Division II Mid-Season Analysis: 5 Men To Watch

As 2016 comes to a close college swimmers across the country are busy preparing for their winter training, with their focus honing in on conference and NCAA championship meets. With the current break from competition, this is the perfect time to recap some of the standout swimmers from the first half of the year and see who fans should have an eye on as we move into the spring. Take a look below to see 5 male swimmers to watch for in Division II swimming, and click here to see our women’s edition from earlier this week!

Konrad Stepien (Drury – Freshman)

Freshman Konrad Stepien has made a mark at Drury already in a big way, putting up some of the fastest times in the country in the middle distance and distance freestyle events this year. The freshman currently sits first in the country in the 200 freestyle (1:36.42) and 500 freestyle (4:17.19), while also sitting third in the 1,000 (9:14.00) and sixth in the 1,650 (15:31.17). His time in the 500 makes him more than 5 seconds faster than the next closest competitor and puts him a good 7 seconds ahead of Queens junior Dion Dreesens, who is the NCAA record holder in the 500 at 4:17.09. He is only a tenth off of that record as of right now, and with winter training and a full taper in the spring there is little doubt he should be making a charge for that record.

Dion Dreesens (Queens – Junior)

Photo Courtesy: Queens Athletics

Speaking of Dreesens, it may seem like the junior from Queens will have trouble defending his titles at the end of the year, but if you look closely you’ll see he is still a swimmer to watch this spring. While the NCAA record holder doesn’t hold any #1 rankings in the country, he does still sit second in the country in the 200 free (1:36.58), just a tenth back from Stepien of Drury. And while he has only been 4:25.77 in the 500, more than 8 seconds off his NCAA record, it is worth noting that he traveled to Canada in December for the Short Course World Championships, which may have affected his fall rest plan. Even so, his 200 time is only a few tenths off of his fall best from last season, and Dreesens has a history of good drops off of a spring taper. With some stiff competition in the middle distance freestyle events from the newcomer Stepien, expect each of these swimmers to push someone to an NCAA record in the 500 and potentially the 200 at NCAA’s.

Nick Arakelian (Queens – Junior)

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

A huge reason why Queens has maintained their number one ranking this season is junior Nick Arakelian, who has been a mainstay in the 400 IM throughout his college career. The IM and distance specialist walked away with four individual titles at NCAA’s his freshman year (500, 1000, 1650), including an NCAA record in the 400 IM (3:43.84), but was only able to defend the 400 IM his sophomore year, just missing his best time. But given how his fall has been progressing, falling short of those multiple individual titles may have reignited a fire in Arakelian that could pay off this year. While his 400 IM from their mid-season meet was in line with what he went last year (3:48.22), his freestyle and stroke events showed significant improvement. The junior went 7 seconds faster in his 500 free and 11 seconds faster in his mile compared to last year while also going a lifetime best of 1:58.04 in the 200 breaststroke. All of those swims point to Arakelian having an extremely strong back-half in his 400 IM, a must have if he hopes to get past his own NCAA record this year.

Paul Pijulet (Queens – Junior)

One of the final keys to Queens current dominance in Division II swimming is Paul Pijulet, a transfer student from France who adds considerable talent to what is already an incredibly talented class. Pijulet has been dominant in the backstroke events this season, swimming three A cuts in the 100 butterfly (46.93), 100 backstroke (47.65), and 200 backstroke (1:44.89). Both of those backstroke times put him first in the country in those events, while he sits second in the 100 fly. While helping Queens by providing the potential for multiple individual event wins, Pijulet is also a key relay player that will help give Queens an extremely well-rounded and competitive NCAA line-up.

Anton Lobanov (Nova Southeastern – Junior)

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

This junior from Nova Southeastern looks to be continuing his dominance of the breaststroke events in Division II swimming. Similar to what Andrew Wilson has done at Emory in Division III, Lobanov has taken Division II breaststroke to an entirely new level where his times would challenge for wins at Division I NCAA’s, making him one of the fastest breaststrokers in history. Lobanov had a great mid-season meet at the 2016 Spartan Invitational, where he hit two A cuts in the 100 (52.40) and 200 (1:55.88) breaststrokes while also grabbing the top time in the country in the 100 breast. That is the fastest Lobanov has been in either of those events in the fall semester, showing he is ready to make a run at his NCAA records from his freshman year in the spring, which stand at 51.63 and 1:51.71.

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Queens Fan

7 years ago

Queens Men could put together TWO amazing medley relays. Nationals should be amazing.