2022 NCAA Division II Men’s Championships – Day 4 Finals Live Recap

2022 NCAA Division II Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships

In the last session at the 2022 NCAA Division II Championships, we will have the fastest heat of the 1650 free, the finals of the 100 free, 200 back, and 200 breast, and timed finals of the 400 free relay.

Northern Michigan’s Ondrej Zach is the top seed in the 1650 free with 15:12.42. Luca Alessandrini, who placed third in the 500 free and 11th in the 1000 free, comes in with the second-fastest entry time (15:18.07). Jon Katzenbach (15:18.82) of Grand Valley and Indy’s Cedric Buessing (15:19.03) are also seeded with sub-15:20s. Gavin Moak of Drury set the time to beat this afternoon with 15:31.24.

NCAA Division II record-holder Karol Ostrowski of Drury will try to defend his title in the 100 free; he is seeded third for tonight’s final with 42.87 behind Gregg Lichinsky of McKendree (42.71) and Alex Kunert of Queens (42.86).

Drury’s Mikita Tsmyh (1:41.85), Ben Sampson of Colorado Mesa (1:42.37) and Drury’s Nathan Bighetti (1:42.99) will occupy the middle lanes in the 200 back final. Bighetti is hoping to defend his 2021 title.

In the 200 breast, Florida Southern’s Ludo Viberti (1:55.55), Oklahoma Christian’s JT Amrein (1:55.64) and Davi Mourao of Drury (1:55.74) all swam sub-1:56s this morning.

Men’s 1650 Freestyle – Fastest Heat

  • NCAA DII Record: 14:55.12 – Fabio Dalu, McKendree (2021)
  • Meet Record: 14:55.12 – Fabio Dalu, McKendree (2021)
  • 2021 Champion: Fabio Dalu, McKendree – 14:55.12

Podium:

  1. Ondrej Zach, Northern Michigan – 15:09.55
  2. Miguel Marcos, Wingate – 15:13.57
  3. Cedric Buessing, Indy – 15:13.86
  4. Victor Rosado, Oklahoma Christian – 15:17.95
  5. Eric Hieber, Grand Valley – 15:20.12
  6. Luca Alessandrini, Nova S’eastern – 15:20.55
  7. Jon Katzenbach, Grand Valley – 15:26.04
  8. Gavin Moak, Drury – 15:31.24

Ondrej Zach of Northern Michigan led the final from wire to wire. He moved to about a body-length lead at the halfway mark and continued to build his advantage to the end.

Meanwhile, behind him, there was an exciting race for second place. Miguel Marcos of Wingate, Indy’s Cedric Buessing, and Victor Rosado traded leads but in the end, Marcos got his hand to the wall first.

Only Drury’s Gavin Moak with his 15:31.24 made it onto the podium from morning heats.

Men’s 100 Freestyle – Finals

Podium:

  1. Karol Ostrowski, Drury – 41.91
  2. Matej Dusa, Queens – 42.23
  3. Alex Kunert, Queens – 42.65
  4. Gregg Lichinsky, McKendree – 42.85
  5. Zach Linder, Lindenwood – 43.34
  6. Xander Skinner, McKendree – 43.79
  7. Slava Ohnov, Wingate – 43.81
  8. Skyler Cook-Weeks, Queens – 43.84

Drury’s Karol Ostrowski successfully defended his 100 free title with an explosive final 25 yards that propelled him past Queens’ Matej Dusa who looked like he had the advantage at the third wall. It was a nice comeback for Ostrowski, whom Dusa beat in the 50 free on Wednesday. Ostrowski split 20.0-21.9 to Dusa’s 19.8-22.3.

Alex Kunert of Queens, the 200 free champion, was in fourth place at the 50, half a second behind Ostrowski and four-tenths behind McKendree’s Gregg Lichinsky. While he couldn’t quite catch the leaders, he passed Lichinsky on the back half and finished third with 42.65. Lichinsky came to the wall half a second ahead of Zach Linder from Lindenwood, and nearly a full second in front of teammate Xander Skinner.

Men’s 200 Backstroke – Finals

  • NCAA DII Record: 1:40.74 – Matthew Josa, Queens (NC) (2014)
  • Meet Record: 1:40.74 – Matthew Josa, Queens (NC) (2014)
  • 2021 Champion: Nathan Bighetti, Drury – 1:43.51

Podium:

  1. Mikita Tsmyh, Drury – 1:41.36
  2. Ben Sampson, Colorado Mesa – 1:41.53
  3. Nathan Bighetti, Drury – 1:42.31
  4. Alexander Bauch, Queens (NC) – 1:43.48
  5. Raf Hendriks, St Cloud St – 1:44.56
  6. Collyn Gagne, Simon Fraser – 1:44.90
  7. Brandon Dyck, Florida Southern – 1:45.33
  8. Andreas Marz, Queens (NC) – 1:45.43

The 200 back final was even more exciting at the finish than the 100 free, if that’s possible. Colorado Mesa’s Ben Sampson had led from outset, with Drury’s Mikita Tsmyh a tenth behind. Sampson increased his lead to about four-tenths at the 100. But Tsmyh’s back half was explosive. He came home in a pair of 26.1s while Sampson put up two 26.4s. As they came down the stretch, they matched stroke for stroke and came to the wall in a photo finish. Tsmyh got his hand to the wall .17 in front of Sampson’s for the national title with 1:41.36. Sampson clocked a 1:41.53.

Defending champion Nathan Bighetti, about a half-body behind the leaders on the first two 50s, also put up a solid second 100 to keep the pressure on. He finished third with 1:42.31.

Men’s 200 Breaststroke – Finals

  • NCAA DII Record: 1:51.71 – Anton Lobanov, Nova S’eastern (2015)
  • Meet Record: 1:51.71 – Anton Lobanov, Nova S’eastern (2015)
  • 2021 Champion: Filipe Pinheiro, McKendree – 1:55.80

Podium:

  1. JT Amrein, Oklahoma Christian – 1:55.47
  2. Ludo Viberti, Florida Southern – 1:55.49
  3. Davi Mourao, Drury – 1:55.54
  4. Gerald Brown, Lindenwood – 1:56.79
  5. Filipe Pinheiro, McKendree – 1:57.03
  6. Roberto Camera, Northern Michigan – 1:57.41
  7. Jan Delkeskamp, Queens – 1:57.77
  8. Liki Prema, Indy – 1:58.57

Not to be outdone by the two earlier events, the 200 breaststokers put on an even more exciting show. Florida Southern’s Ludo Viberti and Oklahoma Christian’s JT Amrein traded leads, with Viberti turning first at the 50 and Amrein pushing to the front at the 100 and 150.

Viberti came home .23 faster on the last 50 and had the momentum, but in the end, Amrein got the touch by .02, 1:55.47 to 1:55.49.

Drury’s Davi Mourao held onto third place throughout the race and provided just enough pressure at the end with a 30.3 on his final 50, coming home .6 faster than Amrein. Mourao came within .05 of catching Viberti and within .07 of the national title.

Lindenwood’s Gerald Brown came back to touch out McKendree’s Filipe Pinheiro over the last 50 yards to place fourth, 1:56.79 to 1:57.03.

Men’s 400 Freestyle Relay – Timed Finals

  • NCAA DII Record: 2:49.98 – Queens (NC) (2019)
  • Meet Record: 2:49.98 – Queens (NC) (2019)
  • 2021 Champion: Drury – 2:50.98

Podium:

  1. Queens – 2:51.55
  2. Drury – 2:53.53
  3. McKendree – 2:54.03
  4. Indy – 2:54.94
  5. Florida Southern – 2:55.01
  6. Lindenwood – 2:56.67
  7. Carson-Newman – 2:56.85
  8. Wingate – 2:56.93

Queens finished the meet with a national title in the 400 free relay. Alex Kunert (42.87), Matej Dusa (41.81), Skyler Cook-Weeks (42.92), and Finn Howard (43.95) combined for 2:51.55 to beat Drury (Alex Bowen, Kham Glass, Nathan Bighetti, and Karol Ostrowski) by two seconds.

McKendree (Gregg Lichinsky, Alireza Yavari, Emilio Perez, and Xander Skinner) finished nearly a second ahead of Indy for third place, 2:54.03 to 2:54.94.

Final Team Scores

                      Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 42                      
 
  1. Queens (Nc)                     607.5   2. Drury                             522
  3. Indy                              413   4. McKendree                         310
  5. Florida Southern                  225   6. Colorado Mesa                     221
  7. Lindenwood                        216   8. Wingate                         194.5
  9. Findlay                           161  10. Grand Valley                      144
 11. Oklahoma Christian                139  12. Nova S'Eastern                    138
 13. Delta State                       105  14. Simon Fraser                      103
 15. Wayne State                        93  16. Carson-Newman                      85
 17. Rollins                            69  18. Nmu                                65
 19. Missouri S & T                     59  20. St Cloud St                        40
 21. Henderson St.                      31  22. Lewis                              25
 23. Florida Tech                       18  24. Clarion University                 16
 25. Saint Leo                           8  26. UT Permian Basin                    7
 27. Lenoir-Rhyne                        5  28. Saginaw Valley State Univ           4
 29. Southern Conn                       3  30. Lynn                                1
 30. Emmanuel                            1  30. Fresno Pacific                      1

 

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About Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant

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 …

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