Division II Meet Preview: Nova And Florida Southern Meet Again

Photo Courtesy: Kyle Staggs

This week sees several match-ups across the country that could be some of the closest meets of the 2016-2017 season thus far. Take a look below to read about them in this week’s Division II Meet Preview.

Meet of the Week: Nova Southeastern vs. Florida Southern

Conference rivals Florida Southern and Nova Southeastern will make up their previously cancelled dual meet from the fall this Saturday. Their meet was originally scheduled in early October, but had been postponed due to Hurricane Matthew. Both teams have come a long way since then and both will be looking to come away with a win — Florida Southern is the defending Sunshine State Conference Champions for both men and women, while Nova finished second on both sides last year.

Nova Southeastern is coming off of a strong mid-season meet at the 2016 Spartan Invitational, where they finished ahead of Florida Southern. Nova’s women actually came away with the overall team title from that meet, while their men finished third. Florida Southern was fourth on both sides. The men’s meet will likely be the closer of the two this weekend. Nova has an advantage at the top end of their roster, particularly in the breaststroke events with National Record Holder Anton Lobanov leading the charge in the breaststroke events. Where Florida Southern has an advantage is in their depth. While they have Marco Palacios in the backstrokes, they don’t top Nova in many other events. They can win the meet, but they will need to have their second and third swimmers placing high in individual events to offset whatever wins Nova gets.

On the women’s side, Nova should be more favored to win given their depth and the top performances of some of their freestylers, including senior Emma Wahlstrom who has posted some of the top times in the country in the 100, 200, and 500 free. The meet will begin at 2:00pm at Nova Southeastern on Saturday.

Wingate vs. Gardner-Webb

Wingate will take on Division I opponent Gardner-Webb University this weekend in what should be a close meet for both teams. The two teams previously met at the Wingate Fall Frenzy Invitational, where Gardner-Webb was second and Wingate fourth for both men and women. However, Wingate is the current #7 (women) and #11 (men) ranked team in Division II, and should have a slight leg over their D1 opponent in a dual meet format.

On the men’s side, Wingate will gain a lot from two of their strongest swimmers. Senior Leif-Henning Kluever and transfer Sebastian Holmberg will be big point scorers for the men, with Kluever almost guaranteed wins in the 200 free and 200 IM and Holmberg leading the 100 fly and 100 back in addition to leading the Bulldogs sprint contingent. There will be a lot of close races in this meet, but if Wingate can capitalize on all of the individual wins they can get in this match-up they should be able to come away with the win.

The women’s should be even closer. Wingate’s Maria Madsen matches up with Gardner-Webb’s Lili Toth dead even in the sprint events, and many events will see close races for second, third, and fourth. If Wingate does have a distinct advantage, it is in the breaststroke events with the senior duo of Olga Kosheleva and Jessika Weiss who should take both the 100 and 200 easily. Similar to their men’s team, if the women can ride the momentum from a few of their big individual wins, they could set themselves up to win the meet.

Wayne State vs. Findlay

Conference rivals Wayne State University and University of Findlay will meet this weekend in what should be another extremely close meet. While Wayne State is the only team of the two to be ranked within the top 25 so far this season and the defending GLIAC Conference Champions, Findlay has been having a resurgent year that could move them up in the conference.

A huge part of that for the Findlay women’s team has been a freshman class that includes sprinter Lauren Blanchard and breaststroke Julia Snell in addition to veterans such as senior All-American backstroker Meri Cizmar and sophomore sprinter and NCAA qualifier Amanda Stiegal. Wayne State may not have the depth swimmers to hold off this Findlay team, but depending on how each event goes this could be a battle to the end.

The men’s meet will still be close but Wayne State’s men may have a slightly better chance than their women to pull off a win. That is in part to breaststroker Sasha Palazzo, who will be untouchable in the 100 and 200 breast and will help strengthen the opening medley relay. Same goes for backstroker Dmytro Drobnych, and in order to counteract that Findlay will need to use their big advantage in the sprint and middle distance freestyle events and utilize their superior depth to keep the meet close. The dual will begin on Friday at 5:00 at Wayne State.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x