Division II Meet of the Week: (#5/17) West Chester vs. (#6/6) Nova Southeastern
Two top ten NCAA Division II women’s teams will clash this week in Davie, Florida as #5 West Chester will pay a visit to #6 Nova Southeastern in a non-conference matchup before both teams go back to school next week.
The meet will be Friday at 2 p.m. Nova Southeastern will travel up to Florida Southern on Saturday.
Neither women’s team have lost to a non-Division I opponent yet this season as this will be a big test to see where both teams are at immediately after winter break training. The big matchup of the meet will be in the distance free races with reigning Division II NCAA champion Georgia Wright of West Chester and Emma Sundstedt of Nova Southeastern.
Wright won the 500, 1000 and 1650 at last year’s NCAAs and Sundstedt was runner-up in the 500 and third in the 1000 and 1650.
Those two will be in the thick of things this year again for the national title in those three events as Wright is in her last year for the Rams and Sundstedt is in her junior season for the Sharks.
Georgia Wright after winning one of her three NCAA titles last season. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
The Sharks are also strong in the medley relays as their 400 took down Queens at the Fall Frenzy Invite in November with Cassie Wright, Caily Friel, Sasha Maslova and Jenna Johns putting up the fourth fastest time in Division II this season.
Maslova has proven valuable for Nova this season as she is ranked highly in the 200 fly and both IM’s, providing some valuable depth for the team. This is her first full season with the team after she came in January last year. She is currently ranked fourth in Division II in the 200 fly and she will match up against West Chester’s Ann Carozza, who is ranked ninth in Division II.
Wright is also doing well for Nova as she is ranked second in Division II in the 100 back.
The Nova men are led by Magnus Poulsen and Aleksei Averchenko, who are both ranked in the top 16 in Division II in the 100 fly and 200 back respectively.
The men’s meet is not nearly as stacked as the women’s meet since the Nova men are ranked 6th and West Chester ranked 17th.
This will be a can’t miss race in Division II swimming and that is why it is our pick for the Division II meet of the week.