Truman State University’s women and Drury University’s men lead the way through the first day of competition at the NCAA Division II Women’s and Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships held at the Indiana University Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI on Wednesday. Both squads are attempting to defend their titles from a year ago and TSU is vying for its sixth straight NCAA crown.

West Chester’s Tammy Leane opened the finals with her win in the women’s 1000-yard freestyle, a time (10:00.18) that bested her competition by nearly eight full seconds. The Drury men followed with a one-two finish as Ryan Norrie and Michael Lewandowski gave the Panthers the early lead.

The Drury men then dominated the 200 individual medley, taking four of the top five spots to open a commanding lead. Jakub Jiracek edged teammate Tomas Kuzvard by :00.07. On the women’s side, junior Chelsea Hastings of Tampa successfully defended her title from last season with a time of 2:03.52.

Tampa’s Cole Tedhams also repeated when he won the men’s 50-meter event, running away with it in 19.77, the only competitor to break the :20 mark. The women’s competition went to Drury’s Mariana DeOlivera, posting a 23.34 time.

In Wednesday’s diving competition , Clarion’s Jamie Wolf won the women’s three-meter event, with a 494.85 score. The junior took the event for the third straight season and has five diving wins to her credit in her NCAA career. She will look to make it a perfect 6-for-6 when she defends her consecutive 1-meter board title on Friday.

The action concluded with the 200 medley relays, where Truman State’s quartet of Emily Greenwood, Bridgit Brunsman, Laura Harp and Whitney Jensen touched in 1:44.36. On the men’s side, the University of North Dakota foursome of Rodrigo Ferriera, Jeff Schneider, Jared Peters and Eric Knight won in a time of 1:31.09.

The meet continues tomorrow with preliminaries beginning at 10:30 a.m. and the final session at 6:00 p.m. Events contested on Thursday include the 200 yard freestyle relay, 400 yard individual medley, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle and 400 medley relay for both men’s and women’s. The men’s divers will compete from the 1-meter board on Thursday as well.