2022 NCAA Division II Men’s Championships – Day 1 Ups/Downs
McKendree finished Day 1 prelims poised to rank among the top four or five teams tonight. Archive photo via Breelyn Craig, McKendree Sports Information
For those unfamiliar with swimming terminology, the concept of “Ups” and “Downs” is a good way to track which teams performed best at prelims. In prelims, swimmers qualify for one of two finals heats: the top 8 finishers make the A final and places 9 through 16, the B final. In finals, swimmers are locked into their respective final, meaning a swimmer in the B heat (spots 9-16) can only place as high as 9th or as low as 16th, even if they put up the fastest or slowest time of any heat in the final.
With that in mind, we’ll be tracking “Ups” and “Downs” after each prelims session. “Up” refers to swimmers in the A final, and “Down” to swimmers in the B final.
The first session of the 2022 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships gave us a taste of what we might expect for the rest of the weekend. Queens University of Charlotte showed why they have been untouchable over the last seven years by taking their #1 team seeding and adding yet another 26 points, spread evenly through the 1000 free, 200 IM, and 50 free.
Drury also outperformed their seeds, netting 20 more points than projected. The Panthers loaded up in the 50 free, notably, with two A and one B finalist, but they also landed two swimmers in the A final of the 200 IM.
Simon Fraser (+16), Indy (+13), and Findlay (+11) all outscored the psych sheets by double digits.
Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com.
He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming.
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