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The craziness of February didn’t take long to take full effect in the Division II landscape. The Indianapolis men won their first conference team title in school history over Division II powerhouse Drury, who has been sitting at #2 in the CSCAA poll all season. UIndy was #6 in the last poll and felt like they needed to prove themselves to everybody to get some respect.
Rodrigo Codo Berti and Guilherme Zavaneli came up huge for the Greyhounds in their first conference win as Berti won the men’s swimmer of the meet award. Berti won the 200 IM (1:47.81), the 100 back (48.02) and the 200 back (1:45.31) and was fourth in the 100 fly (48.33). Zavaneli was champion in the 100 free (44.00) and was second in the 200 free (1:35.25). Zavaneli and Berti teamed up to win two relays on the weekend as well with the 400 medley (3:14.25) and 400 free (2:57.55) taking home titles.
Indianapolis used its depth to beat powerhouse Drury, who won the 200 medley relay and eight total individual events. Joan Casanovas was the star of the weekend for Drury as he won the 1000 (9:04.62), the 200 free (1:35.05), the 500 (4:21.56) and was fourth in the 1650 (15:31.58). His impressive range will make him dangerous at the NCAA Championships in a month.
In the most hyped race of the meet, Casanovas defeated Zavaneli in the 200 free as Casanovas used his back half to run down Zavaneli. The same thing happened a day later in the 800 free relay when Casanovas dove in for his anchor leg in sixth place and split a 1:34.64 to run down Zavaneli (1:36.35) to secure second for Drury in the relay.
Zavaneli had his own impressive anchor leg in the 400 free relay where he split a 42.99 to give Indianapolis the win in the relay to cap off the meet. He also split a 43.83 in the 400 medley relay anchor.
Drury got wins from Andrea Bazzoli in both breaststrokes (53.65, 1:57.96), Young Tae Seo in the 200 fly (1:49.20) and Pavel Semochkin in the 100 fly (47.35), as well as all the wins from Casanovas.
Drury was also without sprinter Aitor Martinez who has not swum a meet all semester, as he is ineligible to compete. Drury was also without Bailee Nunn on the women’s side who sat out the meet with an injury. The coaches assured she will be ready to swim by NCAA’s though as she only did the 50 free. She was disqualified in the final and did not swim an event the rest of the meet.
The Drury women ran away with the team title, winning every pool event except for four individuals. McKendree’s Karlie Rimat won the 400 IM (4:25.23), Indianapolis’ Darian Murray won the 200 fly (2:02.26), Lewis’ Stephanie Palczynski won the 200 back (2:00.06) and Truman State’s Natalie Galluzzo won the 200 breast (2:14.79).
Despite not having Nunn, Zuza Chwadeczko stepped up for the Panthers as she won the 100 breast (1:00.88) and the 200 IM (2:00.67), two events that Nunn will be favored to win at NCAA’s. She also won the 100 free at 49.80.
Drury also got wins from Erica Dahlgren in the 1000 (9:55.69), 200 free (1:49.31), 500 (4:52.51) and the 1650 (16:48.62) as she moves into NCAA’s as a major favorite in all those races. Her range could be compared to teammate Casanovas on the men’s side.
They also got wins from Katya Rudenko in the 100 back (53.44) and Vera Johansson in the 100 fly (53.95) and the 50 (23.14), as well as all five relays. Even without Nunn, the team still dominated the meet and will be a force to be reckoned with since they have the stars at the top to be able to compete for a national team title.
Another big story on the weekend was the rise of McKendree swimming. They won a total of four events with Matija Pucarevic winning the 50 (20.25) and Rimat winning the women’s 400 IM. They also won both the men’s 200 and 800 free relays with Pucarevic, Luca Simonetti, Throstur Bjanarson and Xander Skinner. The team has only been around for two short years and has already made waves in a competitive conference thanks to veteran coach Jimmy Tierney.
Missouri S&T also had a win on the weekend from Tim Samuelson in the 1650 as he currently leads Division II with his 15:20.15 from Saturday night. Truman State’s Will Shanel also won the 400 IM (3:53.16).
Elsewhere in Division II, Emmanuel swept the men’s and women’s Sun Coast Conference with big swims out of Alex Sobers and Thiago Rosa. Sobers swept the 100 (44.95), 200 (1:36.93) and the 500 (4:29.99) free and Rosa won the 100 (48.87) and 200 back (1:47.55).
Southern Connecticut swept the NE-10 Conference with Katherine Crochet leading the way with wins in the 50 (23.63), 100 (51.59) and 200 free (1:52.38).
Simon Fraser won the West Coast Collegiate championships that was swum in Short Course Meters with other Canadian colleges. Simon Fraser will swim again next month at the NCAA Championships.
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