NCAA Division II Championships Preview: Two Sides of Meet a Study in Contrasts
The NCAA Division II Championships kick off on Tuesday with two wildly different fields on the men’s and women’s sides, to say nothing of the question of title defense.
Rather notoriously, there is no reigning men’s champion. Drury finished last March’s meet with the most points, but the title was officially vacated after a positive drug test for excessive caffeine in one swimmer. That leaves a lot of familiar faces chasing a title de novo this Tuesday through Saturday at the Deaconess Aquatic Center in Evansville, Indiana.
There are at least plenty of individual champions back from last year, with nine winners returning to defend their crowns. That includes Drury backstroker Ivan Adamchuk, who did the double last year. He’s also seeded ninth in the 200 IM and 12th in the 100 butterfly. (Division II swimmers contest both the 1,000 free and 1,650 free, thus have an option of four individual events).
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Tampa returns quadruple champion Jacob Hamlin, who won the four freestyle events from 200 yards on. (Tampa also won the 800 free relay). This year, Hamlin is seeded second in the 500 and 1,650, fourth in the 1,000 and fifth in the 200 free. Super specialist Tibor Tistan is also back to chase another 50 free title.
Indy’s title case rests on Jeremias Pock, who won the 400 IM last year. Pock holds the top seed in both IMs and both breaststroke events. He’s joined by Silas Buessing, seeded second in the 400 IM and sixth in the 200 back. Indy has a potential spoiler in Swann Plaza, who is the top seed in the 500 and mile over Hamlin. The Frenchman is listed as a senior but is in his first year of college swimming.
One of the champions that graduated is McKendree double butterfly champ Jackson Lustig. But McKendree has a pair of distance specialists in Miguel Carvalhosa and Jakub Rynkiewicz in a meet that prioritizes the discipline, plus Volodymyr Gavrysh, who finished in the top four in four events as a freshman.
The Women’s Meet
Nova Southeastern is chasing a fourth straight title at the NCAA Division II Championships. To do that, the Sharks will have to get past Floridian rival Tampa.
Given the amount of senior winners last year, there’s going to be change on the women’s side. Seven individual events were won by seniors or grad students. Add in the transfers of 50 free champ Brynn Greenwaldt to Virginia and breaststroke double winner Jonette Laegrid to Indiana, and there’s a lot of opportunity.
Even the biggest returnee has a new place that she calls home. Agata Nasrket, who did the backstroke double last year for third-place Colorado Mesa, is swimming for the University of West Florida, where she’s already lowered her NCAA record in the 100 back. She’s the top seed in both backstroke events, second in the 100 free and third in the 50 free.
Nova Southeastern’s Kristina Orban is the other returning champ, in the 200 free.
In the title chase, Nova Southeastern’s strength will be in the sprints. It won the 400 free and 800 free relays last year. Orban returns at the 200 free champ and is seeded second in the 50 free, one of three Nova swimmers in the top five. She’s the top seed in the 100 fly and 100 free.
Nova has 14 swimmers and 36 swims. The University of Tampa has 18 swimmers and 41 swims. Burlingtyn Bokos made a pair of A finals as a freshman last year for the Trojans and is the top seed in the 400 individual medley. Laura Hodgson swam in a pair of A finals in the distance events last season.
In vying for the top three spots, Colorado Mesa still has 14 swimmers and 28 swims, led by Ada Qunell, the top seed in the 200 free. Drury has depth, with Gwen Bergum seeded second in both breaststroke events and third in the 200 IM. Maria Moralez is seeded fifth in the 200 free and seventh in the 100 free. Maria Fe Munoz is second in the 200 fly among four top-10 seeds.
With Naskret, West Florida could be a dark horse spoiler. It also has the top seed in the 200 IM in freshman Livia Rodrigues, who is seventh in the 400 IM.
Indy is an intriguing team, looking to build on last year’s fourth-place result. It has only nine swimmers and 17 swims, but they’re quality. Kirabo Namutebi is the top seed in the 50 and 10th in the 100 free, plus an anchor on most of the relays, Indy having won the 200 free and 200 medley relays last season. Celina Schmidt is the seed to beat in both breaststroke events, and she’s seeded second in the IMs.
Another swimmer who could force her way into the Most Outstanding swimmer conversation is Justice Beard, the top seed in the 500, 1,000 and 1,650 free. The University of Missouri-St. Louis junior was fourth in the 500 and 1,000 and second in the mile last year.
At Conferences
In head-to-head matchups, Indy prevailed over Drury in each of their conference meets. At the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships, Indy’s women scored 1,882 points to beat Drury by 32 points. The men’s margin was much wider, Indy scoring 1,853.5 to Drury’s 1,632, with McKendree a further 300 points back.
Tampa’s women’s team prevailed over Nova Southeastern at the Sunshine State Conference Championships with 1,096.5 points to Nova’s 954.5. The Tampa men were nearly 300 points clear of Nova Southeastern.
In the Polls
Officially, Indy is the No. 1 men’s team in the nation, jumping Drury for the top spot in March’s CSCAA Dual Meet Poll. Indy finished two points up in the rankings, which are specifically for only dual meets but a useful gauge here.
Tampa was third in the men’s meet, followed by Colorado Mesa and McKendree.
Tampa led the way over Nova Southeastern by five points on the women’s side, followed by Colorado Mesa, Drury and West Florida.
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