NCAA Division II Championships: Truman State Women Emerge From Battle With Drury; Drury Men Claim Title on Final Day

COLUMBIA, Missouri, March 15. THE final night of competition at the NCAA Division II Championships featured victories by the Truman State women and the Drury men.

Team Scores
After Drury stopped them from pushing their winning streak to seven years a year ago, the Truman State women returned to the mountaintop with 461.5 points after a brawl for it all took place on the final day. Drury had tied the meet heading into the final day, but settled for second with 449 points. North Dakota finished third with 324 points, while San Diego (302) and Nebraska-Omaha (242) completed the top five.

The Drury men cruised to their fourth consecutive title as they won by nearly 200 points. The final winning total came to 523.5 points, while hosts Missouri S&T finished second with 336 points. West Chester took third with 316.5 points, while Ouachita Baptist (267.5) and North Dakota (261.5) comprised the rest of the top five.

Women's Meet
Kristen Frost of Southern Connecticut State snagged her third DII record of the meet when she wiped out the final standard set by Laurence Bensimon of Florida Atlantic from 1987. Frost crushed the record, and her competition, with a winning time of 16:17.66 in the 1650 free. Bensimon's previous record of 16:28.24 had stood since March 14, 1987 and was the oldest on the books.

North Dakota's Carissa Gormall followed with a victory in the 100 free with a time of 50.01, while UIndy's Isabela Tafur (50.30) and Drury's Li Tao (50.94) rounded out the top three in the event.

Ouachita Baptist's Sarah Watson emerged from the 200 back with the title as she touched in 1:59.39, while San Diego's Kendall Bohn held off Edinboro's Brooke Heath, 2:17.71 to 2:17.94, in the 200 breast.

Nebraska-Omaha's foursome of Jessica Hessel, Kristy Gmeiner, Megan Guthmiller and Cait Hopkins won the 400 free relay with a time of 3:25.52, but second-place proved to be where the most important swim of the day occurred. Truman State's team of Kate Aherne, Emily Pufall, Kendra Brunkow and Molly Polette secured the team victory with a time of 3:25.97, while Drury's Janelle Slattery, Megan Chambers, Kelsey Ward and Eunate Garro placed third in 3:27.73.

Men's Meet
Drury's Mitch Snyder grabbed the 1650 free title with a time of 15:19.58, ahead of Tampa's Chris O'Linger, who finished second in 15:25.43.

On the other end of the spectrum, San Diego's Dan Perdew snared the 100 free crown with a time of 44.23, ahead of Ouachita's Radu Badalac and UIndy's Alex Arestis, who tied for second with matching 44.47s.

The 200 back came down to the touch as Ouachita's Nelson Silva slapped the wall in 1:47.31, just ahead of Drury's Alexander Protsenko, who placed second in 1:47.40. Minnesota State's Marty Wahle rounded out the top three in 1:47.62.

Another race came down to the touch as Seattle's Jakub Jiracek stopped the clock in 1:58.55 in the 200 breast with Missouri S&T's Zlatan Hamzic finished second in 1:58.94.

During the diving break, Nate Jimerson amassed 546.15 points to dominate the three-meter event, before Drury's foursome of Protsenko, Kyle Kearbey, Yiwen Huang and Tomas Kuzvard surpassed the 400 free relay DII record with a time of 2:58.84. That performance nipped the 2:58.90 set by CSUB way back in 1992, which was the longest standing record in the books in the division.

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