NCAA Division II Day Three Team Recaps
Bentley: Kaduboski Finishes 23rd in 200 Butterfly at NCAA Div. II Championships
Bentley University sophomore Anne Kaduboski (Dedham, Mass./Dedham HS) finished 23rd of 32 in the 200 yard butterfly Friday at the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships at the University of Houston’s Campus Recreation and Wellness Center.
Her time was 2:07.71 and she missed advancing to the finals by 1.13 seconds. Kaduboski owned the eighth best clocking entering the meet, a 2:04.12 that she posted during the Northeast-10 Championships last December.
Earlier in her first-ever trip to the nationals, Kaduboski finished 46th of 51 in the 100 butterfly and 45th of 55 in the 200 freestyle.
Bentley University sophomore Jon Andrews (Southbury, Conn./Pomperaug Reg. HS) placed 13th of 16 in the one-meter diving Friday during the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center, located on the campus of the University of Houston.
Andrews posted an 11-dive score of 343.30. It took a score of 374.40 to reach the final round.
LIMESTONE COMPETES IN FINAL DAY AT NATIONALS
Limestone swimming continued to swim well at the 2009 NCAA Division II National Swimming & Diving Championships on Saturday. Craig Jordens (Cape Town, South Africa) and Chad McKenzie (Durban South Africa) each had top five finishes for the men and Isabell Nystrom (Stockholm, Sweden) showed well in the 1650 freestyle.
Competing in the 100 freestyle, Jordens took third place with a time of 43.54. The sophomore narrowly missed a second place finish, coming up 0:00.02 off the mark. Goran Majlat (Split, Croatia) competed in the consolation heat in the event and earned a ninth place time of 44.31.
McKenzie, swimming in the 200 breaststroke finals, earned fifth place. The sophomore swam the event in 2:01.80, a full 0:01.30 of his preliminary time.
In the 1650 freestyle, nystrom was able to finish in 16th place for the women. Her time in the distance event was 17:31.90.
Wayne State: Men's Swimming & Diving Finishes Second At NCAA Championships
Recording its best national finish in school history, the Wayne State University men's swimming and diving team wrapped up the NCAA Division II National Championship meet in second place following Saturday's final events at the University of Houston.
Wayne State came into the fourth day with a 36.5-point lead over Drury University. However, the Panthers outscored the Warriors, 175-100, on Saturday to win their fifth straight national title by a score of 543-504.5.
Nevertheless, WSU finished well ahead of the rest of the field, as third-place Missouri S&T was the next closest team with 320.5 points. The Warriors also ended the four-day event with victories in four events, including Sean Smith's (Auburn, Mich./Bay City Western) championship in the 200 backstroke on Saturday.
The Warrior men have placed in the top eight every year since 2005, with their best prior performance coming two seasons ago when WSU finished third at nationals.
Fernando Costa (Porto, Portugal) finished third in the 1650 freestyle, breaking his own school record by nearly eight seconds (15:16.56). James Ekleberry (Rochester Hills, Mich./Avondale), who swam the event Saturday morning, ended up in 18th place (15:54.48).
Three Warriors swam in the consolation final of the 100 freestyle, led by Sebastian Rzepa (Clinton Twp., Mich./Chippewa Valley) who finished 12th and shaved another .10 seconds off his record time from the preliminary heat (44.68) Jesper Akesson (Malmo, Sweden) took 14th (44.84) and Cauli Bedran (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) came in 16th (45.64).
Smith broke the NCAA meet record in the 200 backstroke set by Henderson State's Emre Celik in 2005 by .56 seconds. Jimmy Lee (Windsor, Ont./Riverside) finished seventh, matching his preliminary time of 1:48.11.
In the 200 breaststroke, Matthew Laschuk (Tecumseh, Ont./Academie Ste. Cecile) took sixth (2:02.56).
In the final event of the meet, the 400 free relay, Wayne State's quartet of Justin Shields (Chesterfield, Mich./Anchor Bay), Rzepa, Akesson, and Bedran finished fourth and broke the school record it set in the prelims (2:57.34).
In total, 11 swimmers and divers combined to earn 35 All-America accolades (championship finalists), while two Warriors collected another four Honorable Mention awards (consolation finalists).
Wayne State: Women's Swimming & Diving Places Second At NCAAs
The Wayne State University women's swimming and diving team achieved its best national finish in program history, as the Warriors held off UC San Diego to maintain their second-place position after the final day of competition at the NCAA Division II Championships, hosted by the University of Houston.
Drury University won its second women's national championship in the last three years, totaling 618.5 points. Wayne State amassed 453.5 points, while UC San Diego finished with 425 points.
With four of its five qualifiers for the 1650 freestyle swimming in the championship final, Wayne State accumulated 60 points in the event. Ashley St. Andrew (Grand Rapids, Mich./Jenison), the Division II champion in the 1000 free and 500 free, finished second (16:44.84) and broke own school record by almost nine seconds.
Melissa Duff (Howell, Mich./Brighton) placed fourth (16:49.65), Natalia Buso (Sao Paulo, Brazil) took seventh (17:07.46) and Catherine Leix (Flint, Mich./Southwestern) finished eighth (17:07.96). Swimming in the consolation final, Stephanie Ekleberry (Rochester Hills, Mich./Avondale) came in 12th (17:16.88).
Courtney Roberts (Milan, Mich.) finished second in the 200 breaststroke consolation final (10th overall) with a time of 2:20.52.
In the three-meter diving competition, Cassie Chetosky (Shelby Twp., Mich./Utica) scored 418.70 to tie for third with Drury's Lauren Bader.
The 400 free relay of Elaina Hogle (Kentwood, Mich./East Kentwood), Abbey Green (Dearborn, Mich.), Haintso Rakouth (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage), and St. Andrew finished eighth (3:28.38). Hogle also broke her 100 free school record, which she originally eclipsed in prelims, with a leadoff time of 51.58.
The Warrior women have improved upon their national performances significantly since 2006, when WSU finished 24th at the NCAA meet. Wayne State placed 10th in 2007 and sixth last year.
In total, 12 swimmers and divers combined to earn 34 All-America accolades (championship finalists), while eight Warriors collected 11 Honorable Mention awards (consolation finalists).
Wingate: MORE ALL-AMERICAN HONORS FOR WINGATE AT NCAA NAT’L MEET; BULLDOG MEN ARE NINTH ENTERING FINAL DAY OF COMPETITION
For the second night in a row, the Wingate University men’s swimming team earned a second-place finish in a relay race at the 2009 NCAA Division II national championship meet. The University of Houston is providing the swimming venue as part of the Division II National Championships Festival.
In addition, the Wingate women picked up an honorable mention All-American certificate in the 100 Backstroke on day three of the four-day championships. In the team standings, the Bulldog men are ninth with 166 points. Only eight points separates Wingate from seventh place the University of Tampa (174 points). Wayne State (Mich.) University is first with 404.5 points. Drury (Mo.) University is second with 368 points.
On the women’s charts, Wingate occupies 30th place with three points. Drury tops the women’s charts with 417 points. In a reversal of the men’s standings, Wayne State (Mich.) is second with 343 points. Thirty-one women’s teams have scored points at the national meet, while 28 men’s teams have at least one marker. The 2009 national championship meet concludes Saturday.
The Wingate men finished second in the 800 Freestyle Relay with a school-record time of 6:31.70. The Bulldog foursome included juniors Mason Norman (Duluth, Ga.), Kyle Corcoran (Kent, Wash.), Daniel De Francisco (Cali, Colombia) and Gus Chagas (Recife, Brazil). The 6:31.70 clocking shattered the previous NCAA Division II meet record by almost three seconds. Led by 200 Freestyle national champion Sergiy Bilov, Drury won the 800 Freestyle Relay race with a time of 6:30.77.
Norman added another individual All-American distinction to his treasure trove Friday, as the Georgia native finished seventh in the 100 Breaststroke with a school-record time of 55.38. The Blue Grass Mountain Conference was well represented on the men’s 100 Breaststroke championship finals’ podium, as five of the top eight spots went to BGMC swimmers.
The University of Tampa’s Aleksander Hetland won the 100 Breaststroke with a meet record time of 52.43. Limestone College occupied the fifth and sixth positions, while Catawba College junior Patrik Drakes finished eighth with a time of 55.51.
Wingate sophomore Nicole Moody (Grovetown, Ga.) added an honorable mention All-American performance to her trophy case Friday, as she finished 16th in the 100 Backstroke with a school-record time of 58.32. Jing Hua of Drury won the 100 Backstroke with a meet record time of 53.88.
The Bulldog women placed 19th in the 800 Freestyle Relay with a school-record time of 7:48.92. Wingate’s 800 Freestyle relay team includes Moody, freshman Sarah Lawless (Holland, Mich.), junior Lara Golesorkhi (Stuttgart, Germany) and sophomore Cheryl Vaccaro (Charlotte, N.C.).
Competition from the 2009 Division II National Championships Festival March 11-14 in Houston will be streamed live on-line at NCAA.com. Coverage will include four days of swimming and diving competition and two days of both wrestling and track and field. Links to each day’s video coverage can be found here.
This is the first winter-sports version of the popular festival format that crowns multiple champions at one location. The festival launched in Orlando in spring 2005, followed by a fall-sports version in 2006 and another spring festival in 2008.
The Wingate University men’s and women’s swimming teams qualified 13 student-athletes for the 2009 NCAA Division II national championships. The swimming venue for the winter sports festival is provided by the University of Houston.
