GREAT LAKES VALLEY CONFERENCE (GLVC) – MEN AND WOMEN
- Dates: Wednesday-Saturday, February 12-15th
- Location: Crawfordsville Aquatics Center, Crawfordsville, Indiana
- Defending Champions: Indianapolis men (1x), Drury women (3x)
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It’s a breaststroking kind of night in NCAA swimming’s . After Collin Miller became the 2nd-fastest male breaststroker in D3 history at the WIAC Championships, Drury senior Bailee Nunn cemented her status as the best female breaststroker in Division II.
On day 3 of the GLVC Championships, Nunn won her 4th-straight 100 breaststroke title, swimming a 1:00.29. That is the 13th-best performance in NCAA Division II history, as she remains the 2nd-fastest performer in the division behind only West Florida’s Theresa Michalak, who swam 59.51 at the 2017 NCAA Championships. Michalak was an SEC Champion at Florida before transferring to West Florida.
Nunn, who earlier in the meet split 59.17 on Drury’s winning 400 medley relay and 27.4 on Drury’s winning 200 medley relay, is also the 3-time defending NCAA Champion in the event. Her only loss at nationals came in 2017, where she was pipped by Michalak’s NCAA Record. The swim at the time was the 2nd-best in Division II history (under the old record) and remains the fastest-ever by a D2 freshman by almost 2 full seconds.
Last year, Nunn swam a best time of 59.59 to win the GLVC title, but she wasn’t able to improve the time at NCAAs.
Courtesy: Great Lakes Valley Conference
CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. – It was the third day of the 2020 Great Lakes Valley Conference Swimming and Diving Championships on Friday, and a third men’s team – University of Indianapolis – holds the lead this time, while the Drury University women extended its leads even further. The event is being held at the Crawfordsville Aquatics Center in Crawfordsville, Indiana.
The Greyhound men used its second-straight sweep in the diving competition to overtake the lead with 1141 points. For the second consecutive day, UIndy scored 87 points with a 1-2-3 finish, as senior Payton Staman earned the 3-meter title with 524.35 points, just one day after claiming the 1-meter crown. Freshman teammate Cade Hammond (500.10; second) and classmate Josh Zylstra (491.40; third) joined Staman on the podium for the diving sweep. Staman also repeated as GLVC Diver of the Year.
McKendree University (1066.5) – yesterday’s leader – now sits in second place despite wins in the 500-yard Freestyle, 100-yard Breaststroke, and 800-yard Freestyle Relay. Junior Throstur Bjarnason took the 500 Free gold in 4:25.80 for a NCAA Division II B-cut Qualifying Standard, freshman John Heaphy won the 100 Breast (53.72) with a NCAA Division II B-cut, and the Bearcats closed the night by recording the fastest Division II time this season in the 800 Free Relay (6:31.90) for a Division II B-cut to continue dominating the relay events.
Drury University’s 1011 points was good for third, as sophomore Nathan Bighetti clocked gold in the 100-yard Backstroke (47.39) for a D-II B-cut. Missouri S&T (886.5) and Lindenwood University (872) rounded out the top five for the men, while the University of Missouri-St. Louis (483.5), Lewis University (369) and Truman State University (361.5) are fifth through eighth, respectively. Bellarmine University (356) sits in ninth after getting 32 points from sophomore Matthew Sims, who won the 200-yard Butterfly for the second year in a row with a time of 1:45.62 to break a GLVC and Pool record (1:45.93) from 2017 and hit a D-II B-cut mark. William Jewell College (282) and Maryville University (144) respectively completed the 11-team field.
On the women’s side, Drury continued to dominate, winning three of the four individual events as well as the 800 Free Relay for its 1346 points in first. Senior Bec Cross opened the night winning the 500 Free with a Division II B-cut, breaking a 2014 Drury record (4:51.93) with a time of 4:50.94, which was also a new Pool mark. She was followed by junior Laura Pareja, who also defended her 100 Back title from 2019 with a D-II B-cut in a time of 53.90, before senior Bailee Nunn followed suit with back-to-back gold in the 100 Breast (1:00.29) that was good for a D-II A-cut standard. The Panthers topped off the night with a record-breaking B-cut victory in the 800 Freestyle Relay (7:23.49), besting its 2014 clip of 7:26.71, which was also good for a new Pool record and the fastest time in Division II this season.
Indianapolis stands a distant second with 1224 points after freshman Marizel Van Jaarsveld captured a B-cut in the 200 Fly with a time of 1:59.62, and a pair of divers went 1-2 on the 1-meter boards earlier in the afternoon. Junior Cassie Kury won her third-straight 1-meter board, breaking her own GLVC record (455.15) from 2019 with 485.05 points, while she’s now a three-time GLVC Diver of the Year. Coming in second for the Hounds was freshman Mikaela Starr with 406.85 points. Additionally Lindenwood sophomore Katie Werkema earned bronze in the event with 402.10 points.
In a close third place with 1216 points is Lindenwood, followed by Truman State (680) and McKendree (625) in the top five. Bellarmine (484) is sixth, Missouri-St. Louis (375) sits in seventh, and Lewis (358) comes in at eighth. William Jewell (284) and Maryville (228) respectively rounded out the 10-team field.
The final day of competition kicks off at 10 a.m. ET Saturday with prelims in the 1000 Free, 200 Back, and 200 Breast. The third- and second-fastest heats of the 1650 Free will begin around 3 p.m., followed by the finals, including the fastest heat of the 1650 Free, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Fifteen GLVC records have now been set in this year’s meet so far. A GLVC-best 27 records were set in 2017, while 20 new marks were set at the 2015, 2016 and 2018 Championships, respectively, with 16 coming last season.
At the conclusion of Saturday’s competition, postseason honors will be awarded for Swimmer, Freshman, and Coach of the Year, as well as the team honor for the James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award and the trophy presentation for the 2020 GLVC Champions.