2022 NCAA Division II Women’s Championships – Day 2 Finals Live Recap

2022 NCAA Division II Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships

• Dates: Wednesday, March 9 – Saturday, March 12, 2022
• Location: Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, NC (Eastern Time Zone)
• Times: Prelims 10:00 AM / Finals 6:00 PM
• Defending Champs: Queens women (6x) & Queens men (6x) – (Results)
• Live Stream
• Live Results
• Psych Sheet – Women
• SwimSwam Fan Guide – Women
• Thursday Finals Heat Sheets

Day Two will feature finals of the women’s 100 fly, 400 IM, 200 free, and 3-meter diving, and the timed finals of the 400 medley relay.

West Chester’s Ann Carozza broke the NCAA Division II record for the 100 fly in prelims with 52.06 and will swim in the middle lane against, among other, defending champion Lucia Martelli of Delta State. 200 IM national champion Marizel Van Jaarsveld of Indy clocked the top time of the morning in the 400 IM (4:18.55). Queens’ Monica Gumina leads the 200 free qualifiers by almost 2 seconds with 1:47.00.

Women’s 100 Butterfly – Finals

• NCAA DII Record: 52.06 – Ann Carozza, West Chester (2022)
• Meet Record: 52.06 – Ann Carozza, West Chester (2022)
• 2021 Champion: Lucia Martelli, Delta State – 53.03

Podium:

1. Luna Mertins, Lynn – 52.19
2. Ann Carozza, West Chester – 52.27
3. Cece Mayer, Queens (NC) – 53.40
4. Celina Marquez, Nova S’eastern – 53.81
5. Ester Rizzetto, West Florida – 54.15
6. Lucia Martelli, Delta State – 54.27
7. Paige Mikesell, IUP – 54.28
8. Isabelle Sering, Saint Leo – 54.60

Luna Mertins of Lynn pulled off the upset of newly-minted national record-holder Ann Carozza from West Chester, dropping six-tenths from her morning swim to grab the gold in 52.19. Carozza was just a tick off her record-breaking time from this morning with 52.27. Mertins was quick off the block and got out to an early lead, turning in 24.3 at the 50. Carozza was .4 behind and while she came back .35 faster than Mertins, she fell short of the top step of the podium by .08. It was only the fourth national title in history for Lynn.

Cece Mayer of Queens came in third with 53.40, just touching out Celina Marquez of Nova S’eastern (53.81).

Women’s 400 IM – Finals

• NCAA DII Record: 4:08.56 – Patri Castro Ortega, Queens (NC) (2016)
• Meet Record: 4:08.56 – Patri Castro Ortega, Queens (NC) (2016)
• 2021 Champion: Bec Cross, Drury – 4:14.19

Podium:

1. Marizel Van Jaarsveld, Indy – 4:14.06
2. Kennedy Loewen, Simon Fraser – 4:17.61
3. May Lowy, Nova S’eastern – 4:18.50
4. Bec Cross, Drury – 4:18.52
5. Andrea Gomez, Indy – 4:20.41
6. Lyssa Wood, Lindenwood – 4:20.42
7. Savanna Best, Nova S’eastern – 4:21.32
8. Lily Borgenheimer, Colorado Mesa – 4:21.65

Kennedy Loewen of Simon Fraser took off from lane 8 to lead the field through the butterfly leg, turning in 57.6. She was followed by May Lowy of Nova S’eastern and Indy’s Marizel Van Jaarsveld. Loewen held onto the lead on the backstroke, while Van Jaarsveld moved past Lowy. Van Jaarsveld’s 1:09.9 breaststroke split propelled her to the front of the pack, which she now led by two body lengths, having outsplit the field by some 4 seconds. The Indy fifth-year brought it home for the win, clocking in at 4:14.06. With that, she sweeps the IM events at the 2022 Division II Championships.

Loewen hung in for second place, finishing about a second ahead of Lowy with 4:17.61. Lowy just barely held off Bec Cross of Drury, the defending champion, who closed in 57.7 to Lowy’s 59.2.

Women’s 200 Freestyle – Finals

• NCAA DII Record: 1:44.44 – Patri Castro Ortega, Queens (NC) (2016)
• Meet Record: 1:45.27 – Patri Castro Ortega, Queens (NC) (2015)
• 2021 Champion: Paige Mikesell, IUP – 1:48.36

Podium:

1. Monica Gumina, Queens (NC) – 1:46.76
2. Danielle Melilli, Queens (NC) – 1:48.12
3. Krystal Caylor, Indy – 1:48.84
4. Tori Meklensek, Simon Fraser – 1:49.32
5. Kelsea Wright, Colorado Mesa – 1:49.92
6. Montana White, Azusa Pacific – 1:50.08
7. Kate Agger, Wingate – 1:50.17
8. Beatriz Olivieri, SR Rollins – 1:50.37

Top-seeded Monica Gumina of Queens led wire-to-wire in the final of the 200 free. After improving her seed time by .03 to 1:47 flat in prelims, she broke that barrier in finals to win with 1:46.76 (24.3-27.2-27.7-27.6). Indy’s Krystal Caylor was in second place at the 50 wall, but Gumina’s teammate, 50 free champion Danielle Melilli, moved into second place at the 100.

The trio came home in that order, with Melilli notching a 1:48.12 for second place. Caylor took third in 1:48.84, half a body ahead of Simon Fraser’s Tori Meklensek (1:49.32).

Women’s 3-Meter Diving – Finals

• NCAA DII Record: 555.70 – Elizabeth Rawlings, Wayne State (2015)
• Meet Record: 555.70 – Elizabeth Rawlings, Wayne State (2015)
• 2021 Champion: Graycn Segard, Grand Valley – 487.15

Podium:

1. Madison Brinkman, St Cloud St – 480.55
2. Kamila Podsiadlo, Indy – 465.95
3. Kelsey DeJesus, West Florida – 463.60
4. Gracyn Segard, Grand Valley – 450.25
5. Regan Gubera, McKendree – 435.90
6. Mikaela Starr, Indy – 426.40
7. Daniela Reyes, West Florida – 423.30
8. Jolynn Harris, Colorado Mesa – 405.95

St. Cloud State’s Madison Brinkman won the three-meter diving crown, securing her victory with a well-executed final dive – a 1.5 somersault with a 2.5 twist. Kamila Podsiadlo of Indy moved up from sixth in prelims to finish second with a total of 465.95 points. West Florida’s Kelsey DeJesus placed third, relegating defending champion Gracyn Segard of Grand Valley to fourth.

Women’s 400 Medley Relay – Timed Finals

• NCAA DII Record: 3:35.70 – Queens (NC) (2019)
• Meet Record: 3:35.70 – Queens (NC)
• 2021 Champion: Queens (NC) – 3:38.00

Podium:

1. Nova S’eastern – 3:36.23
2. Queens – 3:37.93
3. Indy – 3:40.52
4. Drury – 3:40.58
5. West Chester – 3:41.68
6. Carson-Newman – 3:42.44
7. Simon Fraser – 3:42.80
8. Lindenwood – 3:43.30

Celina Marquez (53.03 back), Savanna Best (1:00.94 breast), Aleksandra Maslova (53.05 fly), and Cassie Wright (49.12 free) handed Nova S’eastern its second national relay title of the meet, this time in the 4×100 medley. Swimming in the last heat of timed finals, the Sharks held off a challenge on the middle legs from Queens (Vladyslava Maznytska, Danielle Melilli, Cece Mayer, and Tova Andersson) but prevailed to win by 1.7 seconds. Indy edged Drury, 3:40.52 to 3:40.58, for third place.

The most exciting race of the night was in the second heat, where Lindenwood eked out a win by .01 over Colorado Mesa and by .04 over Tampa. Only Lindenwood made it into the top-8, proving what a difference a millisecond can make.

Team Standings – Day Two

1. Queens (NC) – 276
2. Indy – 246
3. Nova S’Eastern – 221
4. Drury – 163
5. West Chester – 99
6. Colorado Mesa – 97
7. Simon Fraser – 90
8. Carson-Newman – 86
9. Lindenwood – 84
10. West Florida – 80
11. Wingate – 68
12. Tampa / Delta State – 58
13. –
14. Northern Michigan – 56
15. Lynn – 51
16. MSU Mankato – 45
17. McKendree – 32
18. Wayne State – 26
19. Florida Tech – 23
20. St Cloud St – 22
21. Saint Leo – 20
22. Azusa Pacific – 18
23. Augustana / Grand Valley / IUP – 23
24. –
25. –
26. Rollins – 11
27. Florida Southern – 7
28. Henderson St. / Mines / Saginaw Valley State – 5
29. –
30. –
31. Clarion University – 4
32. Missouri St. Louis – 2
33. Gannon – 1