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 University of Charlotte (3x) (results)
- Psych Sheet
- Video
- Live Results
- Championship Central
The 2018 NCAA Division II Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships gets underway tomorrow, Wednesday, March 14 in Greensboro, North Carolina. The defending champion, Queens University of Charlotte, is hoping to extend its title streak to four years in a row and comes into the meet heavily favored with 14 swimmers, 12 of whom are projected to score in the top-16 of 29 events. Nova S’eastern and Drury will be expected to battle for second. Division II-newcomers Oklahoma Baptist leads the next wave of challengers that consists of Fresno Pacific, Lindenwood, and Tampa. Of all these schools, only Oklahoma Baptist and Lindenwood have divers in the meet.
Stars
Diving
Divers representing 180 of the 310 points scored on the 1-meter and 3-meter boards at last year’s championship are back in 2018. Those include Cal Baptist senior Zachary Parry (32 points in 2017); Colorado Mesa senior Sage D’Ambrosia (26 points) and sophomore Noah Macomber (19); Grand Valley seniors Joseph Gucwa (25) and Jared Gregory (23); and Indianapolis sophomores Joshua Zylstra (20) and Payton Staman (14).
Grand Valley State has 5 divers entered in this year’s meet; the Lakers are followed by Colorado Mesa and Delta State with 4 divers each, and Cal Baptist with 3.
Freestyle
Queens and Oklahoma Baptist rule the short end of the freestyle range, while Drury and Nova S’eastern are expected to dominate in distance. The Royals have 4 of the top 16 seeds in the 50 free, 3 in the 100, and 2 in the 200. Queens will be led by 2017 CSCAA Division II Male Swimmer of the Year, senior Marius Kusch, the top seed in the 100 free (43.08) and 200 free (1:34.58). Kusch won the 100 last year. Sophomore Dmytro Sydorchenko is third in the 50 (19.89) and 12th in the 100. Senior Paul Pijulet comes in ranked 5th in the 50 free. Freshman Alen Mosic is top-8 in the 100/200 freestyles, while his classmate Hendrik Faber is the only Royal seeded in the top-16 of the 500/1000/1650 events.
Oklahoma Baptist also has 4 of the top-16 50 freestylers, including seniors David Lambert, seeded #1 with 19.17, Chad Brandon (4th), Julien-Pierre Goyeche (7th), and Andre Del Rio (9th). Lambert and Goyeche are also top-8 seeds in the 100 free. Freshman Marti Penedes is ranked in the top-16 of the 50/1000/1650.
Drury’s Joan Casanovas, a sophomore, is top seed in the 500 free (4:21.56), 2nd in the 200 free (1:35.05), 3rd in the 1000, and 10th in the 1650. He won the 500 and 1650 in 2017 and was runner-up in the 200 and 1000. Senior Alexandre Reinbrecht, who scored in the 1000/1650 last year, is seeded #5 in the 500, #11 in the 1000, and #10 in the mile.
Nova S’eastern senior Franco Lupoli, defending champion in the 1000 and runner-up in the 1650, comes in with the top time in the 1000 (9:02.20) and is ranked 2nd in the 500 and 4th in the mile. NSU also features the 8th and 10th seeds in the 50 free with junior Julian Coster and senior Malique Elder.
Backstroke
Queens senior Pijulet leads the qualifying field in both the 100 back (46.15) and 200 back (1:43.62); he won both events in 2017. Pijulet broke the NCAA Division II record in the 100 back at 2018 Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships in February with his qualifying time of 46.15. The Royals also have senior Zach Bunner (seeded 5th) in the 100 and freshman Baptiste Leger (9th) in the 200.
Freshmen Giulio Brugnoni of Delta State and Iskender Baslakov of Fresno Pacific, as well as Grand Valley sophomore Harry Shalamon, are seeded top-8 in both backstroke distances.
Breaststroke
The Royals’ senior Nick Arakelian (53.33) leads six sub-54 100 breaststrokers: Lindenwood junior Justin Winnett (53.46), Florida Southern senior Luis Jasso (53.58), Drury senior Andrea Bazzoli (53.65), Wingate sophomore Giacomo Viazzo (53.83), and Grand Valley junior Marius Mikalauskas (53.97).
In the 200, Arakelian is again the top qualifier (1:56.18), followed closely by Mikalauskas (1:56.32), Cal Baptist sophomore Eric Tolman (1:56.56), and Viazzo (1:56.75).
Butterfly
Queens seniors Pijulet and Kusch, defending champions in the 100 fly and 200 fly, respectively, come in with the top times in those events. Pijulet’s 45.60 leads the field by well over 1 second; Drury freshman Pavel Semochkin is seeded 2nd with 46.73.
Kusch set the meet record (1:42.04) in the 200 fly last year; he is seeded with 1:43.50, 1.75 seconds ahead of teammate and classmate Zach Bunner. Lindenwood sophomore Matheus Isidro, a B-finalist in 2017 in both distances, is seeded 3rd in the 200 and 12th in the 100. Nova S’eastern sophomore Magnus Poulsen is ranked 3rd in the 100 and 4th in the 200.
Individual Medley
Florida Southern junior Matthew Holmes (1:46.28) is the top seed in the 200 IM by 0.20 over defending champion Kusch (1:46.48) of Queens. Arakelian is seeded third with 1:46.97. The Royals have a third top-5 qualifier in senior Inigo Alarcia. UIndy junior Rodrigo Codo Berti is seeded 4th.
Holmes is also one of the favorites in the 400 IM; his 3:50.68 seed time ranks him 3rd behind Arakelian (3:49.72) and Lindenwood junior Cristian Vasquez (3:49.85).
Team Race
The top men’s ten teams from the psych sheet, including distance events and relays, but excluding diving, are as follows:
- Queens University of Charlotte
- Oklahoma Baptist
- Drury
- Florida Southern
- Delta State
- Wingate
- Nova Southeastern
- UIndy
- Cal Baptist
- Lindenwood / Florida Tech / Saint Leo
4-DAY SCHEDULE
Wednesday, March 14
- 1000-yard freestyle
- 200-yard individual medley
- 50-yard freestyle
- 3-meter diving (W)
- 200-yard medley relay
Thursday, March 15
- 200-yard freestyle relay
- 400-yard individual medley
- 100-yard butterfly
- 200-yard freestyle
- 1-meter diving (M)
- 400-yard medley relay
Friday, March 16
- 500-yard freestyle
- 100-yard backstroke
- 100-yard breaststroke
- 200-yard butterfly
- 1-meter diving (W)
- 800-yard freestyle relay
Saturday, March 17
- 1650-yard freestyle
- 100-yard freestyle
- 200-yard backstroke
- 200-yard breaststroke
- 3-meter diving (M)
- 400-yard freestyle relay