Drury Women, UIndy Men Continue GLVC Championship Streaks

Bailee Nunn won the 200 breast for Drury on the final night of GLVC Championships. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

It wasn’t easy, but the Drury women and Indianapolis men continued their winning streaks at the 2020 GLVC Swimming and Diving Championships in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

RESULTS

Drury won their fourth straight title with 1727 points ahead of UIndy (1653) and new conference member Lindenwood (1599).

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Women’s Team Standings:

Drury, 1727
Indianapolis, 1653
Lindenwood, 1599
Truman State, 914
McKendree, 826
Bellarmine, 620
Missouri, St. Louis, 495
Lewis, 455
William Jewell, 370
Maryville, 269

Drury Seniors Erica Dahlgren and Bailee Nunn delivered on Saturday night as they were the only two Panthers to win individual titles on the night with Dahlgren claiming the 1650 (16:42.96) and Nunn winning the 200 breast (2:12.02). Those two went out a perfect 4-for-4 in GLVC titles, and will look to push for a national title next. The time was a personal best for Dahlgren, who broke the GLVC record that was set by teammate Allison Weber, who finished second at 16:47.36.

Nunn, who is one of the all-time best swimmers in Division II, was three seconds off her all-time best in the 200 breast but it was good enough for the win. Nunn also took wins on the weekend in the 200 IM (2:00.63), 100 fly (53.14) and 100 breast (1:00.29) to grab 128 points for her Panthers team. Dahlgren also won the 1000 (9:54.37) and 200 free (1:49.52) and was third in the 500 (4:52.48) behind teammates Bec Cross (4:50.94) and Mackenzie Harris (4:52.20).

Indianapolis certainly made it interesting in the women’s meet, collecting wins on Saturday from freshman Leticia Vaselli in the 100 free (50.94) and senior Edda Skoric in the 200 back (1:56.55). The time for Skoric is the fastest time in the nation.

The Greyhounds finished off the meet with a win in the 400 free relay, anchored by Vaselli, to break the conference record at 3:21.62. Marizel Van Jaarsveld (50.29), Krystal Caylor (50.10), Johanna Buys (50.53) and Vaselli (50.70) denied Drury the chance to win all five relays on the weekend, as the Panthers set the nation-leading time in both medley relays and the 800 free.

Laura Pareja (25.46), Nunn (27.43), Kasia Rogowska (24.50) and Yasmin Preusse (23.06) started meet off with a 1:40.45 in the 200 medley relay, breaking the conference record in the process. The next night the team of Pareja (53.98), Nunn (59.17), Sopp (56.68) and Dahlgren (50.86) swam a 3:40.69 to lead the nation in the 400 medley. They missed their own conference record of 3:37.99 from 2017 but they lead the nation ahead of UIndy (3:41.18) and UC San Diego (3:42.15).

The 800 free relay team of Karianne Reinertsen (1:51.00), Dahlgren (1:51.03), Mackenzie Harris (1:50.78) and Cross (1:50.68) also put up the nation-leading time at 7:23.49 to break GLVC record as well.

Drury also picked up wins on the weekend from Rogonowska in the 50 free (23.10), Cross in the 400 IM (4:16.85) and Pareja in the 100 back (53.90).

UIndy’s Van Jaarsveld won the 200 butterfly on Friday night with a 1:59.62.

GLVC Men’s Meet

Indianapolis won its third straight men’s GLVC team title on Saturday night 1452 points ahead of McKendree (1414.5) and Drury (1299). Much like the Drury women, Indianapolis had some serious pressure from McKendree, who swept all five relays.

Men’s Team Standings:

Indianapolis, 1452
McKendree, 1414.5
Drury, 1299
Lindenwood, 1233
Missouri S&T, 1192.5
Missouri St. Louis, 636.5
Truman State, 468.5
Lewis, 452
Bellarmine, 429
William Jewell, 358
Maryville, 176

Indianapolis used its incredible depth to claim the team title as they actually won zero total swimming events on the weekend. McKendree’s top heavy teams won all five relays and nine total individual events. That will bode well for them at NCAAs in four weeks but for now they will settle for a historic second place for a program that has only been around since the fall of 2016.

Freshman Fabio Dalu was the big performer on the weekend for the Bearcats, winning the mile on Saturday night with a 15:02.17, narrowly missing the Division II record of 15:00.51. He also won the 400 IM (3:48.81) and 1000 (8:58.36), narrowly missing the Division II record in the latter. Just a freshman, Dalu should be tough to beat come NCAAs and will certainly keep McKendree around for the next couple of years.

Sophomore sprinter Gregg Lichinsky won the 50 (19.75), 100 free (42.94) and 100 fly (47.05) as he went 1-2 with junior teammate Xander Skinner in the 100 free (43.55). The Bearcats finished off the meet with a high note in the 400 free relay with Matija Pucarevic (44.52), Luca Simonetti (44.21), Lichinsky (42.49) and Skinner (42.89) putting up the nation’s top time with a 2:54.11. They also broke their own GLVC record.

In fact, McKendree put up the top time in the country in all five of their relays, winning the 200 free (1:18.94), 800 free (6:31.90), 200 medley (1:26.31) and 400 medley (3:12.06).

Indianapolis was able to get the conference victory on the strengths of their divers, winning both 1 and 3m boards.

Drury sophomore Nathan Bighetti also claimed a win in the 200 backstroke (1:43.53) while Lindenwood’s Maxime Eekhof won the 200 breast (1:59.13).

McKendree also picked up weekends on the win from Xander Skinner in the 200 free (1:36.35) and John Heaphy in the 100 breast (53.72)

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Mary Beth Lyles LeSeure

4 years ago

Huge Shout out to UIndy’s phenomenal divers, Cassie Kury , Mikaela Starr, Tessa Haldeman, Josh Zylstra, Payton Staman, Cade Hammond, Jason Lenzo, Ben Rader, Casey Crawford and Braydon Laucoax! Awesome diving!

Amy Kathleen

4 years ago

McKendree was on ? ?!!! So many wins, records, cuts, team sportsmanship award, freshman of the year, swimmer of the year, COACH of the year – it was an incredible meet for them. Hard to see them take 2nd like that.

Thomas A. Small

4 years ago

Congratulations to all