Greater Lakes Valley Championships
- February 10, 2016 – February 13, 2016
- Crawfordsville Aquatics Center, Crawfordsville, IA
- Championships Central
- Live Stream
- Live Results
- Day 1 Full Results/Scoring
The Greater Lakes Valley Championships, home to NCAA Division II powerhouses Drury, Indianapolis, and Truman State, kicked off today. Two sessions into the four day competition, Drury leads both the women’s and men’s team rankings. On the women’s side, Drury holds first place with 220 points, followed by Truman State with 175, and the University of Indianapolis with 104. On the men’s, Drury’s 169 points is closely followed by the Missouri University of Science and Technology’s 163 and Indianapolis’s 130.
The biggest swim of the night came at the very end, when the Indianapolis men set a new conference record in the 200 medley relay. Rodrigo Codo Berti, Bartosz Zarzeki, Tyler Coonradt, and Marius Bronkessel teamed up for a 1:28.70 in the event. That time would have taken fourth at last year’s NCAA Division II National Championships. The old record was a 1:28.90 from 2014 also set by the University of Indianapolis. Drury finished second in 1:30.26, followed by Missouri S&T’s 1:30.52.
Sarah Pullen, a Drury senior and consolation finalist in this event at last year’s DII Championships, took the gold in the 1000 free in a time of 10:11.54. Second went to Maddie Allen, a freshman from William Jewell (10:12.34), and third went to Pullen’s teammate Megan Oul with 10:14.41. The top 9 swimmers all hit the NCAA Division II ‘B’ standard of 10:31.76.
Drury sophomore Alex Reinbrecht won the men’s 1000 by nearly three seconds in 9:14.54, followed by Indianapolis freshman Vitor Botana (9:17.08) and William Jewell’s Joao Pedro Granato took third with 9:17.66. In this event, the top 11 swimmers came in under the NCAA ‘B’ mark, 9:35.79.
Truman State took their first win of the meet in the women’s 200 IM when Evyn Spencer, a junior, took the top spot in 2:00.95. Her swim marked the first ‘A’ cut of the meet, edging under the necessary 2:01.09. Drury senior Gretchen Stein nabbed second with 2:02.51, followed by William Jewell’s Paige Meredith in 2:04.01. Stein and Meredith cleared the ‘B’ mark of 2:07.15.
A freshman won top honors in the men’s 200 IM; Indianapolis’s Codo Berti fought with Will Shanel of Truman State throughout the race, coming out on top with 1:48.24. Shanel finished half a second behind in 1:48.72. Missouri S&T sophomore Eirik Nielsen took third with 1:49.14. The top five swimmers finished under the ‘B’ mark, 1:51.65.
Drury took their third victory of the night when Division II record-holder in this event Wen Xu finished the 50 free in 23.01, a full half-second ahead of the competition. She just missed the ‘A’ standard 22.90. Nikki Sisson of Truman State finished second in 23.51, followed by Indianapolis’s Stefanie Haholiades in 23.75. The top five swimmers finished under the ‘B’ standard 24.05.
Missouri S&T’s Keith Sponsler, the 7th-place finisher in the 200 distance at last year’s nationals, won the 50 free in 20.04, followed by Drury duo Daniel Rzadkowski (20.28) and Rodrigo Caceres (20.28). The top 10 swimmers came in under the ‘B’ standard 20.91.
The Drury team of Abby Lunzmann, Corinne Rinne, Vera Johansson, and Xu destroyed the competition in the women’s 200 medley relay, finishing in 1:43.20, a time that would have placed ninth at last year’s national championship. Truman State finished second in 1:46.09, followed by Indianapolis in 1:46.23.
