2021 NCAA Division II Women’s Championships: Day 2 Finals Live Recap

2021 NCAA Division II Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships

• Wednesday, March 17 – Saturday, March 20, 2021
• Birmingham CrossPlex / Birmingham, AL (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending champion: Queens (5x) – 2019 results
• Streaming
• Championship Central
• Live Results
• 2021 NCAA Division II Women’s psych sheet

Day Two

Severe storms shut down the city of Birmingham, Alabama on Wednesday night so Day 1 finals were postponed to Thursday at noon. That condensed Day Two into one, timed-finals session instead of the usual prelims/finals format.

Women’s 200 Yard Freestyle Relay – Timed Finals

• NCAA DII Record: 1:30.05 – L Marshall, K Dobson, W Dollmayer, M Prayson Queens (NC) (2018)
• Meet Record: 1:30.05 – L Marshall, K Dobson, W Dollmayer, M Prayson Queens (NC) (2018)

Top 8:

1. UIndy – 1:30.92
2. Queens – 1:31.13
3. Drury – 1:31.15
4. Lindenwood – 1:32.73
5. Delta State – 1:32.78
6. Nova S’eastern – 1:34.10
7. Grand Valley – 1:34.13
8. IUP – 1:34.14

UIndy started out Day Two finals with an upset over Queens in the women’s 200 free relay. Johanna Buys (22.82), Leticia Vaselli (22.61), Isabella Revstedt (22.86), and Krystal Caylor (22.63) combined for 1:30.92 to take the win.

Delta State won heat 2 in 1:32.78. Heat 1 went to Grand Valley with 1:34.13.

Women – Top 10 Teams – Through Event 10

1. Queens (Nc) 185
2. Drury 162
3. Indy 133
4. Lindenwood 123
5. Grand Valley 96
6. West Florida 80
7. Wingate 72
8. Nova S’eastern 62
9. Tampa 59
10. Delta State 52

Women 100 Yard Butterfly – Timed Finals

• NCAA DII Record: 52.16 – Polina Lapshina, Queens (NC) (2019)
• Meet Record: 52.16 – Polina Lapshina, Queens (NC) (2019)

Top 8:

1. Lucia Martelli, Delta State – 53.03
2. Paige Mikesell, IUP – 53.63
3. Rachel Massaro, Queens – 53.96
4. Kayla Tennant, Queens – 53.99
5. Celeste Turner, Delta State – 54.24
6. Courtney Sherwood, Tampa – 54.99
7. Johanna Buys, UIndy – 55.00
8. Lexie Winnett, Lindenwood – 55.05

Delta State senior Lucia Martelli, who a year ago went 54.76 in prelims to finish 12th, dropped 1.31 seconds from her seed time for a decisive victory in the women’s 100 fly timed final. Swimming in lane 4 of the final heat, Martelli split 24.48-28.55 to best IUP junior Paige Mikesell (53.63) and Queens junior Kayla Tennant (53.99) with a PB of 53.03.

Rachel Massaro of Queens won the previous heat with 53.96 over Delta State’s Celeste Turner and Tampa’s Courtney Sherwood.

Women – Top 10 Teams – Through Event 12

1. Queens (Nc) 218
2. Drury 162
3. Indy 145
4. Lindenwood 134
5. Grand Valley 96
6. Delta State 86
7. West Florida / Tampa 80 (tie)
8. –
9. Wingate 75
10. Nova S’Eastern 71

Women 400 Yard Individual Medley – Timed Finals

• NCAA DII Record: 4:08.56 – Patri Castro Ortega, Queens (NC) (2016)
• Meet Record: 4:08.56 – Patri Castro Ortega, Queens (NC) (2016)

Top 8:

1. Bec Cross, Drury – 4:14.19
2. Katie McCoy, UIndy – 4:14.39
3. Francesca Bains, Queens – 4:14.78
4. Jana Hellenschmidt, Lindenwood – 4:16.39
5. Meredith Ginn, Carson-Newman – 4:16.48
6. Cecilie Jensen, Carson-Newman – 4:17.43
7. Marizel Van Jaarsveld, UIndy – 4:19.19
8. Hallie Dixon, McKendree – 4:20.73

UIndy junior Katie McCoy, who was runner-up in the 200 IM final earlier today, blasted off to a quick start in the final heat of women’s 400 IM. Turning in 57.69, just ahead of Drury junior Bec Cross and Queens senior Lexie Baker, on the fly-to-back wall, she built up a two body length lead over the next 100 yards with a 1:01.4 split for the 100 backstroke. Cross made up for it on the breaststroke leg, outsplitting McCoy by about 2 seconds and pulling within .8 of the leader at the breast-to-free wall. Both Cross and Baker undercut McCoy on the freestyle. Cross took over the lead at the 350 wall and powered home to a 4:14.19 finish. McCoy hung on for the number 2 spot, fending off Baker’s challenge.

In 2020, Cross and Baker went 1-2 in the prelims of the 400 IM. The meet was canceled before the finals.

Augustana’s Taylor Beagle won heat 2 with 4:22.76 from the outside lane, dropping 4.7 seconds and finishing 13th overall. Jana Hellenschmidt, also in the outside lane, eked out a win in heat 3 with 4:16.39, touching out Carson-Newman’s Meredith Ginn by .09.

Women – Top 10 Teams – Through Event 12

1. Queens (Nc) 239
2. Drury 191
3. Indy 176
4. Lindenwood 156
5. Grand Valley 97
6. Delta State 86
7. West Florida / Tampa 80 (tie)
8. –
9. Carson-Newman / Nova S’Eastern 77 (tie)
10. –

Women’s 200 Yard Freestyle – Timed Finals

• NCAA DII Record: 1:44.44– Patri Castro Ortega, Queens (NC) (2016)
• Meet Record: 1:45.27 – Patri Castro Ortega, Queens (NC) (2015)

Top 8:

1. Paige Mikesell, IUP – 1:48.36
2. Lexie Baker, Queens – 1:48.52
3. Ester Rizzetto, West Florida – 1:48.91
4. Danielle Melilli, Queens – 1:49.70
5. Lauren White, Colorado Mesa – 1:49.72
6. Hana Van Loock, Tampa – 1:49.77
7. Beata Maruszczyk, Lindenwood – 1:49.91
8. Celeste Turner, Delta State – 1:49.92

Swimming in the outside lane in the second heat of women’s 200 free, IUP junior Paige Mikesell chopped 3.6 seconds off her seed time to win the heat by over two body lengths with 1:48.36. This performance was less than an hour after her 100 fly final, in which she dropped .8 to finish second. Mikesell split 25.2-27.4-28.0-27.2 for the dominant performance of the night.

Three heats later, Queens senior Lexie Baker won her heat in 1:48.52 over West Florida junior Ester Rizzetto (1:48.91) but neither was fast enough to topple Mikesell. Colorado Mesa’s Lauren White came in third in that heat with 1:49.72 from lane 1. Queens sophomore Danielle Milleli won the previous heat, also from lane 1, with 1:49.70.

Women – Top 10 Teams – Through Event 16

1. Queens (Nc) 274.5
2. Drury 198
3. Indy 176
4. Lindenwood 169
5. Grand Valley / Delta State 97 (tie)
6. –
7. West Florida 96
8. Tampa 93
9. Wingate 88
10. Carson-Newman / Nova S’eastern 77 (tie)

Women 400 Yard Medley Relay – Timed Finals

• NCAA DII Record: 3:35.70 – P Lapshina, M Prayson, G DaCruz, K Dobson, Queens (NC) (2019)
• Meet Record: 3:35.70 – P Lapshina, M Prayson, G DaCruz, K Dobson, Queens (NC) (2019)

Top 8:

1. Queens – 3:38.00
2. Drury – 3:38.62
3. Nova S’eastern – 3:39.83
4. UIndy – 3:41.93
5. Wingate – 3:42.79
6. Tampa – 3:43.13
7. Lindenwood – 3:43.61
8. Carson-Newman – 3:44.30

Queens took the final event of the night in 3:38.00 with splits from Rachel Massaro (53.72 back), Danielle Melilli (1:01.24 breast), Kayla Tennant (54.02 fly) and Lexie Baker (49.02 free).

Drury had gotten out to an early lead with Laura Pareja’s backstroke (52.42). Bec Cross (1:02.14) held on to the lead through the breaststroke and handed off to Makenzie Wieberg whose 53.61 kept the Panthers in first place. Yasmin Preusse went 50.45 on the freestyle anchor but Baker caught her over the second 50 to give Queens the win.

UIndy’s Katie McCoy (54.69), Anahi Schreuders (1:03.09), Marizel Van Jaarsveld (54.25), and Johanna Buys (49.90) combined for 3:41.93 to come in third in that heat, and fourth overall.

Nova S’eastern’s Cassie Wright (52.81), Savanna Best (1:01.51), Aleksandra Maslova (54.39), and Solana Capalbo (51.12) won the previous heat with 3:39.83 to finish third overall.

Women – Top 10 Teams – Through Event 19

1. Queens (Nc) 314.5
2. Drury 232
3. Indy 206
4. Lindenwood 193
5. Tampa 119
6. Wingate 116
7. Delta State 115
8. Grand Valley 111
9. Nova S’eastern 109
10. West Florida 106