2025 NCAA Division II Championships: Day 1 Recap

2025 NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championship

• March 11-15, 2025
• IU Natatorium — Indianapolis, IN 
• SCY (25 Yards) 
• Defending Champions: 
  • Women: Nova Southeastern (2x)
  • Men: University of Tampa (1x)
• Women’s Psych Sheets
• Men’s Psych Sheets
• Live Results 
• Live Stream

The 2025 NCAA Division II Championships kick off this afternoon in at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, Ind. It’s a short session this afternoon, even by “relay only” session standards, as just the timed finals of the 800 freestyle relay take to the blocks today.

Last year, the Nova Southeastern and the Tampa men won these relays, with Nova Southeastern setting an NCAA Division II record with a 7:08.50. Both teams went on to win the overall team titles at the end of the meet, with Nova Southeastern defending their 2022 title and the Tampa men winning the first title in program history.

Women’s 800 Freestyle Relay – Timed Final

• NCAA Division II Record: 7:08.50 – Nova Southeastern (Ronningdal, Raurich, Lowy, Trieschmann) (2024)
• Meet Record: 7:08.50 – Nova Southeastern (Ronningdal, Raurich, Lowy, Trieschmann) (2024)

Top 8:

1. Nova Southeastern (Ronningdal, Williams, Murzilli, Orban) – 7:11.57
2. Drury (Wijk, Conover, Morales, Walker) – 7:14.64
3. Colorado Mesa (Wilkinson, Matoskova, Qunell, Hansson) – 7:14.86
4. Grand Valley – 7:17.83
5. Simon Fraser – 7:18.59
6. Tampa – 7:19.43
7. Indy – 7:20.26
8. Azusa Pacific – 7:21.83

Nova Southeastern’s quartet of Emilia Ronningdal (1:47.13), Hailey Williams (1:49.59), Ilaria Murzilli (1:48.73), and Kristina Orban (1:46.12) flexed the program’s freestyle strength, pulling away from the field to win the first event of this year’s NCAA Championships. They defended their title from last season, though they were off the Division II record of 7:08.50. It’s almost an entirely new team from last season, with only Ronningdal returning from the record-setting squad.

This was an important win for Nova Southeastern, which projects to be in a close team race with Drury and Colorado Mesa for the team title. Winning this event puts Nova Southeastern into the lead after the first day of the meet. The team led from the start, though Drury tracked them closely through the first half of the race. Mellie Wijk opened in 1:47.23 for Drury, with Claire Conover splitting 1:49.52 on the second leg. The team was only three-hundredths behind Nova Southeastern at the halfway mark, though they didn’t have the depth to hang with them on the back half of the race.

Nova Southeastern touched in 7:11.57, 3.07 seconds ahead of Drury. Drury’s team of Wijk, Conover, Maria Morales (1:49.53), and Ellie Walker (1:48.26) held off Colorado Mesa for second place. Drury clocked 7:14.64 for the silver medal, withstanding a late surge from CMU’s Olivia Hansson, who split 1:47.84 on the anchor leg. The quartet of Kendyll Wilkinson (1:48.89), Katerina Matoskova (1:49.02), Ada Qunell (1:49.11), and Hansson swam 7:14.86, touching .24 seconds behind Drury.

These teams that are projected to finish top three in the overall standings were comfortably ahead of the rest of the field as Grand Valley’s Lucy Hedley, Vittoria Proietti, Angelica Angilletta, and Katie O’Connell finished fourth in 7:17.83.

Only 16 teams fielded a women’s 800 freestyle relay and there were no disqualifications, so every team scored.

Men’s 800 Freestyle Relay — Timed Final

• NCAA DII Record: 6:18.46 – Queens (Dreesens, Pijulet, Kusch, Arakelian) (2017)
• Meet: 6:18.46 – Queens (Dreesens, Pijulet, Kusch, Arakelian) (2017)

Top 8:

1. Tampa (Brandon, Knollman, Hamlin, Ponce de Leon) — 6:17.93 DII Record
2. Drury (Mineur, Zornoza Quiros, Nogueira, Vissotto) — 6:19.67
3. McKendree (Gandaria-Hernandez, Gavrysh, Souza, Yavari) — 6:20.34
4. Wingate — 6:24.13
5. Indy — 6:27.77
6. Grand Valley — 6:28.56
7. Wayne State — 6:29.25
8. Colorado Mesa — 6:30.87

We got the same day one results as we did last year, though this time it was the Tampa men, not the Nova Southeastern women, who logged a Division II record. Caleb Brandon (1:36.42), Parker Knollman (1:34.44), Jacob Hamlin (1:32.74), and Rafael Ponce de Leon (1:34.33) smashed the Division II record that Queens (NC) set in 2017 by .53 seconds with a 6:17.93.

This is the fourth NCAA Division II record that Hamlin has been a part of this season as he also reset the 500/1000/1650 freestyle records during the regular season (though the 500 free record has since been broken).

Tampa won by a convincing 1.74-second margin ahead of Drury. As on the women’s side, Drury is the main contenders to deny the Tampa men a repeat, and the Spartans could not have asked for a better start to their title defense. Drury’s team of Lucas Mineur (1:34.58), Alvaro Zornoza Quiros (1:35.77), Joao Nogueira (1:34.68), and Matteo Vissotto (1:34.64) swam 6:19.67 and were the only other team in the field to break 6:20.

The McKendree men grabbed third as Leonardo Gandaria-Hernandez (1:35.90), Volodymyr Gavrysh (1:33.05), Arthur Souza (1:36.41), and Alireza Yavari (1:34.98) swam 6:20.34. They finished comfortably in third place as Wingate took fourth in 6:24.13. Like the women’s race, the top eight were spread out a bit.

Despite pulling away from the field by the final touch, Tampa was not in the lead at the start of the race. There were several 1:34 lead-off legs, including Mineur’s 1:34.58. Grand Valley’s Matthew Bosch turned in the fastest lead-off with a 1:34.05. He swam a lifetime best 1:33.45 at his conference championships. Indy’s Cedric Buessing–the newly minted 500 free division record holder–was close behind with a 1:34.28, chopping more than a second from his lifetime best.

Team Standings Through Day 1

Women

1. Nova Southeastern — 40
2. Drury — 34
3. Colorado Mesa — 32
4. Grand Valley — 30
5. Simon Fraser — 28
6. Tampa — 26
7. Indy — 24
8. Azusa Pacific — 22
9. Wingate — 18
10. Oklahoma Christi — 14
11. West Florida — 12
12. McKendree — 10
13. Wayne State — 8
14. Lynn — 6
15. Catawba — 4
16. Florida Southern — 2

Men

1. Tampa — 40
2. Drury — 34
3. McKendree — 32
4. Wingate — 30
5. Indy — 28
6. Grand Valley — 26
7. Wayne State — 24
8. Colorado Mesa — 22
9. Rollins — 18
10. Ouachita — 14
11. Barry U — 12
12. Nova Southeastern — 10
13. Catawba — 8
14. Delta State — 6
15. Lewis — 4
16. Lynn — 2