Division II Meet Preview: Queens, Wingate End Dual Meets Against Division I Teams

Photo Courtesy: Kyle Staggs

This week will see plenty of Division II schools around the country continue to wrap up their dual meet seasons as they head into their taper and championship phase. Read about some of the last exciting match-ups in this week’s Division II Meet Preview.

Meet of the Week: South Carolina Quad Meet (Queens, Wingate)

This week’s meet of the week features two of Division II’s best teams competing in their last meets before conference championships and NCAA’s. Queens University of Charlotte and Wingate University will square off against Division I schools University of South Carolina and East Carolina University before heading to Charlotte to compete against each other at the Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships in a couple weeks.

This will be a good test for everyone on the Queens and Wingate teams. With a two day meet format, it will give them the opportunity to get up and swim fast in a more spread out event schedule, and they’ll need everyone to step up in order to challenge for wins against these two teams.

For Queens, this will be an opportunity for their top athletes to get up and race in their best events. Junior Dion Dreesens has been a little off of his best this season after his record-breaking sophomore year, but he is still the top seed in the 200 free going into this meet. South Carolina also has a fast and deep distance free group, so he will have to work in the 500 free if he wants to pull of a win there as well. Same goes for juniors Nick Arakelian and Paul Pijulet, who are both having great seasons and can get individual wins in their best events but will definitely be challenged the whole way. On the women’s side, junior Lara Marshall (50 free) and senior Hannah Peiffer (100 fly) will be two swimmers who could pull out individual wins.

Wingate will be looking at senior Leif-Henning Kluever (200 free, 200 IM) and transfer Sebastian Holmberg (100 back, 100 fly, sprints) to lead the Bulldog men and boost their relays, while the women will look to the breaststroke duo of seniors Olga Kosheleva and Jessika Weiss. Those two women are as fast as any of the breaststrokers in this field and can use this meet as one last chance to get up and go before conference.

The meet will begin at 4:00pm on Friday afternoon at University of South Carolina and will continue through Saturday.

Nova Southeastern vs. University of Miami (women only)

Nova Southeastern University will close their dual meet season this weekend against Division I University of Miami. The Sharks are currently ranked #3 (women) across all Division II schools and this will be a great team test for them as they head into their conference meet where they hope to come away with a team championship.

This could very well be the closest meet that Nova has had all season. The 7-1 women’s team has won most of their dual meets comfortably, with the only exception coming against FIU back in October. Senior Emma Wahlstrom is fresh off another Sunshine State Conference weekly honor, and has been on fire since the winter Spartan Invitational where she put up the fastest times in the country in the 200 and 500 free and 200 back. The Sharks will likely have Wahlstrom in three individual events to maximize her points contribution. Another key individual swimmer will be junior Malin Westman, who is faster than any Miami swimmer in either breaststroke or IM event.

The problem that Nova will encounter in this dual meet is their depth relative to the the Hurricanes. Miami’s second and third swimmers are simply faster in nearly every event (save the IM’s). This means Nova is not only going to have to win a number of close races — they will need to have their depth swimmers step up to get those precious second, third, and fourth place points that could decide the meet. They will also need to likely win at least one of the relays, with their best shot coming in the opening medley. With this meet coming so close to their conference meet, performances could vary dramatically depending on how certain swimmers are adjusting to the beginning of their taper, making it even harder to predict if Nova will be able to challenge Miami for the win.

The meet will kick off in Miami on Saturday at noon.

Tampa vs. Saint Leo

Sunshine State Conference teams University of Tampa and St. Leo University will face off in both teams final dual meets this season before heading to their conference meet in a few weeks. Tampa is the current #12 (men) and #15 (women) teams in the nation, while St. Leo’s only ranking is #19 for their men’s team.

On paper Tampa is the stronger team. The Spartans were third at the conference meet last season for both men and women while St. Leo finished fifth for both men and women. But while Tampa should have an edge going into this meet, St. Leo actually came out with a resounding win against the Spartan women at this meet last year.

For St. Leo, junior All-American and 2016 Sunshine State Conference Champion in the 100 butterfly Natalia Garriock will be a big player in the sprint free and fly events. She will go head to head with Tampa senior Marisa Barton, who was second at NCAA’s in the 50 free last year but typically is only 24-low in dual meets. Tampa junior Brittany Bayes will also be strong in the distance events, but will be balanced out by St. Leo senior and All-American Nicole Weber the breaststroke events, where should could challenge for two individual wins as well. As with any close meet, relays will be key in order to come away with a win. Tampa’s stronger on the free relays while St. Leo is stronger in the medleys, but realistically either team could come away with wins in either event.

The men’s meet should also provide some good races, with St. Leo’s main hurdle being their small roster size. They do have some high level talent, including junior transfer Milosz Mikicin who has been 43.77 in the 100 free and 48.19 in the 100 back, both which put him well ahead of Tampa’s best swimmers right now. Sophomore Lucas Dengler-Harles and freshman Henrik Dahrendorff should also be able to challenge for individual wins in the mid-distance free and breaststroke events, respectively. However, Tampa has more depth that St. Leo in nearly every event and simply blows them away in the 200 of stroke events. Freshman Brett Saunders should be able to contribute in the 200 IM, while senior Christian Berg and freshman Sean Rodney should have no problem leading sweeps on the 200 back and 200 fly, respectively. With a roster of only 16 guys, St. Leo simply may not have the manpower right now to pull off a win.

The meet will begin Friday afternoon at 3:00pm at Tampa.

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Cliff Angeloff

7 years ago

This blog post really speaks to me. Thank you!