Victor Polyakov, a 25-year old Russian first-year sophomore at West Chester University in Pennsylvania, has broken the NCAA Division II Record in the 500 yard freestyle at the Frank Elm Invitational hosted by Rutgers.
Poyakov swam a 4:20.26 to win the race by 12 seconds, and broke the two-season old NCAA Division II Record held by Wingate’s Iaroslav Denysenko from the 2012 NCAA Championships that was swum in 4:21.48.
The comparative splits are below:
| Iaroslav Denysenko | Victor Polyakov |
| Old D2 Record | New D2 Record |
| 23.93 | 23.31 |
| 26.35 | 25.36 |
| 26.64 | 26.05 |
| 26.71 | 26.34 |
| 26.88 | 26.43 |
| 26.08 | 26.51 |
| 26.55 | 26.56 |
| 27.05 | 26.91 |
| 26.18 | 26.90 |
| 25.11 | 25.89 |
| 4:21.48 | 4:20.26 |
While the record will not be official until submitted to and ratified by the NCAA, regardless this swim puts Polyakov in position as the heavy favorite for the NCAA title. He should make a huge impact on the West Chester men, who took 18th at NCAA’s last year, as he alone could match, at least, their 65 point output from last year’s meet.
What the hell is with these D2 schools grabbing these out-of-country swimmers? Lindenwood and this school are full of Eastern European kids that they’ve grabbed out of absolutely nowhere.
“25 year old first year sophomore from Russia.” Is the most Division 2 sentence ever written.