Karol Ostrowski Resets Division II Record at SMU-Drury Meet

2020 SMU vs Drury Dual Meet

  • November 19th, 2020
  • Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center
  • Results on Meet Mobile: “2020 SMU v Drury”

Drury freshman and World Juniors medalist Karol Ostrowski blasted a new NCAA Division II record yesterday at the SMU vs Drury dual meet, finishing in 19.09. The previous record stood at 19.17, set in 2017 by David Lambert of Oklahoma Baptist.

Lambert swam that time at the Texas Invitational, notably beating out names such as Santo Condorelli and Joseph Schooling to win the event at the meet.

Ostrowski’s swim came during a session in which he had two other races, the 200 free relay, and the 400 medley relay. In the 200 free relay he swam the leadoff leg in 19.40, helping his team to finish in 1:18.49. The relay set a new Drury school record in the event, becoming the first relay at the university to swim under 1:19.00. He later added a 42.73 anchor leg on the school’s 400 medley relay. The relay missed the school record by just .20.

Ostrowski has been having a breakout year since joining Drury this fall. Earlier this month, in his first short course yards meet, he set Drury’s school record in both the 50 free (19.48) and 100 free (42.69) when his school hosted Lindenwood for a dual meet.

The Polish-born sprinter, despite having just joined a college team, initially committed to competing in the NCAA three years ago, in 2017. He initially gave his verbal commitment to Florida State University for their freshman class of 2018, before deciding to join Drury this year.

While at 21-years old, Ostrowski is older than the traditional NCAA freshman, he is still 3 years younger than Lambert was when he swam 19.17 at age 24.

The dual meet is being held in a three day, prelims-finals format, with the men and women having separate sessions during the meet. The meet is being swum on the same weekend that the SMU Invitational was last year. Last year’s meet featured SMU, LSU, Missouri State, TCU, Incarnate Word, Fresno State, and New Mexico.

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Chris
3 years ago

He also went a 41 in the 100 free!

D2 swim
3 years ago

That sprint group at Drury is extra spicy right now 🔥

Mytwocents
3 years ago

Isn’t that guy 28 years old or something? What is he doing still swimming in college?

JP input is too short
Reply to  Mytwocents
3 years ago

DII doesn’t have the same age rules that DI has. I swam next to a 31 year old in the 200 back at NCAAs my freshman year. I’m finally older than he was now, a decade later…

Last edited 3 years ago by JP input is too short
Spiderfrommars
Reply to  JP input is too short
3 years ago

Are you sure about that? I mean, I know that some schools have had older swimmers, but how exactly? In this article, this guy was supposed to go to FSU in 2018, but now is at Drury. If he was supposed to be a freshman in 2018, why is he a freshman now? Clearly he was swimming every year up to this point, so how is that possible that he gets to delay his freshman year two full years? Kids from the United States can’t do that.

Caffinated
Reply to  Spiderfrommars
3 years ago

There are tons of exemptions that result in swimmers at both the DI and DII level being older than the traditional US NCAA swimmer. These exemptions are absolutely available to US kids, but they don’t get a lot of use.

JP input is too short
Reply to  Spiderfrommars
3 years ago

Yeah, kids from the US that go D2 can do that. I know several guys that took a couple years off of swimming after high school and decided to give college swimming another try in D2.

DrSwimPhil
Reply to  Spiderfrommars
3 years ago

As long as someone enrolls full-time for at least one semester in a university (any university around the world) within roughly 1 year of high school graduation (actually a little longer, i.e. if they graduated June 2020 they have until Aug 2021 to enroll after their “gap” year), and then leaves said university, essentially their clock “freezes”.

There’s also a major loophole that says if all meets competed in after the “gap” year are either a) representing the national team, or b) a qualifier for the national team….then the clock never started. Lots of federations basically take any meet times as a possible “qualifier” for a national team, and so…you see situations like this.

Admin
Reply to  Mytwocents
3 years ago

He’s 21, which is actually 3 years younger than David Lambert was when he swam 19.17.

Ferb
Reply to  Mytwocents
3 years ago

Who cares how old he is anyway, if he’s maintained his amateur status and met all the other criteria? I remember some years ago, there was a 60-year old guy on some small college football team.

Chris
Reply to  Mytwocents
3 years ago

He’s 20 or 21. He’s on my team!

Chris
Reply to  Mytwocents
3 years ago

Thanks for your curiosity tho!

Tristan
Reply to  Mytwocents
3 years ago

He’s 21 read the article