2024 NCAA Division II Championships: Day 1 Finals Live Recap

2024 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships

• Dates: March 12-16, 2024
• Times: Prelims 10AM Eastern, Finals 5:30PM Eastern
• Location: SPIRE Institute Aquatics Center in Geneva, Ohio
• Defending Champions:
  • Nova S’eastern women (1x)
  • Indianapolis men (1x)
• Psych Sheets:
  • Women’s Psych Sheet
  • Men’s Psych Sheet
• Live Results
• Live Video (NCAA.com)

Day 1

The 2024 edition of the NCAA Division II Women’s and Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships is taking place in Geneva, Ohio, at the SPIRE Institute. The five-day meet will run from Tuesday, March 12 through Saturday, March 16.

Tonight’s session will consist of timed finals of the 800 free relay.

Women’s 800 Yard Freestyle Relay – Timed Finals

• NCAA DII: 7:12.56 – Nova S’eastern (Ronningdal, Murzilli, Lowy, Trieschmann, 2023)
• Meet: 7:13.65 – Nova S’eastern (Ronningdal, Murzilli, Lowy, Trieschmann, 2023)

Podium:

1. Nova S’eastern – 7:08.50
2. Colorado Mesa – 7:15.54
3. Drury – 7:15.55
4. West Florida – 7:19.25
5. Wingate – 7:19.32
6. Simon Fraser – 7:20.12
7. Indy – 7:21.02
8. Wayne State – 7:22.29

Nova S’eastern’s Emilia Ronningdal, Rafaela Raurich, May Lowy, and Emily Trieschmann combined for a stunning takedown of both the meet and the NCAA Division II records in the 800 free relay to kick off the 2024 national championship meet on Tuesday night. Seeded first with 7:13.27, the quartet clocked a 7:08.50 to become the first Division II relay to break the 7:10 barrier in the event. Ronningdal, Lowy, and Trieschmann had been on the relay that broke the NCAA Division II record last February, as well as the meet record in March.

Nova S’eastern controlled the race from start to finish, swimming the four fastest legs in the field.

Behind them, several teams led the race for second place. Simon Fraser held the position after the leadoff leg, while Wingate took over at the halfway point, with Simon Fraser in third. Colorado Mesa (Ada Qunell, Katerina Matoskova, Benedict Nagy, and Lauren White) and Drury (Ellie Walker, Ashlyn Moore, Mellie Wijk, and Josephine Bushell) moved into second and third places at the 600, and battled stroke-for-stroke through to the finish. Mesa got the touch by .01, 7:15.54 to 7:15.55.

Behind Drury, West Florida (7:19.25) touched out Wingate (7:19.32). Simon Fraser fell back to sixth place. Indy, who won heat 1 with 7:21.02, came in seventh overall, while Wayne State rounded out the podium with 7:22.29.

Men’s 800 Yard Freestyle Relay – Timed Finals

• NCAA DII: 6:18.46 – Queens (Dreesens, Pijulet, Kusch, Arakelian, 2017)
• Meet: 6:18.46 – Queens (Dreesens, Pijulet, Kusch, Arakelian, 2017)

Podium:

1. Tampa – 6:20.78
2. McKendree – 6:24.12
3. Nova S’eastern – 6:24.43
4. Drury – 6:24.47
5. Colorado Mesa – 6:25.42
6. Grand Valley – 6:25.58
7. Indy – 7:29.28
8. Missouri S&T – 6:30.69

Swimming in lane 2 in the second heat, Tampa’s Caleb Brandon (1:36.25), Parker Knollman (1:34.90), Jacob Hamlin (1:36.15), and Santiago Corredor (1:33.48) combined for 6:20.78 to win the men’s 800 free relay by 3.3 seconds. That’s a 5.1-second improvement from their seed time and a school record by 1.8 seconds.

McKendree, who beat Tampa by .06 to win this event last year, came to the wall second with 6:24.12. Mario Perez (1:36.10), Leonardo Gandaria (1:35.72), Arthur Souza (1:37.22), and Alireza Yavari (1:35.08) swam for the Bearcats.

Nova S’eastern got things rolling with a 1:34.78 leadoff from Thomas Flower, while Grand Valley’s Matthew Bosch went 1:34.80 and Colorado Mesa’s Ben Sampson was third with 1:35.08.

Colorado Mesa moved into second place at the 400 after Aziz Ghaffari split 1:34.80 on leg 2. Grand Valley was just behind Colorado Mesa. Tampa and McKendree had moved into third and fourth.

On the third leg, Tampa moved past Colorado Mesa and McKendree went with them. McKendree went out front at the 500 and was still ahead at the 550, but Hamlin’s 4th 50 was more than 2 seconds faster than Souza’s and Tampa’s anchor took off just ahead of McKendree’s.

McKendree barely held off Nova S’eastern for second place, despite the Sharks’ Marcel Snitko going 1:34.32 on the anchor.

Women’s Team Scores After Day 1

1. Nova S’eastern – 40
2. Colorado Mesa – 34
3. Drury – 32
4. West Florida – 30
5. Wingate – 28
6. Simon Fraser – 26
7. Indy – 24
8. Wayne State – 22
9. West Chester – 18
10. Oklahoma Christian – 14
11. Grand Valley State – 12
12. Tampa – 10
13. McKendree – 8
14. Findlay – 6
15. Northern Michigan – 4

Men’s Team Scores After Day 1

1. Tampa – 40
2. McKendree – 34
3. Nova S’eastern – 32
4. Drury – 30
5. Colorado Mesa – 28
6. Grand Valley – 26
7. Indy – 24
8. Missouri S&T – 22
9. Wayne State – 18
10. Wingate – 14
11. Oklahoma Christian – 12
12. Northern Michigan – 10
13. Saginaw Valley – 8
14. Simon Fraser – 6
15. Lewis – 4
16. Henderson State – 2