Division II NCAA Preview: 5 Races To Watch

Photo Courtesy: Kyle Staggs

The 2017 Division II Swimming and Diving NCAA Championships in Birmingham, Alabama are set to be one for the record books. Queens is the defending team champions for both the men and women’s meets, but expect this year’s team race to be much closer than last year. Drury and Nova Southeastern both have championship caliber teams, and there are plenty of newcomers at the meet who will be challenging for the top of the podium.

Take a look below to see five of the must watch races at the meet, and take a look at the full psych sheet for the men’s and women’s meets. And be sure to check back into Swimming World during the meet (March 8 -11) for recaps of prelims and finals.

Women’s 1000 Free

Top 3 Seeds

Georgia Wright (West Chester) 9:54.86
Leonie Van Noort (Grand Valley State) 9:55.35
Christina Halverson (Cal Baptist) 9:58.75

While this race may not be on everybody’s radar, the opening race of the meet should be because of West Chester freshman Georgia Wright. Wright is about 5 seconds off of the NCAA record in the event that is currently held by Southern Connecticut State’s Kristen Frost, the second oldest record for Division II women’s swimming (the oldest is the 1650, which Frost also owns). Wright popped a huge 9:54.86 at the PSAC Championships just last month, dropping 30 seconds from her time in December. Wright will be battling it out with Grand Valley State senior Leonie Van Noort, who is seeded just off her best time of 9:52.51 from last year’s meet, and the defending 2016 champion, junior Christina Halverson from Cal Baptist.

Women’s 100 Breast

Top 3 Seeds

Theresa Michalak (West Florida) 1:00.04
Bailee Nunn (Drury) 1:00.28
Zuzanna Chwadeczko (Drury) 1:00.86

This is shaping up to be the race to watch at the 2017 NCAA meet, with the top three seeds all having swum faster than last year’s winning time. West Florida junior Theresa Michalak returns as the 2016 champion in this event, having already swum nearly a second faster than her winning time from last year (1:01.05). However, her best from this season (1:00.28) still ranks second going into the meet, as Drury freshman Bailee Nunn will come into the meet as the top seed with a 1:00.04 from the Panther’s conference meet that stands as the current NCAA record. Nunn’s teammate, junior Zuzanna Chwadeczko, will also come into the meet with a seed under last year’s winning time with a 1:00.86 to her name. Expect it to take a NCAA record to win this event, and while Nunn is the fastest seed Michalak’s best time is 59.94 from 2015, making her the only woman in the field to have broken a minute.

Women’s 200 Free

Top 3 Seeds

Emma Wahlstrom (Nova) 1:46.43
Leonie Van Noort (Grand Valley State) 1:47.15
Oksana Marchuk (Bridgeport) 1:47.91

Another tight race will be the women’s 200 free, where the top 2 entering seeds have already been faster than last year’s winning time and will try to cap off their senior year with an individual championship title. Grand Valley State University senior Leonie Van Noort was the NCAA champion in this event in 2016, winning in 1:47.32. The senior has already been faster than that this year from a 1:47.15 from the Calvin Winter Invitational in December which also stands as her lifetime best. But Nova senior Emma Wahlstrom will come into this event as the favorite, seeded three quarters of a second ahead of Van Noort with a 1:46.43 from December. Wahlstrom has had arguably one of the best senior seasons across all of Division II, and she will be looking for an individual championship to put that exclamation point on her collegiate career. And while the race should come down to the two seniors, don’t sleep on junior Alexis Divelbiss from Wingate, who enters the meet as the fourth seed (1:48.10) and has had huge drops from her sophomore year times to go big lifetime bests. Divelbiss is really hitting her stride, so don’t be surprised to see the junior in the race with Wahlstrom and Van Noort in finals.

Men’s 50 free

Top 3 Seeds

Serghei Golban (Lindenwood) 19.71
Lajos Budai (Northern Michigan) 19.72
Rodrigo Caceres (Drury) 19.79

Lindenwood junior and 2016 NCAA Champion and NCAA record holder Serghei Golban will enter the meet at the top seed with a 19.71, a little over three tenths off his winning time from last year and about 6 tenths off his national record of 19.18. Last year Golban was entered with a 19.56 and was the top seed by 3 tenths, but he should have some company this year. The top seven seeds in this meet have all cleared 20.00 this season, and returning All-American Rodrigo Caceres from Drury has already been faster than his 6th place time from last year. The wildcard is going to be Lajos Budai, the freshman from Northern Michigan University who enters as the second seed of 19.72. Only .01 behind Golban in the D2 rankings this year, it will be tough to say how much more of a drop he has in him and how the freshman responds to the big meet.

Men’s 500 free

Top 3 Seeds

Konrad Stepien (Drury) 4:17.19
Joan Casanovas (Drury) 4:22.02
Franco Lupoli (Nova Southeastern) 4:22.81

All eyes will be on Drury freshman Konrad Stepien, who is coming into the meet as the top seed by nearly 5 seconds with his 4:17.19. That time is just a tenth off of Dion Dreesens’ NCAA record from last year. Dreesens himself will be in this race as well, but this year will come into the meet seeded 10th at 4:25.77, about 8 seconds and change off of his NCAA record. Last year, Dreesens was the top seed coming into the meet with a 4:21.37. Dreesens typically has pretty significant drops at championship meets, but we’ll have to see come race day if he will have enough to defend his championship title and NCAA record.

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