At the Fall Frenzy meet in Charlotte last weekend, D2 Queens’ Paul Pijulet threw down a 45.60 in the 100 fly for the win.
Pijulet’s time is the fastest by a swimmer of any of the three NCAA divisions this year, surpassing the NCAA Division II ‘A’ cut by over a second and falling just .11 short of the D1 ‘A’ cut. Pijulet’s time still would’ve been good for an invite to the 2017 NCAA D1 Championships, and he would’ve finished 12th at that meet last year with his time last week.
In addition to that swim, Pijulet also went 20.07 in the 50 free, 47.05 in the 100 back, 1:43.62, and 43.60 leading off Queens’ 400 free relay. Pijulet is the defending NCAA D2 Champion in the 100 fly, 100 back, and 200 back.
His time today is .02 ahead of the 45.62 he went to win the D2 title this past spring.
Queens has had an iron grip on titles in Division II, having won the last three NCAA team titles on both the men’s and the women’s sides. Current senior at Cal, Matthew Josa, got his NCAA start at Queens. As a freshman, he won the 200 IM, 200 back, and 100 fly at the NCAA D2 Champs, and then as a sophomore he won the 100 fly, 200 fly, and 200 back.
I think everyone is just getting a little hurt that they can’t handle the facts that D2 schools on average are mediocre academically vs. D1 and D3 schools. We aren’t picking on the defenseless underdogs. All of the kids that are committed to D2 schools that go to my school are all in the lower quarter of the grade, and thats pretty telling. Once you actually know of the kids that usually go D2, you’ll see that they are not smart by any means (i.e. kids that are currently taking Precalculus as a SENIOR and don’t sniff any AP of Honor placement classes) and are clearly not the same crowd thats being recruited to the even decently academic D1 schools.… Read more »
Ahhh, and now the truth comes out. A self-important and all knowing high school student is here to tell the rest of us how the world works. Avoiding people like you would be a pretty good reason for one to chose a D2 school.
“D2 schools on average are mediocre academically vs. D1 and D3 schools” what an sweeping and absurd generalization. Many D2 schools offer an education significantly better than the some in the divisions you mention.
Also, before you go to your D1 school with high academic standards, learn some rules of punctuation.
Keep the downvotes coming.
Coach John Long is his coach and he does a great job with preparing his sprinters. Coach Bob Groseth is doing great with the Mid D and Distance group. It makes me think they have a great progressional program at Queens.
Lots of opinions however if you take a look at the Queens record book it seems to be faster than 95% of DI programs. Also having a friend that was a captain there their grads are thriving in big time businesses as leaders, doctors, law school and in grad schools. Also missing from the pc. is I was told Marius Kusch went 50.8 100 meter fly in Italy the weekend before. From my understanding they have also committed a 1:57 200 meter Butterflyer. Coach Dugdale, Long, Czentye and Groseth run a DI program. Finally, keep the talk up as I am sure these posts will be in the locker room and fuel their fire even more.
There’s plenty of great coaching out there at all levels of NCAA swimming – Divisions I, II, and III. Some pretty fantastic facilities, as well. Swimmers perform well when they are happy; supported by their families, good friends, and team-mates; and have coaches who keep things in perspective. They may pick their school based upon perceived swimming prestige and athletic scholarships, or they may make their selection based upon academic considerations. For some, all of these factors are at play. Even geography comes into college choice decision-making (close to home versus across the country).
One thing is for certain. Swimmers at schools like Amherst and Williams and Pomona are really good students. Period. Ditto those at schools like Yale… Read more »
This guy went 45.62 last year at D2 Nats and won titles in several events. I’m not sure why people seem so surprised by the time.
I’m pretty sure Ben Michaelson swam for a D2 school (Southern Connecticut) around1999 and beat the top D1 100 Flyer (Ian Crocker) his senior year. Michaelson later went on to train with Michigan and never went as fast as he did when at Southern Connecticut.
How many best times has Matthew Josa gone since going to Cal (and let’s count all his DQ swims as legit times).
Yep, graduated 2003, had the fastest time ever SCY in the 100Fly after D2 NCAAs that year. Developed in the D2 system as he was “only” a 52-mid flyer starting his collegiate career.
D1 is not always better academically and all around. Your comment is an insult to many student athletes
Yes it is. Look at the top academic D2 school and compare it to the top academic D1 schools. The latter of the two groups is in a completely different league in terms of education and college selectivity/prestige. The top D2 academic colleges can barely compare to the average D1 academic programs. Not to mention the ceiling of D2 schools are much lower than that is D1 education-wise. Like a boarding school swim coach that I recently talked to so eloquently said: parents don’t send their student-athletes to the top northeastern prep schools to hope they end up at a D2 school, especially academically. That usually only happens if something seriously wrong happens during the athletic career that inhibits their… Read more »
Yes D2 is very average academically. Meanwhile D3 has a vast array of fantastic schools
Exactly. UCSD (which won’t even be D2 much longer), Bentley, Stonehill vs. UChicago, Johns Hopkins, MIT, CalTech, CMU. Incomparable in favor of the D3 schools.
Well the top D2 school in US News & World Report rankings is UCSD ranked #42, just ahead of Florida. Pretty much blows away your assertions in your 1st paragraph. While D2 schools may not meet the needs of the elitist Prep school/Ivy crowd, they provide excellent educations and are certainly comparable to mid-major D1 schools. Opportunity abounds outside the elite confines of the Ivies and other top private universities, as well as the public research 1 schools, for students who apply themselves.
Yeah, and they’re trying to get out of D2. Who’s the new top academic school once UCSD leaves?
Stonehill or Bentley lol
That just justifies what I said also instead of ‘blowing away’ my assertions lol. Florida is average AT BEST for academic D1 universities. And I’m being generous here. You need to think big picture here. EVERY school has outliers of some type on either end of the spectrum.
Neil, you seem to be kind of a pretentious individual. 99% of kids do not have the luxury of paying $50K a year for high school, let alone college. Your elitist demeanor is the epitome of why people outside of swimming don’t like the sport. They think it is reserved for the rich, white, elite.
Duh, OF COURSE 99% families can’t afford the prep school tuition. But guess what, that’s why more often than not, the costs with aid end up being well below even half of full tuition for students who truly belong at these elite prep schools (Andover, Exeter, Choate, Peddie, etc). The majority of the time, kids are only having to pay $50K if they aren’t as qualified to be there as some other candidates. I can certainly say anecdotally that if school REALLY thinks that the student belongs at the institution, then, like some tend to phrase it, the financial officers will ‘find a way to make it work’, or ‘take care of you’. Yes, I certainly do agree that money… Read more »
That’s great. But it seems like you look down on others that aren’t afforded those opportunities. And I will tell you right now, as someone who knows people that attended those boarding schools (Exeter and Andover), those kids were just as smart/gifted as a lot of the kids I knew. But they happened to be A LOT richer. Or they were also legacies. And their parents were also very unbearable (word of advice for you in case you live in an area where boarding schools are not the norm). Just because a guy didn’t go to a boarding school or swims at a D2 program should not really be of your concern.
If any student athletes are offended by anyone saying that a school is inferior, you need to get a grip on reality. The truth is that any of those schools are not as good in comparison to their D1 counterparts, academically. Facts don’t care about your feelings; if you’re insulted, too bad, you chose the D2 school to go to and that was your capacity as to where you could attend (presumably).
Before we go throwing stones I think it best that we, as a swimming community, remember that our Men’s swimming programs across the USA have suffered huge losses in the last 40 years. We ought to celebrate the fact that a variety of options remain and we are not like Men’s gymnastics in the NCAA (virtually non existent). Qualifying better of worse is the job of each individual student-athlete making a college decision. Our job as a community is not to bicker on better or worse, but continue to support swimming at every level, and maintain post High School options for all swimmers.
I think you have a bad outlook on life if you look down on people that don’t attend elite schools or swim at a high level of D1. Those things aren’t necessary for future success. I also think it’s pretty presumptuous to assume it’s the “capacity” of these swimmers. I knew swimmers that swam d2 because they were offered full rides, but they also had offers from top 10 D1 programs (not full rides but scholarships nonetheless). Choosing a college based on fit is the most important thing. I’m not offended by you saying they are objectively better schools, because most of them are, but I knew tons of people at my school (including myself) that got into objectively better… Read more »
Sorry, but somewhere like Cal is objectively better academically than Queens.
People, swimming’s not gonna pay the bills in 20 years!! Who cares if Josa’s doing worse at Cal than Queens? At least he’s setting up his future better.
Keep the downvotes coming… whoever did, please back up how Queens is better than Cal academically. I’ll wait.
Who is arguing that? People are just downvoting comments that are completely irrelevant. Why does it matter that Paul is swimming at Queens? Seems like he is doing well. And I’m pretty sure he’ll be able to find a job after graduating doing something he likes. Jobs aren’t reserved only for the small minority of people that attend top 10 universities. It’s just very odd that he went a 45.6 fly, and people can only say negative things about him. Have any of you gone a 45.6 100 fly? Stop talking and let the guy live.
No, I haven’t gone a 45.6 fly, but I can certainly say that I’m in a much better position as a result of my academic institution choices to succeed later in life after swimming has closed its doors of opportunity. We aren’t saying anything negative about him directly, either! Someone had commented that D2 schools could compare to D1 and D3 colleges academically, and the huge point that has become lost at the expense of personal attacks towards me is that the aforementioned claim is not true!
Neil, people are downvoting you and attacking you because of your reply to somebody that said Queens is a good school. The one where you very obviously made fun of them. Which was unnecessary, to say the least. Did you even swim, Neil?
DID I swim? No, I still DO swim; my career is still alive, my friend! Do you even swim, ‘SWIMMER!’?
Take a look at the criteria used by US News & World Report to rank colleges. A good portion is based on reputation, which is perpetuated by the rankings. Should a school be evaluated by the % of kids that are admitted or alumni giving? A good marketing department could boost those numbers. A student can get a good education at many many schools, but it’s hard to come to this conclusion when so much press is given to just a few selective institutions. I think there is too much reliance on these rankings and it does a disservice to the students and schools, IMHO..
Not to mention how acceptance rates are now throw off by the flood of applicants vs decades ago. My alma mater raised its entry standards as a result of the flood of applicants, but it doesn’t necessarily make it a more prestigious school. “Back in my day” we weren’t encouraged to apply for 10 to 15 schools. It’s so different now with early action and early acceptance. I was truly fascinated listening to co-workers going through the college application process with their kids and what goes into it these days since I’ll be going through it in a couple years for my kids. There’s no doubt that the Ivies, Stanford, Vandy and the like earned their status, but as someone… Read more »
Why is he only swimming at Queens? He should really transfer to a big D1 program (Stanford, Michigan, etc.). Better coaching and academics all around!
I think if you talked to plenty of D2 and D3 or club swimmers they could give you many reasons why they chose not to swim D1 and why they’re happy with their decision.
You should really do your research on Queens before making such an ignorant comment. They have fantastic coaches, support staff, facility’s and academics. Just because their DII doesn’t make them that much different, the real difference is in the depth and that’s primarily due to the amount of scholarships allowed by DII compared to DI.
‘Fantastic’ academics ????….. with a 42% acceptance rate. I’m sorry it can’t be THAT ‘fantastic’ if it’s in that range.
Acceptance rate is hard to use as a measurement for how good a school is, take a fairly big state school like FSU, they have a 58% acceptance rate, and Georgia has 54%. Probably look at how schools rank in other categories.
Not really. Its a pretty simple indicator of how good a school is and tells you what general ‘caste’ each school is in. Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Vandy, and Brown all all in the 9-10% ish range, and they are of quite similar levels of prestige. A school like Notre Dame, which is approx. 17% acceptance, is clearly objectively not as good of a school as the aforementioned institutions. Kids who get into the schools with acceptances of 10% of lower will more often than not get into Notre Dame or similar level schools, like Georgetown (barring any sort of additional athletic push discrepancies).
When they are in the same neighborhood of acceptance rates, yes, there can be some sort of shuffling at the top. Is Stanford, which has a lower acceptance rate than HYP, CalTech, and MIT better than those schools? Not necessarily, but the groups of students that are accepted into each share more mutuality than contrast.
Exactly, Neil. Love your thinking. The downvotes are just from people that are jealous of those that go to good schools like JHU and Dartmouth.
Prof, it’s also a shame that it appears that you comment that you made earlier was deleted. I can’t understand how that many people can have an issue with this intuition, unless of course there are just too many ‘snowflakes’.
It is a shame. I think the main message we’re both trying to convey is that academics>athletics, and that attending a good D1 (or D3) school to swim & study is almost always better than attending a D2 school, of which very few decent ones actually exist. Unfortunately, seems like most people here (Karl included, as he deleted my comment) somehow get triggered by that belief. These days, people are so intolerant of countering opinions. Sad!
Nobody is disagreeing they’re better schools. People are downvoting you two because you two are going on completely irrelevant tangents.
How is me thinking that he should transfer a “completely irrelevant tangent”? Especially given that his past teammate did.
Because you are imposing your beliefs on some kid who chose a school for a multitude of reasons. Why does it matter so much that he is at Queens? Also, his past teammate made that decision based on swimming, not academics, and is swimming worse there. So it is not the best argument. He made that move because he wants to be an Olympian.
As a former American D2 swimmer, I will tell you a lot of the fast D2 Euro studs had some sort of eligibility issue with D1 (usually a test score). By no means does this mean they’re bad students, but it is the case for a lot of them. And then once they being D2, they acclimate to the training and academics of that specific school. Transferring in general is not that easy ( note Josa performing better in D2)
It would seem his coaching is more than adequate if his time is #1 in all of College Swimming. There are plenty of great coaches in D2 doing great things with their swimmers.
Some international swimmers choose D2 because they are to ‘old’ and can not do 4 years of D1 swimming.