2017 NCAA Division II Women: Day 2 Finals Live Recap

Division II Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships

• March 8-11, 2017
• Birmingham CrossPlex, Birmingham, Alabama
• Prelims 10:30 AM, Finals 6 PM – U.S. Central Time Zone (GMT -6 currently)
• Event schedule
• Real-time results – diving
• Real-time results – swimming
• Video link
• Championship Central

Women’s 200 Yard Freestyle Relay – Final

• Division II: 1:30.57 3/12/2015 Drury

1. Drury 1:31.03
2. Queens (NC) 1:32.54
3. MSU Mankato 1:32.69
4. Lindenwood 1:32.74
5. West Florida 1:32.88
6. Wingate 1:33.35
7. West Chester 1:33.53
8. Carson-Newman 1:33.65

With two swimmers going under the NCAA Division II national record on the lead-off leg, it was going to be a fast race. West Florida senior Theresa Michalak threw down a 22.25 and Drury freshman Bailee Nunn, 22.20, to get the afternoon session started with a bang. Both were faster than the 22.33 Nunn had led with in prelims, which broke the D2 record.

Drury, swimming in lane 5 as the number 2 seed behind Queens, took the baton from Nunn and finished just off meet record time with 1:31.03. Vera Johansson (22.91), Yekaterina Rudenko (22.70), and Madeline Nelson (23.22) finished up. Queens (Lara Marshall, Kyrie Dobson, Shane Knight, and Michelle Prayson) came in second with 1:32.54. Third place went to MSU Mankato (Cheyenne Rova, Margaret Knier, Taylor Bass, and Cecilia Hake).

Women’s 400 Yard Individual Medley – Final

• Division II: 4:08.56 3/10/2016 Patri Castro Ortega, Queens (NC)

1. Hannah Kastigar, Northern State 4:12.99
2. Alexis Divelbiss, Wingate 4:18.24
3. Melanie Tombers, Delta State 4:18.38
4. Courtney Deveny, Nova S’eastern 4:20.68
5. Josephina Lorda, Queens (NC) 4:22.06
6. Morgan McClure, Cal State East Bay 4:22.71
7. Bavindeep Basra, Fresno Pacific 4:24.18
8. Ella Bryan, Drury 4:27.77

Hannah Kastigar of Northern State and Alexis Divelbiss of Wingate took it out quickly and got a jump on the rest of the field in the butterfly leg. Queens’ Josephina Lorda had a strong first half and looked like she might challenge the leaders. Kastigar moved out to clear water through the backstroke 100, then built an impressive lead over the field in breaststroke. Melanie Tombers of Delta State made up a good deal of ground in the breaststroke, moving past Divelbiss. Courtney Deveny of Nova S’eastern, swimming out of lane 8, moved into fourth.

Kastigar came to the wall all alone, stopping the clock at 4:12.99. Divelbiss and Tombers raced for home together, trading stroke for stroke to the wall. Divelbiss eked out the win for second place, 4:18.24 to 4:18.38. Deveny maintained her position from outside, finishing fourth with 4:20.68, a 3.4-second improvement over her morning time.

West Chester sophomore Megan Burns won the consolation with 4:22.84.

Women’s 100 Yard Butterfly – Final

• Division II: 52.42 3/12/2015 Armony Dumur, Wingate

1. Theresa Michalak, West Florida 52.33
2. Georgia DaCruz, Queens (NC) 53.24
3. Bailee Nunn, Drury 53.48
4. Hannah Peiffer, Queens (NC) 53.92
5. Jessie Gibson, Simon Fraser 54.36
6. Ebba Stillman, Wingate 54.58
7. Hannah Kastigar, Northern State 54.59
8. Paige Meredith, Jewell 55.22

After they both beat the NCAA D2 record in the 50 free while leading off their respective 200 free relays, Drury’s Nunn and West Florida’s Michalak battled valiantly for the 100 fly title. It was a thrilling race from start to finish, but this time Michalak got the win, and the NCAA Division II record, with 52.33.

Queens freshman Georgia DaCruz snuck in at the last second and out-touched Nunn for the silver medal with 53.24. Nunn went 53.48 for third.

Fresno Pacific junior Daria Belova was the B-final winner with 54.53.

Women’s 200 Yard Freestyle – Final

• Division II: 1:45.27 3/12/2015 Patricia Castro Ortega, Queens (NC)

1. Emma Wahlstrom, Nova S’eastern 1:46.81
2. Oksana Marchuk, Bridgeport 1:46.91
3. Mckenzie Stevens, Queens (NC) 1:48.33
4. Leonie Van Noort, Grand Valley 1:48.54
5. Anastasiia Manakova, Henderson State 1:49.07
6. Alexis Divelbiss, Wingate 1:49.26
7. Simone de Rijcke, Lindenwood 1:49.35
8. Erica Dahlgren, Drury 1:51.46

Oksana Marchuk of Bridgeport blasted off and set the pace from the outset, turning first at the 50 wall with 25.0. Wingate’s Divelbiss, having just contested the 400 IM final, went with her early on, but couldn’t keep up the pace. Nova S’eastern senior Emma Wahlstrom moved up over the second half to chase Marchuk down on the final 50. At the end Wahlstrom got the touch, 1:46.81 to 1:46.91. Queens junior Mckenzie Stevens, runner-up last year, finishing one spot ahead of Wahlstrom, took third with 1:48.33. She touched just ahead of Grand Valley senior Leonie Van Noort (1:48.54).

Carson-Newman junior Margaret Stansberry went 1:49.96 for a wire-to-wire win in the consolation final.

Women’s 1 Meter Diving – Final

• Division II: 511.55 3/10/2011 Kayla Kelosky, Clarion

1. Monica Amaral, West Florida 478.25
2. Christina Sather, Clarion 445.40
3. Elizabeth Rawlings, Wayne State 429.45
4. Mia Teifer, Wayne State 414.65
5. Mikayla Karasek, Grand Valley 408.85
6. Kayla Marquardt, Grand Valley 407.70
7. Emma Kehn, Clarion 403.70
8. Cassi Blakeman, Colorado Mesa 389.40

Defending champion, West Florida senior Monica Amaral, won with a much larger margin than a year ago; she repeated her title with 478.25 points. Second place went to Christina Sather of Clarion (445.40), who was 11th last year. Wayne State took the next two positions with senior Elizabeth Rawlings (429.45) and freshman Mia Teifer (414.65).

Women’s 400-yard Medley Relay

• Division II: 3:37.80 3/10/2016 Wingate

1. Queens (NC) 3:38.35
2. Drury 3:38.95
3. Wingate 3:39.44
4. Nova S’eastern 3:42.59
5. Cal Baptist 3:44.28
6. Wayne State 3:44.73
7. Fresno Pacific 3:45.01
8. Lindenwood 3:45.16

The stakes were high for Queens and Drury in the 400 medley relay. Queens had led throughout Thursday’s events and Drury needed to gain ground on the Royals to stay in the team race. Drury’s Yekaterina Rudenko (53.86) won the backstroke leg over Queens’ Hannah Peiffer (54.03) and Wingate’s Viktoriya Arkhipova (54.74). Drury’s Zuzanna Chwadeczko (59.93) held onto the lead through the breaststroke, building up a lead and handing butterflyer Vera Johansson a one body-length lead. But Queens’ DaCruz (52.42) ran down Johansson (54.20) and pulled into the lead. Kyrie Dobson held onto the lead for Queens, and they finished first with 3:38.35. Drury finished second, while Wingate, thanks to a 49.00 anchor from Divelbiss, nearly snuck past them.

With the win, Queens gave themselves breathing room heading into Day Three. The Royals are now projected to maintain a slight lead over Drury for the rest of the meet.

Women’s Team Scores – Day Two

*Based on actual results plus psych sheet seeding for remaining days