Kunert of Queens Sets D2 Record in 1000 Free on Day 1 of 2019 NCAAs

2019 NCAA Division II Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships

Day One

Men’s 1000 Yard Freestyle – Fastest Heat

  • NCAA DII: 8:57.06 3/11/2009 Mitch Snyder, Drury
  • Meet: 8:57.06 3/11/2009 Mitch Snyder, Drury

Podium:

  1. Alex Kunert, Queens – 8:56.76
  2. Adam Rosipal, Indy – 9:03.08
  3. Luke Erwee, Queens – 9:04.37
  4. Nathan Sawicki, Delta State – 9:07.69
  5. Tim Samuelsen, Missouri S&T – 9:09.38
  6. Andrew Woinoski, Simon Fraser – 9:09.87
  7. Mackenzie Hamill, Simon Fraser – 9:11.59
  8. Jan Hanzal, Lindenwood – 9:13.05

Queens freshman Alex Kunert took down a meet and NCAA Division II Record in the 1000 free that had stood since 2009 when Mitch Snyder of Drury went 8:57.06. Kunert was unchallenged from start to finish, setting his own pace and ending up winning by over 6 seconds.

Kunert swims everything from the 50 through the 1000 and while he professes to prefer the 100 to the 1000, he has been continually improving at the distance since beginning his freshman year at Queens last fall. Kunert recorded his first official 1000 in January at the Duke-Queens-William & Mary double dual meet. There, he went 9:13.48 to win the event. His next 1000 was at Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships a month later. Kunert broke the meet record going 8:58.46. His two halves at BMCs were 4:25.54 / 4:32.74. At NCAAs, he took it out 3.28 seconds faster and came home 1.76 seconds slower, 4:22.26 / 4:34.50.

Kunert, 2/6/2019 Kunert, 3/13/2019
23.52 (23.52) 22.94 (22.94)
49.61 (26.09) 48.43 (25.49)
1:16.58 (26.97) 1:14.64 (26.21)
1:43.53 (26.95) 1:41.16 (26.52)
2:10.32 (26.79) 2:07.74 (26.58)
2:37.24 (26.92) 2:34.19 (26.45)
3:04.48 (27.24) 3:00.67 (26.48)
3:31.54 (27.06) 3:27.57 (26.90)
3:58.51 (26.97) 3:54.73 (27.16)
4:25.54 (27.03) 4:22.26 (27.53)
4:52.72 (27.18) 4:49.82 (27.56)
5:19.94 (27.22) 5:17.39 (27.57)
5:47.53 (27.59) 5:45.07 (27.68)
6:15.05 (27.52) 6:12.85 (27.78)
6:42.63 (27.58) 6:40.77 (27.92)
7:10.40 (27.77) 7:08.59 (27.82)
7:37.88 (27.48) 7:36.10 (27.51)
8:05.39 (27.51) 8:03.68 (27.58)
8:32.45 (27.06) 8:31.08 (27.40)
8:58.46 (26.01) 8:56.76 (25.68)

 

 

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Cob Bostas
5 years ago

Simply unbelievable. Queens is in a league of their own in D-II. Hats off to the Royals’ coaching staff for the continued success of this program!

About Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant is the mother of four daughters, all of whom swam in college. With an undergraduate degree from Princeton (where she was an all-Ivy tennis player) and an MBA from INSEAD, she worked for many years in the financial industry, both in France and the U.S. Anne is currently …

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