)

Patri Castro Ortega wasted no time etching her name in the record books at the 2016 NCAA Division II Championships, taking a huge chunk out of the 200 IM mark that she had set at this meet last year with 1:58.60. The Queens senior went 1:57.19 in prelims to set the new bar. West Florida junior Theresa Michalak also came in under Castro Ortega’s 2015 mark, going 1:58.56. It will be a good matchup tonight, but Castro Ortega’s second half will be tough to beat:

• Castro Ortega splits: 25.47 / 30.06 / 33.87 / 27.79 – 1:57.19
• Michalak splits: 26.06 / 29.23 / 34.50 / 28.74 – 1:58.56

Rebecca Matthews, a senior at Lynn, came in at 2:00.75 to qualify third for finals, just ahead of Wingate junior Sofia Petrenko (2:00.82). Queens added two more names to the A final with senior Caroline Arakelian (2:01.52) and freshman Josephina Lorda (2:02.42) qualifying at fifth and sixth. Evyn Spencer of Truman State Gretchen Stein and of Drury round out the top eight for tonight’s final.

Top qualifiers:

1. Patricia Castro Ortega, Queens 1:57.19
2. Theresa Michalak, West Florida 1:58.56
3. Rebecca Matthews, R Lynn 2:00.75
4. Sofia Petrenko, Wingate 2:00.82
5. Caroline Arakelian, Queens 2:01.52
6. Josephina Lorda, Queens 2:02.42
7. Evyn Spencer, Truman St. 2:03.16
8. Gretchen Stein, Drury 2:04.04

Men’s 200-yard Individual Medley

• NCAA DII: 1:41.94 3/11/2015 Matthew Josa, Queens (NC)

West Chester junior Victor Polyakov led the field in the men’s 200 IM with 1:46.36 over Gianni Ferrero of Grand Valley State, who touched in 1:46.68. Polyakov swam the 1000 free on the first day of the 2015 meet rather than the IM, while Ferrero was runner-up in the IM. Cal Baptist senior Joshua Hanson qualified third for tonight’s final with 1:47.14. Hanson, who was the number one seed this year, finished fifth last year.

Adrian VanderHelm of Simon Fraser, who had an unfortunate DQ in this event as a freshman last year, made it in fourth with 1:47.46. Inigo Alarcia of Queens went 1:47.51 to qualify fifth, ahead of Bridgeport senior Ivan Capan (1:47.71), Nova Southeastern junior Marco Aldabe (1:47.85), and Northern Michigan freshman Ryan Leonard (1:48.01).

There was a tie for 16th place when both Felipe Oliveira, a senior from Queens, and Rodrigo Codo Berti, a freshman from Indianapolis, clocked a 1:48.66 in heats. Oliveira won the swimoff (1:49.76 to 1:53.82) and earned the chance to swim again tonight in the consolation final.

Top 8 qualifiers:

1. Victor Polyakov, West Chester 8 1:46.36
2. Gianni Ferrero, Grand Valley 1:46.68
3. Joshua Hanson, Cal Baptist 1:47.14
4. Adrian VanderHelm, Simon Fraser 1:47.46
5. Inigo Alarcia, Queens (NC) 1:47.51
6. Ivan Capan, Bridgeport 1:47.71
7. Marco Aldabe, Nova S’eastern 1:47.85
8. Ryan Leonard, NMU 1:48.01

Women’s 50-yard Freestyle

• NCAA DII: 22.46 3/12/2015 Wen Xu, Drury

Drury junior Wen Xu lowered her own NCAA Division II record, set last year at the national championships, by 1/10 with a prelims swim of 22.36. Xu finished second in this event last year with 22.66; the record comes from her leadoff on Drury’s national record-breaking 200 free relay. Tampa junior Marisa Barton qualified second in 22.88. Wingate senior Armony Dumur, who finished 14th in this event and then set the NCAA Division II record in the 100 fly last year, was third through to finals in 23.00.

UC San Diego earned two bids into the championship final with junior Natallie Tang (23.12) and senior Colleen Daley (23.14) qualifying fourth and fifth. LIIU Post senior Meghan Brazier (23.14), Queens freshman Kyrie Dobson (23.16), and Wayne State freshman Lezlie Bueno Estrada will make up the rest of the A final.

Top 8 qualifiers:

1. Wen Xu, Drury 22.36
2. Marisa Barton, Tampa 22.88
3. Armony Dumur, Wingate 23.00
4. Natalie Tang, UCSD 23.12
5. Colleen Daley, UCSD 23.14
6. Meghan Brazier, LIU Post 23.14
7. Kyrie Dobson, Queens (NC) 23.16
8. Lezlie Bueno Estrada, Wayne State 23.21

Men’s 50-yard Freestyle

• NCAA DII: 19.39 3/10/2011 Andrey Seryy, Wayne State

Lindenwood sophomore Serghei Golban, who finished second in the 50 free last year as a freshman, led the field in heats with a qualifying time of 19.60. Golban was out like a shot but there were quicker second halves than his (9.34/10.26), notably from Drury junior Daniel Rzadkowski, who qualified second in 19.63 (9.67/9.96). It was a big improvement for Rzadkowski who went 20.32 in prelims last year and just missed consols, coming in 17th.

Martin Hammer, a junior at Tampa, went 19.83 to qualify third in front of Nova S’eastern junior Thiago Sickert (19.84). Sickert is the defending bronze medalist in this event.

Drury and Queens each placed two swimmers in the championship final. In addition to Rzadkowski, the Panthers will have sophomore Rodrigo Caceres (19.88) who came in sixth in the morning. The Royals’ Zach Phelps went 19.87 for fifth, while sophomore Ben Mayes was eighth with 19.98. Matheus Assis of Saint Leo qualified seventh in 19.95.

There was a three-way swimoff for 16th place in the 50 free among Drury senior Aaron Buckingham, Fresno Pacific sophomore Luka Barisic, and Missouri S&T junior Jon Glaser, all of whom came to the wall in 20.30. The swimoff placed Buckingham (20.19) in the consolation final, while Barisic (20.21) earned the first alternate spot over Glaser (20.28).

Top 8 qualifiers:

1. Serghei Golban, Lindenwood 19.60
2. Daniel Rzadkowski, Drury 19.63
3. Martin Hammer, Tampa 19.83
4. Thiago Sickert, Nova S’eastern 19.84
5. Zack Phelps, Queens (NC) 19.87
6. Rodrigo Caceres, Drury 19.88
7. Matheus Assis, Saint Leo 19.95
8. Ben Mayes, Queens (NC) 19.98

Women’s 200-yard Medley Relay

• NCAA DII: 1:40.09 3/11/2015 Drury

Rita Koryukova (26.06), Jessika Weiss (28.35), Dumur (23.54), and Ana Fish (23.08) combined to lead the field in the women’s 200 medley relay with 1:41.03, less than a second off the NCAA DII record, set by Drury last year. Drury came in second with 1:41.12, with a 22.23 anchor from Xu. Queens came in third with 1:41.22, 1.7 seconds off their seed time of 1:39.49. Look for the Royals put Castro Ortega on the fly leg tonight, which with Hannah Peiffer, Shelly Prayson, and Dobson is the configuration they had when they went 1:39.49 at Bluegrass Mountain Conference championships.

Top 8 qualifiers:

1. Wingate 1:41.03
2. Drury 1:41.12
3. Queens (NC) 1:41.22
4. LIU Post 1:41.70
5. Wayne State 1:41.91
6. UCSD 1:42.08
7. Delta State 1:42.51
8. West Florida 1:43.15

Men’s 200-yard Medley Relay

• NCAA DII: 1:26.02 3/12/2014 Wayne State

Queens began the 2016 Championships much as they did the 2015 version: with a medley relay DQ on Day 1. Last year they had largely enough depth to cover the loss of points; this year the meet is much closer on paper. Wingate was also disqualified this morning.

The Lindenwood quartet of Krzysztof Jankiewicz (22.20), Mateusz Pacholczyk (23.79), Golban (20.24), and Michal Szczukowski (20.19) led the field of qualifiers with 1:26.42. Florida Southern was second with 1:27.28, featuring a 19.55 anchor from Diego Gimenez, and Delta State qualified third in 1:28.30.

Top 8 qualifiers:

1. Lindenwood 1:26.42
2. Florida Southern 1:27.28
3. Delta State 1:28.30
4. Tampa 1:28.45
5. Grand Valley 1:28.46
6. Nova S’eastern 1:28.52
7. Wayne State 1:28.92
8. Indy 1:29.24

Women’s 1,000-yard Freestyle

• NCAA DII: 9:50.49 3/12/2008 Kristen Frost, Southern Conn St

UCSD freshman Reagan Eickert posted the morning’s top time in the 1000 free, making 10:08.21 the number to beat in finals tonight. Queens senior Meridith Boudreaux was just 2/10 off that at 10:08.41, while NMU junior Rachel Borchardt went 10:09.40 for the third-fastest time.

Lindenwood junior Alecia McGillivray, who won this event last year, Leonie Van Noort (Grand Valley), Kyleigh Troxel (Lindenwood), Christina Halverson (Cal Baptist), Mckenzie Stevens (Queens NC), Theresa Hayward (West Chester), Sarah Pullen (Drury), and Allison Crenshaw (Florida Southern) will swim in finals.

Men’s 1,000-yard Freestyle

• NCAA DII: 8:57.06 3/11/2009 Mitch Snyder, Drury

Defending champion Nick Arakelian, a sophomore at Queens, put up the time to beat for finals tonight with his 9:06.31 morning swim. Drury sophomore Alex Reinbrecht gave Arakelian a good chase, but came up just short with 9:06.63. Reinbrecht nearly even-split his race, going 4:32.8/4:33.8 with a 25.2 on the end. Arakelian was out only 8/10 off his winning pace from 2015, but his second half was about 7 seconds slower. Simon Fraser freshman Mackenzie Hamill dropped 22.4 from his seed time to post the third-fastest time of the morning, 9:11.69.

Still to swim are Sam Bryant (Colorado Mesa), Daniel Bis (Saint Leo), Robert Griffith (Cal Baptist), Chandler Pourvahidi (UCSD), Blake Woodrow (Nova S’eastern), Gustavo Silva Santa (Lindenwood), Dion Dreesens (Queens), and Sylwester Borowicz-Skoneczny (Lindenwood).

Women’s 3-meter Diving

NCAA DII: 516.40 1994 Kim Standfield, CSU Bakersfield

The top three finishers from 2015 led the field in prelims of 3-meter diving this year. Last year’s runner-up, West Florida junior Monica Amaral, came within 2.4 points of breaking a 22-year-old NCAA Division II record with a score 514.00. Defending champion Elizabeth Rawlings of Wayne State qualified second with 491.45 points, just ahead of Grand Valley State’s Taylor Wiercinski (491.15).

Top 8 qualifiers:

1. Monica Amaral, West Florida 514.00
2. Elizabeth Rawlings, Wayne State 491.45
3. Taylor Wiercinski, Grand Valley 491.15
4. Sarah Zerfoss, Clarion 481.75
5. Christina Sather, Clarion 471.35
6. Shelby Werkema, Lindenwood 455.30
7. Molly Kearney, NMU 453.40
8. Nicola Mancini, Bentley 444.40