Division II Meet of the Week: Lindenwood vs. McKendree in Top Ten Clash

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Xander Skinner of McKendree has led the Bearcats to become a national power in Division II. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

NCAA Division II Meet of the Week: (#7/17) Lindenwood vs. (#21/8) McKendree in non-conference clash

This week’s NCAA Division II meet of the week focuses on the non-conference battle between Lindenwood and McKendree. Both teams are ranked in the top ten in the latest CSCAA poll, albeit on different sides. The Lindenwood women are ranked seventh while the McKendree men are ranked eighth.

The meet will be Friday at 1 p.m. in Lebanon, Illinois.

Division II Meet of the Week

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Lindenwood swimmer at last year’s NCAAs. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

On the women’s side, Lindenwood is led by distance swimmer Jana Hellenschmidt, who is ranked fourth in Division II in the 500, sixth in the 1000, seventh in the 400 IM and tenth in the 1650. The sophomore from Germany has been swimming tremendously in her second year with the Lions after she finished with All-American status in the 400 IM and 1000 last year.

The Lions also have a strong breaststroke duo of Beata Maruszczyk and Lexie Winnett as both are ranked in the top 16 in Division II in the 100.

McKendree’s strengths lie with backstroker Sydney Rey, sprinter Milica Sostarec and breaststroker Hallie Dixon. The matchup of the women’s meet should be in the 200 breast where tenth ranked Dixon will likely swim alongside 13th ranked Maruszczyk and 26th ranked Winnett.

Although the Bearcat women ranked 21st, they pose a serious threat to Lindenwood, especially at home. Two years ago, McKendree beat a highly ranked Lindenwood team in a duel while the McKendree program was still growing. Now in its fourth year as a swimming and diving program, McKendree will honor its first senior class that spent all four years with the program next week on January 25.

McKendree is ranked ahead of Lindenwood in three of the five relays, with the exception of the 800 free and 400 medley relays. If the Bearcats can start the meet off at home with some momentum in the relays, then they could be tough to beat.

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Jimmy Tierney, head coach of McKendree. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Jimmy Tierney has done a marvelous job at building McKendree literally from the ground up in the last four years. The team started in the fall of 2016 with no home pool and with no history. But Tierney has helped build them into a Division II powerhouse after finishing eighth at NCAAs last season.

This year the Bearcat men are stronger than ever led by freestylers Xander SkinnerMatija PucarevicLuca Simonetti and Fabio Dalu, who are all ranked in the top ten thus far in at least one freestyle event. Dalu is the top ranked swimmer in Division II in the 1650, while Skinner is third in the 50 and Pucarevic is sixth in the 100. Gregg Lichinsky is also second currently in the 100 fly, and four of the their five relays are ranked in the top five.

McKendree had a great showing at the Purdue Invitational in November, but the Bearcats have likely not showed their best efforts yet.

Although McKendree has a lot of strength at the top, it won’t be a walk in the park against this Lindenwood Lions team. They too have a solid sprinting core with the likes of Zach Linder and Patryk Winiatowski as well as backstroker Melker Olsson. Linder is ranked sixth in Division II in the 100 free, in a tie with McKendree’s Pucarevic, and Winiatowski is ninth in the same event, while Olsson is sixth in the 200 back.

Winiatowski also has range up to the 200 IM where the Lions also have a strong force with Jan Hanzal, who is sixth in the 400 IM and 17th in the 200 IM. Hanzal and Olsson may be key for a Lindenwood victory as they are strong in the areas where McKendree is not: in the IM and backstroke events. Lindenwood may have to double down on points by putting Winiatowski in the IM’s or may end up trying to stop the bleeding by putting him in the sprint free races. Either way, Winiatowski is a versatile player that will need to come up big if the Lions can score an upset over the Bearcats.

It should be an exciting swim meet and that is why it is our pick for the NCAA Division II meet of the week.

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