2018 NCAA Division II Men’s Championships – Queens Starts Day 1 with 2 Records

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 1

Men’s 1000-yard Freestyle – Fastest heat

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

1. Tim Samuelsen, SO Missouri S & T 8:59.45
2. Franco Lupoli, SR Nova S’eastern 9:03.84
3. Adam Rosipal, FR Indy 9:04.53

It was anyone’s race through to the 200. Saint Leo freshman Matija Rafaj held a slight advantage, but Missouri S&T sophomore Tim Samuelsen, defending champion Franco Lupoli of Nova S’eastern, and Indy freshman Adam Rosipal were all right there with him. Samuelsen began to creep out ahead at the 250, and then increased his lead with every turn. By the halfway point, still only 2 seconds separated Samulesen (4:31.11), Lupoli (4:32.81), Rafaj (4:33.15), and Rosipal (4:33.22).

Samuelsen began his descent, swimming sub-27s for 8 of the next ten 50s. No one was able to stay with him and he quickly moved into clean water. Lupoli and Rosipal went with him, but Rafaj fell way off pace. They finished 1st (8:59.45), 2nd (9:03.84), 3rd (9:04.53), and 7th (9:12.15), respectively.

The rest of the top-8 was made up of the top 4 finishers from the morning heats: Drury senior Alexandre Reinbrecht (9:03.43), Simon Fraser junior Mackenzie Hamill (9:10.46), Drury sophomore Federico Brumana (9:11.84), and Simon Fraser sophomore Andrew Woinoski (9:12.50).

Men’s 200-yard Individual Medley – Finals

• NCAA DII: 1:41.94 3/11/2015 Matthew Josa, Queens (NC)
• Meet: 1:41.94 3/11/2015 Matthew Josa, Queens (NC)
• Pool: 1:41.92 2/27/2014 Pavel Sankovich, FSU

1. Marius Kusch, JR Queens (NC) 1:41.61
2. Nicholas Arakelian, SR Queens (NC) 1:44.91
3. Matthew Holmes, JR Florida Southern 1:45.68

No one should have been surprised, given the way he attacked his race in prelims this morning, but Queens junior Marius Kusch began the meet by taking a .33 chunk out of the NCAA Division II and Championship Record in the 200 IM (previously 1:41.94, set by Matthew Josa when he swam for Queens in 2015). His time of 1:41.61 also erased Pavel Sankovich of Florida State’s pool record from 2014. Kusch was under record pace from the outset. His fly was 21.06 (vs Matt Josa’s 22.11 from the 2015 record); from there his running times were 46.37 (vs 47.03), 1:16.50 (vs 1:16.87), and finally 1:41.61 (vs 1:41.97). Kusch’s swim would have earned him a berth in the A final of the 200 IM at last year’s NCAA Division I Championships.

Second place went to Queens senior Nick Arakelian (1:44.91), whose breaststroke leg of 28.62 was the fastest in the field by 1.4 seconds. Florida Southern junior Matthew Holmes was third in 1:45.68.

The rest of the championship final consisted of Rodrigo Codo Berti, junior, of UIndy (1:46.61), NMU junior Ryan Leonard (1:47.07), Drury freshman Pavel Semochkin (1:47.67), Queens senior Inigo Alarcia (1:47.70), and Fresno Pacific sophomore Aleksei Averchenko (1:49.18).

Men’s 50-yard Freestyle – Finals

• NCAA DII: 19.17 11/30/2017 David Lambert, Oklahoma Baptist
• Meet: 19.18 3/10/2016 Serghei Golban, Lindenwood
• Pool: 18.75 2/22/2018 Ryan Held, NC State

1. David Lambert, SR Oklahoma Baptist 19.29
2. Victor Rocha Furtado, JR Florida Tech 19.66
3. Julien-Pierre Goyeche, SR Oklahoma Baptist 19.75

Although he was off both his seed time of 19.17, with which broke the Division II record in November, and his prelims time of 19.21, Oklahoma Baptist senior David Lambert still won the men’s 50 free with a comfortable margin. He posted a 19.29, .37 ahead of second-place finisher Victor Rocha Furtado of Florida Tech (19.66).

One of the more interesting stories in this race was that of third-place finisher Julien-Pierre Goyeche of Oklahoma Baptist. Goyeche entered the meet with 20.04. He went 20.05 in prelims and tied with Nova S’eastern senior Malique Elder for 8th, requiring a swim-off to see who would ascend to the A final and who would drop to the B final. Goyeche won that, 20.07 to 20.21. In his third 50 free of the day, all the way out in lane 8, he threw down a 19.75 to finish third overall.

Fresno Pacific freshman Iskender Baslakov, FR Fresno Pacific 19.87, who had taken .60 off his seed time in prelims, dropped another .02 to place fourth with 19.87. He finished just ahead of Queens senior Paul Pijulet (19.89). Next to the wall were Delta State junior Mattia Schirru (20.03), Queens senior Bradford Hancock (20.11), and Saint Leo senior Hunter Bains (20.14).

Men’s 200 Yard Medley Relay – Finals

• NCAA DII: 1:25.89 3/8/2017 Queens (NC) (Bunner, Fedyna, Pijulet, Mayes)
• Meet: 1:25.89 3/8/2017 Queens (NC) (Bunner, Fedyna, Pijulet, Mayes)
• Pool: 1:23.19 2/24/2016 North Caroliina State Univ. (H Stuart, D Hren, S Bilas, R Held)

1. Queens (NC) 1:24.83
2. Oklahoma Baptist 1:26.73
3. Fresno Pacific 1:27.11

Seeded with 1:25.01, the Royals were favorites to take down the Division II and Championship Record of 1:25.89, which they had set at this meet a year ago. Switching things up, Queens moved Paul Pijulet to backstroke (21.41), which accounted for a 0.99-second improvement. Arakelian went 23.79 in breast, Kusch split 20.26 on fly, and sophomore Dmytro Sydorchenko brought it home in 19.37.

Oklahoma Baptist snuck past Fresno Pacific to land in the second spot, thanks in large part to an 18.78 anchor from Lambert. Goyeche led off in 22.67, Fernando Morillas swam breast (24.22), and Andre Del Rio took care of the fly (21.06). The Bison combined for 1:26.73. Fresno Pacific finished third in 1:27.11 with Baslakov (21.59), Dmitry Belolipetskiy (24.22), Aleksei Averchenko (21.15), and Luka Barisic (20.15).

Fourth through eighth went to Wayne State (1:27.70), Cal Baptist (1:28.06), Indy (1:28.11), Drury (1:28.32), and Lindenwood (1:28.42).

Men’s Team Scores – Day 1

1. Queens (NC) 127
2. Oklahoma Baptist 79
3. Drury 75
4. Fresno Pacific 64
5. Indy 57
6. Cal Baptist 47
7. Florida Southern 41
8. Wayne State 31
9. Florida Tech 29
10. Wingate 28
11. Lindenwood 27
12. Nova S’Eastern 26
13. Simon Fraser 25 / Saint Leo 25
14. –
15. Delta State 24
16. Missouri S & T 20
17. NMU 14
18. McKendree 9
19. Colorado Mesa 8
20. Grand Valley 8
21. UCSD 6
22. Truman St. 3
23. Carson-Newman 2