Time for the penultimate day of the DII national championships. This is where the real swimmers shine, with longer events for almost all the disciplines. Without further ado, on to the events…
1650 Free
Women:
Drury's Erin Dolan is the reigning top miler, she's the defending runner-up and the top seed by 8 seconds. There are already 6 women seeded under 17 minutes, which is twice as many as did it last year. The former number doesn't include last year's 3rd place finisher Inha Kotsur of GCU, who comes in right at 17 flat and dropped 9 seconds at the national meet last year.
Dark Horse: Beth Dong, UCSD – Was an All-American two years ago and absent from the national meet last year, she could make a splash here.
Men:
UCSD's Matt Herman came out of nowhere to win this race by 7 seconds last year, we'll see what he has up his sleeve his senior year. In a familiar theme, Wingate's Iaro Denysenko is the top seed, but comparatively this is his worst event of his four. Though that's not saying he's any slouch of course. Ryan Arabejo of Drury was an Olympian for the Phillipines in 2008, and this race should come down to one of those three. Who knows though, this is the race where somebody having the swim of their life could make the most impact, as it is as much mental as anything else.
Dark Horse: David Hayhow, GVSU – Just barely missed the meet last year, is having a great senior season with drops all the way from the 200 to the mile.
100 Free
Women:
Incarnate Word's Tamaris Nascimento rode an incredible last 25 to the national title last year, but CalU's Melissa Gates is the only woman under 50 so far this year. This was a close race last year and most of the finals swimmers return, several of whom have already been faster this year. I could conceivably see the entire final heat under 50 this year, and look for Loni Burton's 7-year-old record to go down.
Dark Horse: Catherine Polito, Grand Canyon – Been consistently fast during rest periods this season, she may be ready for a breakout here.
Men:
A lot of the same story as in the 50, Wayne State's Andrey Seryy is the man in this, his best race. Queens' John Long and GCU's Buddy Turner join him with seed times under 44, and Drury's Vladimir Sidorkin has been under last year as well. I could see all 16 finalists under 45, which would be almost unheard-of in DII without rubber suits.
Dark Horse: Joe Ward, Clarion – This school seems to always have a decent stable of sprinters with one really solid guy, and Ward has taken the reins from Ryan Thiel as an All-American in this race last year. He's lurking all the way down at 25th seed.
200 Back
Women:
UCSD's Alex Henley has already been a touch faster than her best last year, is the top seed by 2 seconds and is within reach of the national record. IUP's Jaclyn Hynson and Wayne State's Ana Azambuja join her under 2 minutes on the cut sheet. Once again, SCSU's Amanda Thomas is down in the psyche sheet, but she can do so many events well that she can't possibly do every race tapered before she picks her four for the national meet. She and LeMoyne's Katie O'Donnell took the race out very fast last year but had issues with the last 25.
Dark Horse: Taylor Reynolds, Florida Southern – Senior finished in 23rd last year, and has already dropped a second from her best this year.
Men:
FSC's Jeb Halfacre cracked the 1:45 barrier with a national record 1:44.77 at his conference meet this year. He's dropped large chucks of time from his conference meet the past two years so he could event get under 1:44 in finals. Shockingly, runner-up Andrew Zerwick failed to qualify in his senior year, so Halfacre's teammate Luis Rojas and Drury's backstroke freshman duo of Daniel Swietlicki and Sam Olson look to challenge, as well as Incarnate Word's trio of Dan Torres, Nikita Belousov and James Shake.
Dark Horse: Pablo Mauricio Uranga, Ashland – Mexican junior swims a solid overall race, was 4th place last year behind Halfacre, Zerwick and graduated Jordan Schrotenboer.
200 Breast
Women:
UCSD's Emily Adamcyzk and Drury's Katia Alyabyeva are the top returners in this event and the two top seed by 3 second. Adamcyzk boasts an Olympic Trials cut in this race as well. Expect a good dual between these two, with the race for third between NSU's Ewa Jamborska, West Chester's Amelia Buckley, and Grand Valley's Lauren Dorsey.
Dark Horse: Monica Alvarez, Drury – More of a sprint breaststroker, if she keeps it together for a 200 she could challenge the top two.
Men:
This one's going to be a bloodbath. UCSD‘s Nick Korth set the national record at last year's NCAAs and has already been almost as fast this year. Ashland's Cheyne Fisher was 5 yards short of running him down. UIW's Thiago Parravicini broke Korth's record at both the December Texas Invite and his conference meet. GCU's Eetu Karvonen has meters times that convert to an astounding 1:54. Whose race is it? I can't call it from here, all I know is we could see 4 guys under a national record set just last year.
Dark Horse: Kacper Pelczynski, Drury – Or could we see 5? Pelczynski is somewhat of a mystery man as he's got entries in IM, breast and fly events and clearly hasn't been tapered. The very definition of a “dark horse.”
400 Free Relay
Women:
Could this be another coronation race for Drury? They have owned this relay the last few years but have to replace a few legs from last year's national record. They always seem to reload immediately though. Ashland returns most of their 3rd-place relay, and GCU, UCSD and CalU will be in the mix too.
Men:
Could come down to the same two teams and anchors as last year, when Drury's Sidorkin ran down Grand Canyon then-freshman Michael Branning for the win and the national record. Florida Southern, Queens, Bridgeport and Wayne State also come in with relays under 3 minutes, and expect a few more to join.
Now for the real predicitions. Here's the national records I expect to be broken, some are obvious, I hope some are out there a little. There's quite a few within striking distance actually:
Women:
Men:
And the team podium projections…
Women:
- Drury
- UC-San Diego
- Incarnate Word
- Wayne State
Men (almost too close to call):
- Grand Canyon
- Drury
- UC-San Diego
- Florida Southern
It's going to be a great meet, I think the fastest in DII history. Get ready for some fast swimming. May I direct you to the comments section below? I like feedback!