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In one of the biggest Division II regular season meets of the year, the (#6/7) Indianapolis swept (#5/14) Grand Valley and (#4/4) Lindenwood over the weekend even after both teams jumped the Greyhounds in the January 16 poll. The Greyhounds picked up big wins from Guilherme Zavaneli in the 200 free (1:39.60) and Adam Rosipal in the 1000 (9:30.57) and the 500 (4:38.09).
Indianapolis beat Grand Valley 185-119 on the men’s side and Lindenwood 181-122.5. The Greyhound women beat Grand Valley 161-143 and Lindenwood 204-100. The men have been on the rise this year and were ranked as high as third in the polls this year behind powerhouses Queens and Drury. Indianapolis only has one senior on its roster so the team is not going anywhere if they can keep everyone together. Rodrigo Codo Berti and Ante Lucev also provided big swims for the Greyhounds as the latter came up big in both sprint relays with a 20.50 anchor in the medley and a 20.76 split in the free. Indianapolis won the 200 medley but ended up getting beat by Grand Valley in the 200 free.
Grand Valley had big swims out of Benjamin Walling who anchored the aforementioned winning 200 free relay with a 20.28. He also won the individual 50 with a 21.21 ahead of Indianapolis’ Victor Antonon Rodriguez (21.30). That was the lone event Grand Valley won on the night including the 200 breast where Marius Mikalauskas (2:04.83) won the 200 breast to go 1-2 with Ahmed Nabih (2:06.50).
Lindenwood picked up wins from Justin Winnett in the 100 breast (56.34) and Matheus Isidro in the 200 fly (1:54.52) along with Jakub Jonczyk in the 100 fly (50.47). In the end, Indianapolis was too strong for both teams as the Greyhounds walked away on Friday night with two huge wins over top ten teams. Indianapolis has now beaten every Division II team on their schedule and is done competing until the GLVC Championships February 7. Both Lindenwood and Grand Valley are also done competing until their respective conference meets. The Lakers from Grand Valley will meet UINDY at the GLVC meet while Lindenwood will be at the New South Intercollegiate Championships February 21.
Sam Postmus was the star of the day for Grand Valley women as she won the 200 free (1:51.62), the 500 (4:59.06) and the 200 IM (2:05.13). She helped give the Lakers a fighting chance against the Greyhounds but could not quite match Indianapolis’ depth.
Sotia Neophytou (100 back, 100 fly), Malvina Shoukri (50 free, 100 free) and Athina Konstantinidi (100 breast, 200 breast) each won two events to propel the Greyhounds past the Lakers.
Lindenwood was the highest ranked team but swam off on Friday night. Their headliner Simone de Rijcke only managed third in the 1000 (10:39.24) and was well off Postmus’ winning time in the 200, finishing second (1:54.78). She was fourth in the 500 (5:07.79) in the second half of the meet. The Lions were coming off a tough loss to unranked McKendree on Friday night before they had to swim in Indianapolis on Saturday.
McKendree led by head coach Jimmy Tierney had a major upset over Lindenwood 174-82. The team was led by huge performances from sophomore Milica Sostarec and freshman Meredith Geyer. The McKendree team was only started last season, but they already have a program changing win under their belt. Keep a close watch on this team moving forward.
In another big meet on the weekend, (#2/1) Drury lost to crosstown rival Division I Missouri State 140-91 on the men’s side and 124-117 on the women’s side. Bailee Nunn did her job as she won the 200 IM (2:02.20) and an unconventional 100 fly (55.31). Nunn gave up her breaststroke duties to Zuzanna Chwadeczko who did her job by winning the 100 breast (1:03.38) and the 100 free (52.01). Yekaterina Rudenko and Erica Dahlgren each picked up wins in the 100 back (56.98) and the 500 (5:00.35). The Panthers won the final 200 free relay by 0.04 seconds, but Drury could not match Missouri State’s depth as the Bears swept the season series for the first time in a long time.
(#16/6) UC San Diego and (#9/13) Cal Baptist split their duel in heavily one-sided matches as the 9th ranked California Baptist men beat San Diego 226-74 while the 6th ranked San Diego women defeated California Baptist 212-88. Both of these teams have been on the rise this year as the West Coast has resurged in national relevancy in Division II. California Baptist men were 12th at NCAA’s last year while San Diego men were 19th and the women were not in the top 25. The Cal Baptist women were 14th last year.
The majority of Cal Baptist’s core group is still underclassmen led by sophomores Jerome Heidrich, Scott Tolman and Brandon Schuster. These three have really shown growth and improvement under veteran head coach Rick Rowland.
San Diego has faced a different turnaround this year with first year head coach David Marsh. They are an improving team thanks to their stellar senior class. The class of Hailey Murphy, Angie Phetbenjakul and Stephanie Sin have put up good swims for the team so far this year along with freshmen Rachel Taylor and Alyson Mendez.
Other highlights include:
- #3 Nova Southeastern dropping Division I Florida International
- #3 Delta State men defeated Division III Emory while the #16 women dropped.
- (NR/22) Wayne State dropped both meets to Eastern Michigan
- #19 Missouri S&T men defeated #22 Truman State
- (NR/25) Findlay swept Bellarmine
- Wayne State men defeated Findlay while they swapped on the women’s side
January 16 recap
December 5 recap
November 20 recap
November 6 recap
October 29 recap
October 22 recap
October 16 recap
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