2018 NCAA Division II Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships
- Dates: Wednesday, March 14 – Saturday, March 17
- Swimming: prelims 10am, finals 6pm; Diving: 2pm
- Location: Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, North Carolina (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champions: Queens (results)
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Men’s 100 Yard Backstroke – Finals
- NCAA DII: 46.15 2/16/18 Paul Pijulet, Queens
- Meet: 46.27 3/10/2016 Marco Palacios, Florida Southern
- Paul Pijulet, SR Queens (NC) 45.88
- Giulio Brugnoni, FR Delta State 46.48
- Harry Shalamon, SO Grand Valley 47.12
Queens senior Paul Pijulet became the first sub-46 second backstroker in Division II of the NCAA on Friday when he won the 100 back at 2018 NCAA Division II Championships in 45.88. Pijulet destroyed the NCAA Division II Record and the Championship Meet Record, taking .39 off the old meet mark set by Marco Palacios leading off the Florida Southern 400 medley relay at the 2016 NCAA Division II Championships. Pijulet also lowered his own NCAA Division II Record of 46.15, which he set at the 2018 Bluegrass Mountain Championships in February.
Pijulet was out in 22.16 and home in 23.72, controlling the race from start to finish. He improved both the front half and the back half of his race, dropping .07 and .20 on the respective 50s. In both his record-breaking swims, Pijulet executed more evenly-split races than Palacios. While he goes out nearly 4/10 slower than Palacios, he comes home quite a bit faster. Here are the comparative splits:
| Paul Pijulet, Queens, 2018 NCAAs | Paul Pijulet, Queens, 2018 BMCs | Marco Palacios, Florida Southern, 2016 NCAAs | |
| 50 | 22.16 | 22.23 | 21.87 |
| 100 | 45.88 (23.72) | 46.15 (23.92) | 46.27 (24.40) |
Very impressive. I remember when this time would have won D1! Not all that long ago. Congratulations!