Division II Meet Preview: Queens Looks To Rebound Against Wingate

Coming off a tough loss to Division III powerhouse Emory last weekend, defending National Champions Queens University of Charlotte will be looking to rebound against fellow Division II school Wingate University. Take a look below to see meet previews for some of the biggest Division II match-ups this week!

Meet Of The Week: Queens vs. Wingate

Coming off a tough loss on both sides to the Emory Eagles last weekend, defending NCAA Champions Queens University will be looking to rebound with a good meet against Wingate. Based off last years result, this will be no easy. The Royal women prevailed only 132-119, while the Royal men won by a mere seven points, 129-122.

Making matters more complicated, Wingate hasn’t had a competition yet this year. Their opening meet against St. Andrews was postponed due to Hurricane Matthew, which may mean there are some surprises in store for the Royals. For the Bulldog women, they will look at a trio of seniors to lead the way, including backstroker Vika Arkhipova, breaststroker Jessika Weiss, and sprinter Caitlin Coughlin. The Lady Bulldogs won the 200 medley and 400 medley relays en route to national records at NCAA’s last year, and although they will be hurt by the loss of butterflier Armony Dumur expect them to try and start with a win in the opening relay and hang on to that momentum. On the men’s side, Wingate will be looking to senior Leif-Henning Kluever and transfer Sebastian Holmberg to grab some individual wins while they challenge on the relays.

For Queens, the men will be buoyed by junior Dion Dreesens, who could grab wins in the middle distance free or butterfly events with back up from while juniors Paul Pijulet and Ben Mayes in the sprint free events. On the women’s side, junior McKenzie Stevens has been dominant in the mid-distance and distance freestyle events, while sophomore Josephina Lorda has some nice versatility among mid-distance free, butterfly, and IM. The Royals will need to take advantage of their high level swimmers to get some event wins while also getting their depth swimmers to challenge for scoring positions.

In an interesting format, the Wingate men will host Queens on Friday starting at 5:00pm, while the women’s meet will take place at Queens University Saturday morning starting at 11:00am.

Nova vs. Lynn (Women Only)

In-state and conference rivals Nova Southeastern and Lynn University will meet in a women’s-only meet this Friday in Fort Lauderdale. Sunshine State Conference swimmer of the week Malin Westman will lead the Sharks, having already achieved NCAA provisional times in the 100 and 200 breaststroke while also contributing on the medley relays and IM events. Other provisional qualifiers for the Sharks already include Emma Wahlstrom and Courtney DeVeny. Wahlstrom also currently leads the Division in the 200 backstroke (2:03.11). While Nova should have the advantage overall as a team, Lynn will be returning sophomore All-American Catalina Berraud-Galea, who should be formidable in the distance events. The meet will begin at Nova Southeastern this Friday at 3:00pm.

Missouri State vs. Drury

The Drury men and women will take on Division I Missouri State this weekend in what should be a challenging contest for both teams. While the Drury men and women are some of the most competitive teams in Division II swimming (men were 6th and women 4th at NCAA’s last year), they were swept by Missouri State last year.

While Drury may have trouble matching up depth-wise with MSU, they should be able to pull off some individual event wins to stay in the hunt. Freshman Bailey Nunn has also been a huge get for the Panthers this season, and currently holds the top times in the country in the 200 IM (2:01.84), 100 butterfly (54.19), 100 free (51.01), and 100 breaststroke (1:02.37). Senior and defending NCAA champion Wen Xu currently leads Division II in the 50 free (23.44), while Yekaterina Rudenko has the top time across Division II in the 100 backstroke (55.26). The Drury men will not be quite as strong as the women, but also haven’t had a meet since the opening Show Me Showdown at the beginning of the month. Young Seo and Jun Kim are currently the stand-out on the men’s side, holding the country’s second fastest times in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly respectively.

The meet will take place at Missouri State on Saturday at 6:00pm.

Name*

Email*

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