2018 NCAA Division II Men’s Championships – Day 2 Ups/Downs
Cal Baptist picked up 45 points on Thursday, and after a net positive of 26 additional points on Wednesday, are now vying for second place in the team standings. Archive photo via CBU Athletics/Robert Jordan
For those unfamiliar with swimming terminology, the concept of “Ups” and “Downs” is a good way to track which teams performed best at prelims. In prelims at the NCAA National Championships, swimmers and divers qualify for one of two finals heats: the top 8 finishers make the A final, and places 9 through 16, the B final. In finals, swimmers are locked into their respective final, meaning a swimmer in the B heat (spots 9-16) can only place as high as 9th or as low as 16th, even if they put up the fastest or slowest time, or score the most diving points, of any heat in the final.
With that in mind, we’ll be tracking “Ups,” and “Downs” after each prelims session. “Up” refers to swimmers in the A final, “Down” to swimmers in the B final.
Day 2 was difficult for several teams, especially those who suffered relay DQs. But a championship meet is a zero-sum game and on the other side there are big winners. Wayne State picked up 23 points over its seedings on Thursday. Northern Michigan was up 21, Florida Southern 15, and UIndy 13. The biggest winner, though, was Cal Baptist, gaining 45 points over the psych sheet. Furthermore, there is now a tight battle for second place in the team standings among Cal Baptist, Drury, Indy, and Oklahoma Baptist.
Anne Lepesant is the mother of four daughters, all of whom swam in college. With an undergraduate degree from Princeton (where she was an all-Ivy tennis player) and an MBA from INSEAD, she worked for many years in the financial industry, both in France and the U.S. Anne is currently …