2018 NCAA Division II Women’s Championships – Day 2 Finals Live Recap

2018 NCAA Division II Women’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 2

Women’s 200 Yard Freestyle Relay – Finals

• NCAA DII: 1:30.57 3/12/2015 Drury (Xu, Johansson, Rudenko, Yu)
• Meet: 1:30.57 3/12/2015 Drury (Xu, Johansson, Rudenko, Yu)

1. Queens (NC) 1:30.05
2. Drury University 1:30.95
3. Oklahoma Baptist 1:32.25

Queens broke the NCAA Division II Record and Championship Record by 0.90 with 1:30.05. Senior Lara Marshall led off with 23.21; she was followed by junior Kyrie Dobson (22.31), freshman Wanda Dollmayer (22.36), and junior Michelle Prayson (22.17).

Drury was out first, thanks to a 22.82 leadoff from senior Vera Johansson. Senior Yekaterina Rudenko (22.72), junior Abigail Lunzmann (23.00), and sophomore Bailee Nunn (22.39) kept the Panthers in the mix but couldn’t catch the Royals over the second half of the race. Drury finished second with 1:30.95.

Oklahoma Baptist went 1:32.25 for third with sophomore Victoria Fonville (22.94), senior Tamlyn Price (22.91), freshman Julie Day (23.20), and sophomore Celina Marquez (23.20).

The rest of the championship final consisted of Tampa (1:32.35), Carson-Newman (1:32.47), Nova S’eastern (1:32.63), UC San Diego (1:32.81), and Saint Leo (1:34.20).

Women’s 400 Yard Individual Medley – Finals

• NCAA DII: 4:08.56 3/10/2016 Patri Castro Ortega, Queens (NC)
• Meet: 4:08.56 3/10/2016 Patri Castro Ortega, Queens (NC)

1. Courtney Deveny, SR Nova S’eastern 4:15.39
2. Francesca Bains, FR Queens (NC) 4:19.71
3. Samantha Postmus, SR Grand Valley 4:20.12

Nova S’eastern senior Courtney Deveny controlled the race from the outset; she and Sofia Petrenko of Cal Baptist led the field by half a body length after the butterfly leg. Deveny pulled ahead on backstroke and opened up a two body length lead heading into the breast. Grand Valley senior Samantha Postmus had moved into second place on the back, followed very closely by Fresno Pacific senior Bavindeep Basra. Petrenko slipped past Postmus on the breaststroke, though. While Deveny cruised toward home, the battle intensified for second place. Francesca Bains of Queens came home in 57.7 and got past the group.

Deveny got the win in 4:15.39. She was followed by Bains (4:19.71), Postmus (4:20.12), and Petrenko (4:21.06). West Chester junior Megan Burns (4:23.48), Fresno Pacific sophomore Laura Forshell (4:24.46), and Lindenwood junior Erin Sutton (4:29.26) were sixth through eighth.

Women’s 100 Yard Butterfly – Finals

• NCAA DII: 52.33 3/9/2017 Theresa Michalak, West Florida
• Meet: 52.33 3/9/2017 Theresa Michalak, West Florida

Qualifiers:

1. Bailee Nunn, SO Drury University 53.01
2. Vera Johansson, SR Drury University 53.17
3. Georgia DaCruz, SO Queens (NC) 53.49

In a tight race that looked as if it could go any which way, Drury sophomore Bailee Nunn won the women’s 100 fly with 53.01 swimming in lane 2. Nunn, who finished third in this event last year after having qualified first for finals, took it out faster than a year ago, going 24.86 on the first 50. She trailed teammate Zuzanna Chwadeczko by .25 and was .14 ahead of top qualifier, Queens sophomore Georgia DaCruz. But Nunn was tough over the second half of the race, coming home in 28.15. Teammate Vera Johansson came home even faster (27.71) and nearly caught Nunn. Johansson would up in second place with 53.17. Chwadeczko came within .01 of making it a 1-2-3 Drury sweep, but DaCruz got her hand to the wall first. DaCruz (53.49) was third; Chwadeczko (53.50), fourth.

Simon Fraser sophomore Jessie Gibson came in fifth with 53.83. She was followed by Saint Leo senior Natalia Garriock (53.93), Delta State freshman Lucia Martelli (54.40), and Fresno Pacific senior Daria Belova (55.07).

Women’s 200 Yard Freestyle – Finals

• NCAA DII: 1:44.44 2/10/2016 Patri Castro Ortega, Queens (NC)
• Meet: 1:45.27 3/12/2015 Patri Castro Ortega, Queens (NC)

1. Simone de Rijcke, JR Lindenwood 1:47.06
2. Mckenzie Stevens, SR Queens (NC) 1:47.10
3. Emma Sundstedt, FR Nova S’eastern 1:47.83

For the second event in a row, someone came from behind to win the event in an exciting finish. The 200 free final was very tight over the first 100 yards. The middle five lanes flipped together at the 50, nearly indistinguishable with Queens senior Mckenzie Stevens in lane 5 (leading with 25.56), Carson-Newman senior and top qualifier Margaret Stansberry in lane 4 (25.31), Queens junior Josephina Lorda (25.52), Lindenwood junior Simone de Rijcke (25.56), and Nova S’eastern freshman Emma Sundstedt (25.65) all bunched up. Stansberry pulled to a slight lead at the 100; she was followed by Stevens, Lorda, Sundstedt, and de Rijcke. De Rijcke moved into third at the 150, then put it into another gear over the final 50 yards. She came home in 26.77, the fastest split in the field by 3/10, which allowed her to get the the wall .04 ahead of Stevens, 1:47.07 to 1:47.10. Sundstedt (1:47.83) pulled in front of Stansberry (1:48.07), and Lorda faded to fifth (1:49.30).

Lindenwood junior Morgan Fischer (1:49.34), Cal State East Bay senior Morgan McClure (1:50.35), and UC San Diego freshman Ciara Franke (1:51.05) made up the rest of the championship final.

Women’s 400 Yard Medley Relay – Finals

• NCAA DII: 3:37.80 3/10/2016 Wingate (Arkhipova, Weiss, Dumur, Petrenko)
• Meet: 3:37.80 3/10/2016 Wingate (Arkhipova, Weiss, Dumur, Petrenko)

1. Queens (NC) 3:40.16
2. Fresno Pacific 3:41.53
3. Nova S’eastern 3:43.17

Oklahoma Baptist junior Suzanne Afchain got the Bison off to a quick start with a 54.46 backstroke leadoff, but Queens’ Michelle Prayson put the Royals in front after the breaststroke. From there, DaCruz and Stevens kept them in front of the field, and Queens finished with 3:40.16 for the title. Freshman Rachel Massaro went 55.32 in back, Prayson was 1:01.28, DaCruz split 53.81, and Stevens anchored with 49.75.

Fresno Pacific took second in 3:41.53 with Olga Melnikova (55.73), Olga Tovstogan (1:01.56), Belova (54.44), and Laura Fornshell (49.80). Nova S’eastern (Deveny 55.96, Malin Westman 1:01.65, Jenna Johns 55.43, and Sydney Panzarino 50.13) finished third in 3:43.17.

Oklahoma Baptist (Afchain, Marizel Van Jaaveld, Faith Moss, and Victoria Fonville) finished just behind NSU with 3:43.39. The rest of the final was comprised of CSU East Bay (3:45.07), West Florida (3:45.49), UC San Diego (3:45.52), and Lindenwood (3:46.40).

Women’s Team Scores – Day 2

1. Queens (NC) 297
2. Drury 213
3. Nova S’Eastern 161
4. Oklahoma Baptist 136
5. Fresno Pacific 118
6. Carson-Newman 106
7. Lindenwood 102
8. CSU East Bay 84
9. UCSD 81
10. West Chester 69
11. Cal Baptist 66 / Wingate 66
12. –
13. Tampa 55
14. Grand Valley 44
15. West Florida 36
16. Saint Leo 35 / NMU 35
17. –
18. Clarion 33
19. Florida Southern 28
20. Colorado Mesa 27
21. Wayne State 24
22. Indy 22
23. Simon Fraser 21
24. Shippensburg 20 / MSU Mankato 20
25. –
26. Delta State 19
27. Sioux Falls 18 / WSCU 18
28. –
29. Truman St. 13 / St. Cloud St. 13
30. –
31. Findlay 8
32. CS Mines 7
33. Bridgeport 6
34. Saginaw Valley 4 / IUP 4
35. –
36. McKendree 2
37. Azusa Pacific 1 / UMSL 1