Women’s 200 free Relay Final
The Ashland women got off to a good start on day 2 of the 2013 NCAA Division II NCAA Championship meet, winning their third relay title in four seasons with the team of Julie Widmann, Kaylyn Murphy, Rachael Ausdenmoore, and Gabriela Verdugaluz in a 1:32.20. That included a 22.60 leadoff from the senior Widmann.
Though Widmann will be graduating, freshman Kaylyn Murphy appears ready to take over the torch for her, as she split a 22.76 on their second leg.
Wayne State was 2nd in 1:32.69, led by a 22.76 of their own from junior Kayla Scott. Grand Canyon was 3rd in 1:32.72, and UC San Diego was 4th in 1:32.76. The 2nd through 6th place spots (Drury was 6th) spanned just one-tenth of a second.
Men’s 200 Free Relay Final
The Drury men were in a battle early in this race, sitting only 4th after their first leg, but nobody could match their final three legs, as the relay of Nicholas McCarthy, Samuel Olson, Olexandr Pedalkin, and Vladimir Sidorkin rolled to a 1:19.31 victory. That was just a hair slower than they were in prelims, where they broke the Division II Record in 1:19.20.
Grand Canyon took 2nd in 1:19.66, and Bridgeport was 3rd in 1:20.21. Queens was 4th in 1:20.29 with a relay that included a 19.92 leadoff from freshman Michael Trice. In total, that very young relay had a freshman, two sophomores, and a senior; they’ll enter next season as national championship contenders in this race when top-10 recruit Matthew Josa joins the team.
Women’s 400 IM Final
Speaking of Queens, freshman Caroline Arakelian already has her first national title of the year, with a 4:17.51 win. She actually trailed 200 IM champion Amanda Thomas after the butterfly leg by more than a second, but Arakelian’s middle 200 yards were very good – she was a 1:02.8 on her backstroke, and a 1:15.0 on her breaststroke.
Nova Southeastern’s Lauren Chapple was 2nd in 4:19.75, and Thomas took 3rd in 4:20.54. Gretchen Stein put a second freshman in the top four, as she finished 4th for Drury in 4:21.06.
Bethany Dong was the top seed coming into the meet, and the top seed coming into this final, but she slipped back to 5th-place in the evening session.
Men’s 400 IM Final
Wayne State sophomore Piotr Jachowicz already broke the 200 IM Division II National Record coming into Thursday, and he would end the day with a second record. This one came in the 400 IM, where he posted a 3:47.62.
Jachowicz came into the meet already with the record in the shorter 200 IM, but there was no sign that he had this potential in the 400 IM. He’d 0nly swum the race once this year, and never in his freshman or sophomore seasons, and that once was a 4:01.
With this swim, he crushed the 2009 Record held by Drury’s Kyrillo Fesenko at 3:49.17.
Women’s 100 Fly Final
This year is both the end of Grand Canyon’s run in Division II before they promote next season, and the end of Mychala Lynch’s college career, and she went out with a bang. The former TCU Horned Frog has thrived since transferring to Grand Canyon, and won her second-straight Division II Championship in this race with a 54.31. That’s almost exactly the same as her 54.37 winning time from last year.
The runner-up was Margot Adams from Alaska-Fairbanks in 54.63, and Long Island University-Post freshman Joyce Kwok took 3rd in 55.12.
Men’s 100 Fly Final
The men’s 100 fly was won by Ouachitah Baptist’s Marcus Schlesinger in 47.54 with a big front-half to his swim. Schlesinger already has international experience under his belt; as a representative of the United States at the 2010 Maccabi Australia International Games: one of the major events on the circuit designed specifically for Jewish athletes. There, he won eight gold medals.
Grand Canyon junior Ivan Nechunaev was 2nd in 47.73, and Drury sophomore Stanislav Kuzmin was 3rd in 47.84, Another Grand Canyon swimmer, Michael Griffith, was 4th in 47.85.
Women’s 200 Free Final
UC San Diego’s Anjali Shakya won the women’s 200 freestyle in 1:47.95. Behind her, Drury senior Tiffany Bell and Wingate junior Kathryn Pheil will share the second-place podium after tying in 1:48.53.
Men’s 200 Free Final
Drury senior Vladimir Sidorkin got out to a good start in this 100 free. As Florida Southern’s Luis Rojas fought back in the third 50, though, the veteran Sidorkin, pushed right back to win in 1:35.76. That win by the 27-year old veteran showed his maturity and experience: Sidorkin was a 2008 Olympian for Estonian.
Rojas ended up 2nd in 1:36.48, and Kristian Larsen from Wayne State was 3rd in 1:37.70.
Women’s 1 Meter Diving
Wayne State junior Paige Korman improved from her 7th-place finish on the 1-meter last season to win this year’s event in 468.60. Kortman hails from Holland, Michigan, best known for it’s phenomenal swimming program. Korman historically has been better at the 3-meter than the 1-meter, so this win will give her great confidence going into Saturday’s second diving event (Division II does not compete in the platform).
Women’s 400 Medley Relay
LIU-Post was locked in a tight battle in this 400 medley relay at the halfway mark, and the Canadians from Simon Fraser were well-positioned after a 1:00.95 breaststroke split from Mariya Chekanovych.
Post’s last two legs were both freshmen, and they came through with flying colors to give the Blackbirds a relatively easy victory in 3:42.48. Those last two legs were a 54.09 from Kwok on the fly leg, and a 50.17 anchor from Meghan Brazier.
Simon Fraser ended up 2nd in 3:44.16, and Drury took third in 3:44.25.
Men’s 400 Medley Relay
Another National Record went down to close the session, as Grand Canyon swam to a 3:11.93 to break Florida Southern’s 3:12.43 from last season’s meet. The foursome that took the win and the record were Everton Kida, Eetu Karvonen, Ivan Nechunaev, and Kyle Shores.
Though Florida Stouhern this year took only 2nd in 3:12.44, they will be pleased with very nearly matching the time with wchih they won last year’s title. That’s because they did so without using Jeb Halfacre: one of the best sprint backstrokers in the country.
Drury took 3rd in 3:12.97, followed by another young Queens relay in 4th. We saw two guys split 52-second breaststrokes in this relay (Ferreira from Florida Southern and Eriksson from Queens), and one even split a 51 (Karvonen from Grand Canyon), but Incarnate Word’s Thiago Parravicini, the top seed in the 100, was only a 53-mid.
Live meet results available here.
Team Standings
Drury took a solid lead in both the men’s and women’s races, though in both cases it’s not yet a runaway. The depth of the defending champions should continue to pull them further-and-further away, but neither meet is likely to end in a total blowout with how much depth there is at this year’s meet.
Women’s Top 10
1. Drury 237.5
2. Wayne State 180
3. U C S D 171.5
4. Wingate 145.5
5. L I U Post 124
6. Incarnate Word 117
7. Simon Fraser 100
8. Florida Southern 98
9. Ashland 95
10. Grand Canyon 84
Men’s Top 10
1. Drury 258
2. Grand Canyon 184
3. Florida Southern 176
4. Incarnate Word 174
5. Wayne State 139
6. Wingate 129
7. Queens (N C) 125
8. U C S D 124
9. Bridgeport 116
10. Grand Valley 94