2025 NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championship
- March 11-15, 2025
- IU Natatorium — Indianapolis, IN
- SCY (25 Yards)
- Defending Champions:
- Women: Nova Southeastern (2x)
- Men: University of Tampa (1x)
- Women’s Psych Sheets
- Men’s Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Live Stream
- Recaps:
The Nova Southeastern women’s reign over the NCAA DII Championships continued on Saturday night, as the Sharks won the final relay to edge out the Drury Panthers and win the team’s third-straight NCAA title.
Nova Southeastern started the meet strong, winning the opening 800 freestyle relay to jump to the top of the standings from the first session. The team led through the first two days of the championships, then Drury took over the lead. Nova Southeastern did not let the Panthers get too far away from them; still, Drury held a five-point advantage coming into the final session, 358 to 353.
Even after prelims sorted swimmers into the last ‘A’ and ‘B’ finals of the meets, it was clear that a nailbiter of a final session was in store. The scoring projections based on the day’s “ups” and “downs” that included relay predicted Nova Southeastern and Drury would be tied with 464 points at the end of the meet.
In practice, the Panthers held the lead heading into the 400 freestyle relay, 437 to 435. Nova Southeastern needed to beat Drury by three points to win the meet. Zsofia Kurdi, Emilia Ronningdal, Maria Goncalves, and Maya Esparza delivered for the Sharks, swimming an SSC conference record 3:19.09 to win the race and clinch the team title. The team was second at the final exchange, but Esparza’s 49.18 anchor leg pulled the Sharks ahead of Colorado Mesa. They won by .18 seconds over the Mavericks, while Drury placed sixth.
Nova Southeastern ended the meet with 475 points, 12 points ahead of Drury’s 463.
In addition to the teams’ relay wins, freshman Kristina Orban earned the team’s lone gold in an individual event at the championships, coming from behind on the final 50 yards to get her hand on the wall first.
Nova Southeastern Event Winners:
- 800 freestyle relay: Emilia Ronningdal, Hailey Williams, Ilaria Murzilli, Kristina Orban — 7:11.57
- 200 freestyle: Kristina Orban, freshman — 1:45.92
- 400 freestyle relay: Zsofia Kurdi, Emilia Ronningdal, Maria Goncalves, Maya Esparza — 3:19.09
The relays were a true high point for the team. The Sharks’ lowest relay finish was fourth place in the 400 medley relay, emphasizing the team’s depth, which proved to be the difference maker for them.
Ten of 11 Nova Southeastern women at the championships scored individual points. Senior May Lowy paced the group with 62 points from three A-final appearances. She placed second in the 200 IM (1:59.39) and 400 IM (4:15.04), fourth in the 200 backstroke (1:57.56), and sixth in the 200 butterfly (2:00.10).
Nova Southeastern Individual Points Scorers
- May Lowy, senior — 62
- Kristina Orban, freshman — 58
- Hailey Williams, junior — 46
- Emilia Ronningdal, junior — 32
- Claire Gass, senior — 31
- Zsofia Kurdi, fifth-year — 23
- Ilaria Murzilli, senior — 22
- Maya Esparza, junior — 14
- Maria Goncalves, senior — 6
- Hannah Montgomery, sophomore — 5
The list of individual points scorers and event winners highlights the difference between this championship winning team and the Sharks’ past two wins, where they had a star swimmer sweep her individual events in 2024 (80 points) and won three in 2023.
Final Women’s Team Scores
- Nova S’eastern – 475 points
- Drury – 463 points
- Colorado Mesa – 376 points
- Indy – 346 points
- Lynn – 233 points
- Tampa – 220 points
- Simon Fraser – 211 points
- Grand Valley – 198 points
- Findlay – 185 points
- Clarion – 140 points
- West Florida — 138.5 points
- Augustana — 125 points
- Wingate — 115 points
- Catawba — 102 points
- Azusa Pacific — 90 points
- NMU — 66 points
- Oklahoma Christi/McKendree — 61 points
- (tie)
- Wayne State — 55 points
- UMSL — 52 points
- CSU East Bay/Delta State — 48 points
- (tie)
- MSU Mankato — 43 points
- Henderson St. — 35 points
- Truman St. — 26 points
- West Chester — 24 points
- Southern Conn — 14 points
- Emmanuel/Carson-Newman — 12 points
- (tie)
- IUP — 10 points
- Hillsdale — 9 points
- Jewell — 8 points
- Concordia/Florida Southern — 7 points
- (tie)
- Barry — 5 points
- Ouachita — 3 points
- Ashland — 2.5 points
- Saginaw/Davenport — 2 points
- (tie)
