Queens’ Kusch Wipes Out 200 IM Record on Day 1 of NCAA Division II Champs

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 (results)
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Men’s 200 Yard Individual Medley – Finals

• NCAA DII: 1:41.94 3/11/2015 Matthew Josa, Queens (NC)
• Meet: 1:41.94 3/11/2015 Matthew Josa, Queens (NC)
• Pool: 1:41.92 2/27/2014 Pavel Sankovich, FSU

1. Marius Kusch JR Queens (NC) 1:41.61
2. Nicholas Arakelian SR Queens (NC) 1:44.91
3. Matthew Holmes JR Florida Southern 1:45.68

No one should have been surprised, given the way he attacked his race in prelims this morning, but Queens junior Marius Kusch began the meet by taking a .33 chunk out of the NCAA Division II and Championship Record in the 200 IM, going 1:41.61 in finals. The old mark of 1:41.94 had stood since March 2015, when Matthew Josa, swimming for Queens, established it at the 2015 NCAA Division II Championships. Kusch also erased Pavel Sankovich of Florida State’s pool record from 2014.

Kusch was under record pace from the outset, since his fly was more than a second faster than Josa’s and .93 faster than Sankovich’s. Kusch was slower on all three of the other legs, but he had enough cushion with the fly to break the records. Kusch’s swim would have earned him a berth in the A final of the 200 IM at last year’s NCAA Division I Championships.