Division 2 Weekly Preview: Queens and Wingate Square Off in Unique Home and Home Series

Photo Courtesy: Annie Grevers

This is the last full weekend of October as a few of the pre-season Division 2 teams will be facing tough opponents before we hit Halloween. The (#1) Queens men will host conference foe (#8) Wingate while the (#2) Queens women will travel to (#5) Wingate to face them. Queens won both national titles last year while the Wingate women finished third and the men finished sixth, so this will be a good early season test for both teams before they see each other again at the Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships February 14-18 in Charlotte.

Queens has had good early season performances from Paul Pijulet and McKenzie Stevens among many others, while Wingate has seen success from Alexis Divelbiss and Sebastian Holmberg. Queens is still looking strong to repeat and they will get a serious test from in-state rival Wingate.

Speaking of in-state rivals, (#2/1) Drury will be facing crosstown rival in Division I Missouri State in the “duel in the pool.” The two teams usually face off twice each year, since they are so close to each other. Of note, last season the Drury women beat the Bears in their home pool while the men lost by four points. In January 2016, Missouri State lost at Drury by a combined four points between the two teams.

The two teams are usually closely matched when Drury hosts. The Panthers will be swimming at Missouri State on Friday night, but the two teams never fail to put on a show in the battle of Springfield, Missouri. Drury will be swimming in its second meet of the year after winning the Division II Fall Showcase. They have gotten off to a good start thanks to Joan Casanovas and Bailee Nunn. Nunn leads the Division II rankings in five events while Casanovas leads in two.

One of the other big meets on the weekend is (#6/4) Delta State traveling to Atlanta to face Georgia Tech. Delta State has already lost to Division I Alabama, but they match up better with the Yellow Jackets. If a possible upset is to happen, they will need everything out of their studs Lucia Martelli and Giulio Brugnoni.

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Jeff Dugdale

6 years ago

Andy, Thank you for the mention of our meet. Our conference name is Bluegrass Mountain Conference (BMC) We appreciate your coverage.

Regards,

Jeff

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Andy Ross

6 years ago

Reply to Jeff Dugdale

Thanks for pointing that out!