2026 NCAA Division II Championships: Day 5 Finals Live Recap

2026 NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships

• March 10-14, 2026
• Deaconess Aquatic Center — Evansville, Indiana
• SCY (25 Yards)
• Defending Champions
  • Women: Nova Southeastern (3x)
  • Men: vacant
• Psych Sheets
  • Men
  • Women
• Live Video
• Live Results
• Live Recaps:
  • Prelims: Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

Welcome to the last finals session of the 2026 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships.

The team races have been relatively close, and tonight will wrap up with crowning two team champions. The Nova Southeastern women seem to have locked up their 4th straight individual title, but they will still need to perform well this evening to secure their four-peat.

The men’s race is one of the most exciting team races we have seen in recent years with Drury (who won last year’s meet over Tampa, and then had their title vacated due to an athlete testing positive for high levels of caffeine) coming into the session just 2.5 points up.

We will do our best to keep you updated with the team scores as the night goes on. Drury and Tampa have the same number of swimmers in ‘A’ finals, which means it could still be anyone’s game.

WOMEN’S 1650 FREESTYLE – FINAL

• NCAA DII: 16:17.66, Kristen Frost (Southern Connecticut) — 2008
• Meet Record: 16:17.66, Kristen Frost (Southern Connecticut) — 2008

Top 8 Finishers

1. Justice Beard (UMSL) — 16:24.18
2. Hailey Williams (NSU) — 16:36.85
3. Olivia Hansson (MESA) — 16:46.83
4. Delrae Vetter (SFU) — 16:47.37
5. Keira Kennedy (SFU) — 16:47.37
6. Hanna Sasivarevic (MESA) — 16:51.93
7. Burlingtyn Bokos (TAMP) — 16:53.18
8. Laura Hodgson (TAMP) — 16:55.33

Missouri Saint Louis’s Justice Beard picked up her 3rd event win of the week, swimming the women’s 1650 freestyle in 16:24.18 to lock up the top time by more than 10 seconds over the rest of the field.

She got out to an early lead, splitting 54.23 on the first 100 to already sit about two seconds ahead of the rest of the field and she never looked back. She was 4:52.05/5:03.52/5:02.13 over her 500 splits to secure the win.

She dropped about seven tenths from her previous best 16:24.86 that she swam at last year’s championships.

Hailey Williams finished 2nd in 16:36.85, beating Colorado Mesa’s Olivia Hansson by just under 10 seconds. This swim was a new season best time for her, dropping from the 16:55.38 she swam in November, but it was about 10 seconds off her lifetime best 16:25.72 from February of 2024.

Hansson touched in 16:46.83, about 15 seconds off the 16:31.46 she swam in November at the CMU Invite.

MEN’S 1650 FREESTYLE – FINAL

• NCAA DII: 14:51.81, Jacob Hamlin (Tampa) — 2025
• Meet Record: 14:51.81, Jacob Hamlin (Tampa) — 2025

Top 8 Finishers:

1. Swann Plaza (INDY) — 14:52.11
2. Jacob Hamlin (TAMP) — 15:00.42
3. Sebastian Camacho Gomez (UFIN) — 15:03.28
4. Paul Demesy (WCU) — 15:03.50
5. Nazar Herashchenko (CATC) — 15:14.38
6. Fernando Dehaudt (WIN) — 15:14.66
7. Emil Heigre (WIN) — 15:16.34
8. Mateus Franco (DSU) — 15:16.41

The times don’t show it, but the first 1200 yards of this race was incredibly close before Indy’s Swann Plaza turned on the gas in a major way at the end to touch in 14:52.11, winning the event by more than eight seconds.

Through the first 1000 yards, Plaza, hamlin, Camacho Gomez, and Demesy were very close. At the 1000 mark, Hamlin held the lead in 9:03.04, just ahead of Plaza’s 9:03.32, Camacho Gomez’s 9:03.88, and Demsey’s 9:04.10.

From there, Hamlin and Plaza separated themselves from the rest of the field as they were holding 27-mids through the 1200 mark.

At the 1150, Hamlin officially dropped behind Plaza, turning in 10:25.30 to Plaza’s 10:25.36. Plaza began descending his splits from that point, dropping into the 26-mid-to-high range. He only split one 27 second 50 over the final 400 yards, pulling into a dominant lead, winning in 14:52.11.

Hamlin stayed ahead of Camacho Gomez and Demesy, stopping the clock in 15:00.42, which was a new season best time, but was just over eight seconds off the 14:51.81 National Record time he set last year.

Camacho Gomez swam 15:03.28 to drop eight seconds from his former best 15:11.35, and Demesy was just behind him in 15:03.50 for 4th, dropping a second from the 15:04.21 he swam last year.

Team Scores

Tampa — 405.5, Drury — 387

WOMEN’S 100 FREESTYLE – Finals

• NCAA DII Record: 48.07, Luna Mertins (Lynn) – 2025
• Meet Record: 48.07, Luna Mertins (Lynn) – 2025

Top 8 Finishers

1. Kristina Orban (NSU) — 49.34
2. Emily Mears-Bentley (UFIN) — 49.35
3. Zofia Kurdi (NSU) — 49.40
4. Ada Qunell (MESA) — 49.73
5. Marit Reckmann (CATC) — 49.91
6. Maxine Egner (NSU) — 49.92
7. Lucy Hedley (GVSU) — 50.04
8. Luz Tapia Sahagun (LYNN) — 50.26

The women’s 100 freestyle was close. It all came down to the touch, with the top three swimmers coming in separated by less than a tenth.

Nova sophomore Kristina Orban was out in 23.75, grabbing an early lead over Emily Mears-Bentley and Zsofia Kurdi who were tied at 23.86 at the 50 mark.

Orban gave up a bit of ground on the final 50, but she held on tight through the end, splitting 25.59 to touch in 49.34. She came in just one hundredth ahead of Findlay’s Mears-Bentley’s 49.35, who split 25.49 on the final 50.

Orban’s best is 48.63 from this meet last year, and Mears-Bentley dropped three hundredths from the 49.38 she swam in December.

Kurdi was 25.54 to touch in 49.40 for the bronze medal, three tenths ahead of Colorado Mesa’s Ada Qunell, who swam 49.73. The top four swimmers in the heat exactly replicated their prelims placements.

MEN’S 100 FREESTYLE – Finals

• NCAA DII Record: 41.25, Karol Ostrowski (Drury) – 2021
• Meet Record: 41.25, Karol Ostrowski (Drury) – 2021

Top 8 Finishers

1. Maurice Grabowski (LYNN) — 41.89
2. Guillaume Guth (MESA) — 42.19
3. Camilo Marrugo Montano (UFIN) — 42.71
4. Maksymilian Minichowski (CATC) — 42.83
5. Volodymyr Gavrys (MKU) — 42.91
6. Tibor Tistan (TAMP) — 42.95
7. Yuri Cabral (DRUR) — 43.25
8. Leo Nolles (NMU) — 43.92

Maurice Grabowski earned his fourth individual title and 4th overall title of the meet, swimming the top time in the men’s 100 freestyle final of 41.89, winning by three tenths over Colorado Mesa’s Guillaume Guth, who was 42.19 for 2nd.

Grabowski was out in 19.67, three tenths ahead of Guth’s 19.97. The two men had the exact same final 50 time of 22.22 to grab the gold and silver medals in the event.

In the team race, Tampa senior Tibor Tistan touched in 42.95, beating Drury junior Yuri Cabral to pick up 13 points

In the ‘B’ final, Tampa’s Riccardo Pandin swam 43.32 to finish 9th, one tenth ahead of Drury’s Lucas Minuer, racking up nine points. Drury aso had sophomore Marwane Sebbata finish 12th in 43.74. Overall, Tampa scored 22 points to Drury’s 24

Team Scores

Tampa — 427.5, Drury — 411

WOMEN’S 200 BACKSTROKE – Finals

• NCAA DII Record: 1:53.25, Agata Naskret (Colorado Mesa) – 2025
• Meet Record: 1:53.25, Agata Naskret (Colorado Mesa) – 2025

Top 8 Finishers

1. Agata Naskret (UWF) — 1:52.90 **New National Record
2. Sidni Meister (TAMP) — 1:57.29
3. Vittoria Proietti (GVSU) — 1:57.54
4. Amelia Marsicek (LEWI) — 1:58.16
5. Lindsey Louder (TAMP) — 1:58.22
6. Megan Corcoran (CN) — 1:58.74
7. Valentina Masella (INDY) — 1:58.78
8. Kasha Stokes (IUP) — 2:02.04

West Florida’s Agata Naskret does it again in the 200 backstroke, swimming 1:52.90 to break her own National Record in the event and win by more than four seconds.

Naskret became the first woman in Division II history to break 1:53 in the women’s 200 backstroke after she broke her own record of 1:53.25 from last year’s Championships. She was out in 26.27, already more than a second ahead of Tampa’s Sidni Meister, who swam 27.54 on the opening 50.

Naskret split 28.40 to turn in 54.67 and she was 58.23 on her 2nd 100 (29.26/28.97) to secure a dominant victory in the event.

Meister swam 1:57.29 to finish in 2nd overall, splitting 56.98 on her opening 100 after turning in 28.40 on the 2nd 50. Her 2nd 100 was 1:00.31 (31.15/31.04). Both 100s were slightly slower than they were in prelims, when she split 56.75/59.96 to set a new personal best time of 1:56.71 in prelims. Coming into the meet, her lifetime best was 1:57.63 from The Sunshine State Championships.

Vittoria Proietti finished 3rd in 1:57.54, just two tenths off her lifetime best 1:57.30 she swam in December.

MEN’S 200 BACKSTROKE – Finals

• NCAA DII Record: 1:40.34, Ben Sampson (Colorado Mesa) – 2024
• Meet Record: 1:40.34, Ben Sampson (Colorado Mesa) – 2024

Top 8 Finishers

1. Alvaro Zornoza Quiros (DRUR) — 1:41.20
2. Ivan Adamchuk (DRUR) — 1:42.22
3. Richard Schmiedefeld (MESA) — 1:43.25
4. William Beckstead-Holman (TAMP) — 1:43.90
5. Nico Basten (INDY) — 1:44.29
6. Roland Nagy (NSU) — 1:44.69
7. Joshua Noll (TAMP) — 1:44.96
8. Evaldas Babakinas (DRUR) — 1:45.01

Drury needed a big race to take the lead back from Tampa, and they succeeded, earning the top two finishes with Alvaro Zornoza Quiros swimming 1:41.20 and Ivan Adamchuk swimming 1:42.22 to finish 1st and 2nd respectively.

The two swimmers traded the lead during the race, with Adamchuk turning in 1st at the 100. He split 23.39/25.82 to flip in 49.21, nine hundredths ahead of Alvaro Zornoza Quiros‘ 23.70/25.60 for a 49.30 split. Nico Basten from indy sat in 3rd at 49.81.

From there, Adamchuk fell off the pace a bit, splitting 26.26 on the 3rd 50, dropping behind Zornoza Quiros’ 25.73 split, the only sub-26 50 in the field.

Zornoza Quiros also had the fastest final 50 split of 26.17, earning his first ever NCAA title with his final time of 1:41.20, which was a full second drop from the 1:42.37 he swam last year. Adamchuk was 1:42.22 after splitting 26.75 on the final 50, a second off his lifetime best 1:41.18 from last year’s meet

Mesa’s Richard Schmiedefeld finished 3rd in 1:43.90, a full second faster than the 1:45.02 he set in November.

After that event, Drury holds a small 5.5 lead over Tampa with two events remaining.

Team Scores

Drury — 459, Tampa — 454.5

WOMEN’S 200 BREASTSTROKE – Finals

• NCAA DII Record: 2:08.59, Jonette Laegreid (Drury) – 2025
• Meet Record: 2:08.59, Jonette Laegreid (Drury) – 2025

• NCAA DII Record: 1:51.26, Jeremias Pock (Indy) – 2026
• Meet Record: 1:51.71, Anton Lobanov (Nova S’Eastern) — 2015

Top 8 Finishers

1. Jeremias Pock (INDY) — 1:51.12 **New NCAA Record
2. Maxim Tsyfarov (LYNN) — 1:53.95
3. Joao Nogueira (DRUR) — 1:53.99
4. Britton Spann (TAMP) — 1:55.57
5. Aron Jonsson (MESA) — 1:55.72
6. Cody Ano (TAMP) — 1:56.93
7. Connor Bischel (MS&T) — 1:57.02
8. Nicolo Cariboni (WIN) — 1:57.97

After setting the meet record but missing the NCAA record in the 100 breaststroke yesterday, Indy’s Jeremias Pock broke both the meet and NCAA records to win the 200 breaststroke on the final night.

He picked up his 4th win in 4 events, touching in 1:51.12 to take a tenth off his former record time of 1:51.26 and a little more than half-a-second offAnton Lobanov’s 11-year-old meet record of 1:51.71.

Pock split 25.07/27.84/28.63/29.58 to lead from wire-to-wire, finishing almost three seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

Lynn’s Maxim Tsyfarov finished 2nd in 1:53.95, a three second drop from the 1:56.60 he swam at the Sunshine State Championships in February.

Drury’s Joao Nogueira finished 3rd in 1:53.99, nearly chasing down Tysfarov on the final 50 yards, splitting 29.70 to his 30.38. He beat both Tampa swimmers in the heat with Birron Spann swimming 1;55.57 for 4th and Cody Ano swimming 1:56.93 for 6th.

Ultimately, Tampa passed Drury again, sitting just 7.5 points ahead with only the 400 freestyle relays remaining.

Eight points is the difference between 1st and 3rd in the relays. Tampa will be swimming away from the Drury team, seeded 9th, as they try to pull off another upset after winning the 200 freestyle relay from lane eight last night. Drury is the top seed, coming in seeded more than three seconds faster.

Team Scores

Tampa – 482.5, Drury – 475

Women’s 1-Meter Diving Finals

Top 8 Finishers

1. Luna Vejarano (CLAR) — 496.50
2. Kenya Meyer (MESA) — 490.20
3. Colleen Hudson (CLAR) — 487.50
4. Taelyn Thomas (CLAR) — 483.60
5. Avery Lommel (AU) — 462.75
6. Adriana Mieses Sanchez (UWF) — 440.50
7. Olivia Kutsche (GVSU) — 439.05
8. Oliva Nelson (UWF) — 429.15

Clarion had three divers in the ‘A’ final, and senior Luna Vejarano won the event in 496.50, scoring six more points than Kenya Meyer from Mesa, who scored 490.20 for 2nd.

Clarion took 3rd and 4th. Colleen Hudson finished 3rd in 487.50 and Taelyn Tomas was 4th in 483.60

Women’s 400 Freestyle Relay — Finals

• NCAA DII Record: 3:17.92, Nova S’eastern — 2026
• Meet Record: 3:18.04, Queens — 2018

Top 8 Finishers

1. Nova Southeastern — 3:17.37 **New NCAA Record
2. Findlay — 3:19.98
3. Tampa — 3:20.19
4. Drury — 3:20.44
5. Catawba — 3:20.54
6. West Florida — 3:21.02
7. Indy — 3:21.48
8. Wingate — 3:21.92

Nova Southeastern put an exclamation point on their 4th straight overall team title, setting a new NCAA record in the women’s 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:17.37.

The Sharks did not use Kristina Orban, who won the individual 100 free earlier in the session, on this relay, and still broke their record by seven tenths. Zsofia Kurdi led off in 49.31, the 2nd fastest leadoff leg in the field behind Agata Naskret‘s 49.28 for West Florida.

Sophomore Maxine Egner had the 3rd fastest split in the race of 49.17 to pull the Nova team into the lead over West Florida. Marit Reckmann from Catawba had the fastest split on the 2nd leg, touching in 49.14 to move the Catawba ‘A’ team into 2nd overall.

Emilia Ronningdal swam 3rd in 49.35, and Maya Esparza anchored the team in 49.54 to touch in 3:17.37.

Findlay finished 2nd with Emily Mears-Bentley anchoring in the fastest split in the field of 48.76. Troi Grubbs led of fin 50.03. Helmi Kakela split 51.45 in 2nd, and Olivia Scheibelhoffer swam 49.74 on the 3rd leg.

Men’s 400 Freestyle Relay — Finals

• NCAA DII Record: 2:49.98, Queens — 2019
• Meet Record: 2:49.98, Queens — 2019

1. Tampa — 2:51.14
2. Drury — 2:51.50
3. McKendree — 2:52.32
4. Lynn — 2:52.68
5. Florida Southern — FSC
6. Wingate — 3:53.02
7. Colorado Mesa — 2:53.61
8. NMU — 2:53.67

This men’s 400 freestyle relays felt like something out of a move. Tampa came into the meet seeded 9th in 2:55.11, putting them in the 2nd of three heats. For a team trying to win the event, or at least come close enough to Drury to maintain their lead.

Tampa led off with Tibor Tistan, their fastest 100 freestyler, who swam a personal best 42.82 to touch in 1st for the Tampa men’s team. Coming into the meet, Tistan’s lifetime best was 43.38 from the 2024 Gamecock Invite. Riccardo Pandin swam the 2nd leg in 42.54, half-a-second faster than his flat start best of 43.08 from November of 2023 and two seconds faster than the 44.65 he split on this relay in February.

Jacob Hamlin was 43.01 on the 3rd leg, a full second faster than his flat start best of 43.94 from February and three tenths faster than the 43.31 he split on the relay in February, and at last year’s NCAAs.

Tampa had freshman Nicholas Cavic on the anchor leg, who split 42.77. His flat start best is 44.38 from the 2026 Sunshine State Championships, and his relay start best was 43.15 from the 2025 Gamecock Invite in November.

Tampa touched more than three seconds ahead of the 2nd fastest team in their heat, Catawba, who ultimately finished 9th in 2:54.33. Their swim was six tenths faster than Drury’s seed of 2:51.78, and they were left to just watch and wait. Even if Drury won the relay, they would have needed someone to come in between them and Tampa to win the overall title.

Drury led off with Lucas Minuer (43.39). Matteo Vissotto swam 2nd (42.76). Alvaro Zornoza Quiros was 3rd (43.08). The first three legs were all slower than the respective leg on the Tampa team. Junior Yuri Cabral anchored for Drury in 42.27, bringing the team home in 2:51.50, securing the silver medal.

Tampa walked away with the relay and overall meet title 522.5 to 509.

Final Team Scores

Women’s Top 10

1. Nova S’Eastern — 486
2. Tampa — 424.5
3. Colorado Mesa _- 328.5
4. West Florida — 298.5
5. Drury — 284
6. Indy — 272.5
7. Findlay — 269.5
8. Grand Valley — 225
9. Catawba — 208
10. Delta State — 185.5

Men’s Top 10

1. Tampa — 522.5
2. Drury — 509
3. Colorado Mesa — 416
4. Indy — 399
5. Lynn — 260
6. McKendree — 246.5
7. Wingate — 210
8. Findlay — 167
9. Catawba — 164
10. Florida Southern — 161