It was a night that was full of surprises, fast swims, and
clutch performances on the first day of the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships. By night's end Drury held a thirteen point edge in the women's team race. On the men's side nineteen points was all that separated Drury from the next four teams - Incarnate Word Ouachita Baptist, Wayne State and Wingate.
Division II Blog with Justin Andrade
Day I Results
Ashley St. Andrews of Wayne State started off the night with a repeat of her 1000 Freestyle championship. When asked about her performance she replied “I did what I needed to do for the team. I wanted to go faster so I was a little disappointed, but I have had some physical problems so I should be happy with it.” This is St.Andrew’s last collegiate swim meet as an athlete, So looking to the future she wants to “do open water or try for an Olympic trial cut.”
Possibly the most surprising swim of the day was Chris Jacobsen, a freshman from Drury. Jacobsen won the Men’s 1000 Freestyle from lane 1 in a time of 9:08.90. Not only was this an impressive swim, but he won the event by over five seconds. Conrado Chede of Incarnate Word(9:14.45) and Kevin Coates (9:17.77) of Lewis rounded the top three.
The closest race of the day was in the Men’s 200 Individual Medley which was decided by just 0.06. Jun Han Kim of Drury won with a time of 1:48.18, barely touching out Joaquin Abascal Gallegos (1:48.24) for the win. “I knew it would be neck and neck, I just had to focus and finish to the wall, said Kim."
Kim was also the first to make mention of the lack of tech suits from this year's meet. “FINA banning the high-tech suits had an effect, I was 1:47.3 last year. I wanted to be under that, but I am happy with my time.”
One person who wasn't impacted by the suits was Truman State's Kate Aherne. Aherne successfully defended her title in the 200 IM. She posted a winning time of 2:00.56, 0.05 seconds faster than last year's time.
In the men's 50 free, Dan Perdew took some of the sting out of UCSD's morning disqualification in the 200 Medley Relay. Perdew bettered his runner-up finish of a year ago by edging Wingate's Mason Nelson by 0.03 and Ouachita's Radu Badalac by 0.06.
Aherne then came back attempting to claim her second title of the night. Aherne had to settle for another second-place finish as West Chester's Jackie Borkowski led from start to finish 22.87 seconds later. That was 0.23 ahead of Aherne and .37 ahead of Ashland freshman Julie Widmann of Ashland University (23.23).
The sprinters set the stage for a Wayne State comeback. The Warriors were 19 points down to Drury heading into the 200 Medley Relay. Sara Franklin got the Warriors out to an early lead but it was breaststroker Courtney Roberts who dropped the hammer with a 28.14 split - despite leaving nearly half a second on the blocks with her relay exchange. After that WSU was gone - besting Drury and Drury's previous record.
On the men’s side, Ouachita - despite two newcomers in the middle 100 of the relay - successfully defended its 200 Medley Title. The Ashland men were seeded fifth going in, but moved up three spots to finish second, largely on the strength of breaststroker Cheyne Fisher's 24.68 split.
