Nova Southeastern Sets Division II Record in Women’s 400 Free Relay
Nova Southeastern set an NCAA Division II record in the women’s 400 freestyle relay on Friday in a dual meet.
The Sharks’ quartet of Kristina Orban, Zsofia Kurdi, Maxine Egner and Maya Esparza became the first Division II relay to break 3:18 in the 400 free with a time of 3:17.92.
The record they took down is a cool one, set twice by Queens University in the exact same time a year apart. At NCAAs in 2018, the quartet of McKenzie Stevens, Kyrie Dobson, Wanda Dollmayer and Shelly Prayson went 3:18.04. At NCAAs in 2019, Queens matched that time exactly with the squad of Polina Lapshina, Josephina Lorda, Dollmayer and Prayson.
That’s gone now, thanks to Nova Southeastern. A look at splits:
- Nova Southeastern, 2026: Orban 49.64 – Kurdi 49.41 – Egner 49.74 – Esparza 49.13
- Queens, 2018: Stevens 50.14 – Dobson 49.57 – Dollmayer 48.94 – Prayson 49.39 – 3:18.04
- Queens, 2019: Lapshina 48.77 – Lorda 49.78 – Dollmayer 49.96 – Prayson 49.53 – 3:18.04
Friday’s record swim came in a home meet in Fort Lauderdale in which the Sharks beat Barry and Florida Southern. The University of Miami also swam at the meet, with NSU’s A team beating the Hurricanes’ squad by three tenths of a season.
The record chase has accelerated quickly for Nova Southeastern. It set a school and Sunshine State Conference record at the 2025 conference meet at 3:19.77, then sped up at NCAAs to 3:19.09 with Kurdi, Emilia Roningdal, Maria Goncalvez and Esparanza. It was the capper on the Sharks’ third consecutive NCAA Division II team title.
The times then:
1 Nova S'eastern 3:19.65 3:19.09 40
1) Kurdi, Zsofia 5Y 2) r:0.44 Ronningdal, Emilia JR
3) r:0.42 Goncalves, Maria SR 4) r:0.25 Esparza, Maya JR
r:+0.74 24.00 50.00 (50.00)
1:13.70 (23.70) 1:39.84 (49.84)
2:03.33 (23.49) 2:29.91 (50.07)
2:53.08 (23.17) 3:19.09 (49.18)
Esparza is a senior. Kurdi is a grad students whose career began at Florida State. Egner and Orban are sophomores.
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