California - San Diego
The women's 800-yard freestyle relay of Julia Toronczak, Maddy Huttner, Dari Watkins and Natalie Tang ruled the day for UC San Diego with a scintillating third-place performance Friday at the 2015 NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships. The four-day meet is being hosted inside the IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI by the University of Indianapolis and the Indiana Sports Corporation.
With only five events remaining, the Triton women have totaled 159 points to hold firm in fifth place, just ahead of Wayne State (147), while the men are 20th with 41.
Toronczak (Santee/West Hills HS), Huttner, Watkins and Tang put together a remarkable race in 7:22.44 and fell a mere .44 seconds short of the school standard of 7:22.00, set at the 2014 NCAA Championships with Tang involved that night, too, as the leadoff leg. The third-place finish meant All-America distinction for all four Tritons, and 32 big points to push UCSD from sixth, above Wayne State and back into fifth.
The 800 free relay marked UCSD's first top-three showing at the 2015 NCAA meet, in the bronze-medal spot on the podium. Queens, of Charlotte, N.C., which leads the team competition by a full 66 points over two-time defending champion Drury, won the race in a meet-record 7:14.69.
Huttner hit the water with UCSD in the fifth spot in the race, but the junior transfer from Air Force pushed her side up to third, with Watkins and Tang even challenging Drury (7:20.44) for second place before dropping back of the event's 2014 champions by exactly two seconds. Toronczak's lead split of 1:51.34 was just off her personal record of 1:51.13 from Thursday.
"Oh my God, it was amazing," said Watkins, who earned a return trip to nationals as a fourth-year Triton after missing the 2014 edition. She now plans to return for a fifth year in 2015-16. "I was a little nervous after the 200 fly, but I knew I was ready. We just wanted to relax, swim fast, and have fun. I was so proud of all the girls on the team, and it was a great way for me, personally, to end this meet."
"It was really exciting," added the relay's anchor, Tang. "Last year (leading off the second-place foursome as a freshman), I really didn't know what to expect, but we had a star like Anji (Shakya) to rely on. We worked on this relay all year, pointing toward this race, and knew we all had to be 100 percent on our game."
<p"I think it was really just the excitement," offered UCSD men's head coach Daniel Perdew about what he felt the key was to the relay's success. "They were all really excited for this relay and brought a lot of energy to the pool. The entire team was behind them, they knew that, and there was not a lot of thinking involved. It was just dive in and swim. It turned out pretty well.
"We finished second in this relay last year, but this year's group was a little different. It was a very balanced effort, and everyone carried their own weight. They'll all be returning next year, so it will be interesting to see what they can do."
Sophomore Chandler Pourvahidi was the lone Triton in an individual championship final on Friday night, becoming a third-time All-American for his career with an eighth-place showing in the 500-yard freestyle. His evening time was 4:34.34, after a sixth-fastest 4:26.32 in preliminaries.
Three individual UCSD swimmers qualified for consolation finals for All-America honorable mentions in fourth-year senior Eva Chen, Watkins, and junior Naomi Thomas. Chen was 12th overall in the 100 breaststroke in 1:03.56, one spot up from her morning position (1:03.74). Watkins (2:03.66) and Thomas (2:04.06), swimming side by side in the B final in lanes five and six, respectively, went 3-6 in the race and 11-14 overall. Watkins had timed a season-best 2:03.57 in the morning.
Freshman Stephanie Sin fell narrowly short of earning a second swim as the only Triton entrant in the women's 500 free, her time of 4:59.68 leaving her in 17th as the first alternate for a spot in the B final. Sophomore teammateJaimie Bryan suffered the same fate in the 100 breaststroke, in a season-best 1:03.95, with four Triton women now having placed 17th in their respective events this week.
Pourvahidi, Michael Cohn (Solana Beach/Grossmont College), Howie Chang and anchor Paul Li teamed up to go 6:40.69 in the first heat of the 800 free relay timed finals at the end of the morning session. The mark was good for third in that race, as the foursome wound up 11th following the evening session’s faster heat.
Other Tritons in Friday morning prelims were Chang (19th, 4:31.87), Li (22nd, 4:33.31) and Cohn (25th, 4:34.49) in the 500, Toronczak (21st, 56.44) in the 100 back, and Austine Lee (23rd, 1:04.58) and Angie Phetbenjakul (29th, 1:05.39) in the 100 breast. Toronczak, a freshman out of Santee (West Hills HS), turned in a lifetime-best mark to narrowly hit the wall in second in the second of five heats, moving up from No. 6 (56.69) to No. 4 all-time at UCSD in the event. Li was scratched from the 200 fly in order to focus on the 800 free relay.
"The women are still fifth, hanging in there, which is kind of where we thought they would be," remarked Perdew about the Tritons' current position. "They have to have a big day tomorrow to hold that spot. We've had a 'good enough' meet so far, but tomorrow needs to be better than 'good enough.'
"Looking at the men on paper, we could have been higher, but you don't swim on paper. We're learning what it is to swim tough. We saw some good things today like the 800 freestyle relay, for example. To the eye, we know those guys gave every single thing we had. That's really what we wanted to get out of them. Where we place right now is kind of secondary to how we carry ourselves and where we want to be as a team."
"On the men's side, no," concluded Perdew about whether he expected this meet to be as fast as it has, with a slew of national records each day. "You knew going in that a few guys, like (Queens' Matthew) Josa, were going to do special things, but I didn't see about a dozen guys doing what they've done. There seems to be records broken in every event, and some more than once. In the past, you knew if you got here, you'd probably be scoring points. This year, it's really, really tough just to score."
The NCAA Championships conclude on Saturday, March 14, with morning prelims beginning at 7:30 a.m. PT, and evening finals at 3 p.m. PT. The last two sessions, featuring the 1650 free, 100 free, 200 back, 200 breast and 400 free relay, can be watched live online, free of charge, at NCAA.com, with live results here. Sin is seeded sixth in the mile, with Cohn ninth in the 200 back, both as school record-holders.
Triton Notes: The Tritons now have 14 All-America distinctions for these 2015 NCAA Championships, withStephanie Sin and the 200 medley relay of Austine Lee, Jaimie Bryan, Jaclyn Amog and Colleen Daley, earning top-eight finishes on Wednesday, and the 200 free relay of Daley, Lee, Amog and Natalie Tang on Thursday ...Chandler Pourvahidi is UCSD’s first male All-American for 2015, with the sophomore now a three-time All-American for his career after a pair of fifth-place finishes in the 1000 and 1650 a year ago ... First through eighth placements at the NCAA meet constitute All-America, with ninth through 16th good for All-America honorable mention ... Sin’s time in Wednesday’s 1000 free remains UCSD’s lone school record so far this week.
Catawba
Sebastian Holmberg (Akersberga, Sweden/Skolan) finished 14th in the 200 back on Friday night at the 2015 NCAA II Swimming & Diving Championships at the IUPUI Natatorium. Holmberg added three more points for Catawba, which stands 24th at the meet.
Holmberg swam his fastest time in the prelim, where his 48.37 time stood 12th and equaled the second fastest swim in school history. His opening time of 22.72 in the 50 was the third best. His final time was 48.58 which comes in at sixth all-time.
Holmberg will finish up his swims at the championships on Saturday in the 100 free. He has the 12th best seed time.
Nova Southeastern
For the fourth time in 2015, Nova Southeastern University is home to a national champion, as Anton Lobanov (Fr., Novosibirisk, Russia) breaks his own NCAA Division II record in the men's 100-yard breaststroke by .37 seconds, swimming a time of 51.63, the sixth fastest time ever recorded in the event. Lobanov and the NSU men's team sits in seventh place with 171 points, while the women sit in fourth place with 180 points.
Blake Woodrow (Fr., Fort Myers, Fla.) started day three's finals session, swimming a 4:29.35 in the men's 500-yard freestyle. He was followed by his freshman counterpart, Malin Westman (Fr., Harryda, Sweden), who swam a 1:03.18 in the consolation final of the women's 100-yard breaststroke, good for second place.
Lobanov then swam his record-breaking time in the men's 100-yard breaststroke, a time that would be the second fastest time in NCAA Division I. Lobanov won by more than a full body length, a feat rarely achieved in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Thiago Sickert (So., Vila Vehla, Brazil) trailed Lobanov, swimming a 1:44.42 in the men's 200-yard butterfly, taking home the silver medal in the event. Bryndis Hansen (So., Akureyri, Iceland), Brooke Munion (So., Bethlehem, Pa.), Westman and Jordan Shows (Fr., Alta Loma, Calif.) then swam the tenth fastest time in the women's 800-yard freestyle relay, posting a time of 7:32.98.
The night concluded with a third-place finish from the men's 800-yard freestyle team, consisting of Marco Aldabe (So., Alicante, Spain), Sickert, Javier Caballero (So., Pamplona, Spain) and Shane Kleinbeck (Sr., San Antonio, Texas). The team combined to swim a time of 6:30.09, just under four seconds behind the winner.
Queens
Queens University of Charlotte men’s and women’s swim teams maintained their top placement after day three of competition at the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships, securing 422.5 points on the women’s side and 316.5 on the men’s side. Friday, March 13, 2015, concluded with the Royals taking hold of six first place finishes with four displacing the national record.
“I could not be more proud of resiliency of our programs tonight,” said Head Coach Jeff Dugdale. “I think Queens University of Charlotte has a lot to proud as the men and women represented Queens and themselves on the national stage. They have been presented a challenge, and they are taking it head-on and not backing down. We are going into the last day in a good position to fight for our team title on both the men’s and women’s side. Our men’s and women’s programs are going to continue to focus on only what we can focus on and what we can control. Going from there, we will see what the outcome is tomorrow and celebration regardless of what it is.”
In yet another national record swim, Patricia Castro-Ortega flew through the water to take a half a pool length victory in the 500 Yard Freestyle. Her event swim of 4:43.37 only further endorsed the Royals claim for the top as Lillian Gordy closed the event out with the second spot. Gordy’s security of second place came with a 4:50.70 time.
Uprooting the 200 Yard Butterfly national record, Matthew Josa found nearly a second and a half of distance between himself and the competition taking a 1:42.96 for his third individual record of the meet.
Ending the day’s performance, both 800 Yard Freestyle Relays set a new NCAA Division II standard as the team upset their tenth national record with the men’s and women’s event. Castro-Ortega was lead off for the women’s 800 relay supply the squad with near a four second lead. Gordy took the second leg followed by McKenzie Stevens as both lengthened the gap. Caroline Arakelian closed the event taking the final touch at 7:14.69. The men’s 800 freestyle relay team saw a tighter race as Nicholas Arakelian took lead-off followed by Ben Taylor and Hayden Kosater. Josa took the last leg of the race as the team found the wall in 6:26.29.
In a highly vied after race, Nicholas Arakelian grabbed the come-from-behind victory to out touch Victor Polyakov from West Chester with a 4:20.98. Arakelian’s race ended with his last two 50-yard split times clocking under 26 seconds.
Taking the top spots in the 200 Yard Butterfly, Hannah Peiffer found the first place touch with a 1:59.06. Stevens nudged out Joyce Kwok from LIU Post for the second place finish keeping it all Royals at the top. Steven’s performance gave her a 1:59.56 for the event.
Peiffer continued to put points on the board for the team as she worked her way into the bronze seating for the 100 Yard Backstroke. Peiffer improved to a 54.44 to take the third place rank for the event.
Niclas Eriksson took the podium in the 100 Yard Breaststroke finding a third place touch. Eriksson glided through the water to take a 52.85 time narrowly missing the second place finish.
Alex Menke found the ninth overall placement in the 500 Yard Freestyle improving into a 4:26.00 and taking first in the consolation heat. Zachary Phelps grabbed the 13th overall rank in the men’s 100 Yard Backstroke with a 48.47. Will Hicks gave the men’s side one more placement with the 100 Breaststroke securing 12th overall rank with a 54.51.
The women’s side added Kathryn Johnston to the list 500 Yard Freestyle with a 4:54.55 for tenth overall. Meridith Boudreaux followed Johnston with an 11th place tie with Brittany Bays, from Tampa, clocking a 4:56.49. A No. 16 rank fell to Kristin Diemer as she touched with a 58.50 in the 100 Yard Backstroke.
Tampa
Following three days of competition at the 2015 NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships, both University of Tampa teams are in contention for national top-10 finishes.
The Spartan men are ninth overall with 126 points, as the women moved up to 12th with 79.5 total points. Queens is the team leader in the men's and women's with 316.5 and 422.5 points respectively.
Freshman Brittany Bayes opened the evening with an 11th place finish in the 500 Free. Her time was 4:56.49, which was nearly two full seconds faster than her prelims time.
Senior Zane Hranac concluded his excellent collegiate career with a 15th-place effort in the 200 Fly. His time was clocked at 1:51.10.
UT's women's 800 Free Relay team finished sixth, which earned them All-American honors. The team of Sophie Long, Bayes, Erin Plachy and Briana Murphy was timed at 7:28.27.
Tampa's men also became All-Americans in the 800 Free Relay with a seventh-place time of 6:35.40. Runar Borgen, Jeremy Parker, Derek Krell and Martin Hammer made up the UT relay team.
West Florida
After three days at the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships the West Florida women’s team stands in 15th place. The Argonauts scored points in two events on Friday, the 100-yard breaststroke and the 800-yard freestyle relay.
Queens (N.C.) holds the lead with 422.5 points, and Drury trails in second place with 356.5. Wingate (248), Nova Southeastern (180) and UC San Diego (159) are third, fourth and fifth, respectively. UWF sits in 15th place with 61 points.
“At these meets you’re going to learn a lot about yourself,” said UWF head coach Andrew Hancock. “They’re very mentally and physically demanding, coming back to this level of competition day after day. Our girls had a challenge in front of them and they stepped up to it. We’re hoping to have our best day of the meet tomorrow. We’re satisfied with where we are, and we know we have a good chance to move up tomorrow.”
It was Anna-Marie Macht (Markkleeberg, Germany) making the biggest contributions for the Argonauts again on Friday, as she placed 14th overall and sixth in the consolation final in the 100 breast. The senior posted a time of 1:03.65 in the morning prelim to the consolation, and she came back with a time of 1:03.81 in the evening session.
Macht was also a part of UWF’s team in the 800 free relay that placed 14th overall and sixth in the consolation. She was joined by Angelina Gallastegui (Brandon, Fla.), Mariana de Paula (Santos, Brazil) and Peggy de Villiers (Somerset West, South Africa), and the group posted a time of 7:44.12.
The Argos had competitors in the morning prelims in the 500-yard freestyle and the 100-yard backstroke. Gallastegui was UWF’s fastest finisher in the 500 free at 5:00.74, placing 19th in the event. Madeline Pitt (Trussville, Ala.) placed 29th in the 500 free with a time of 5:05.06. Emily Mitchell (Allen Park, Mich.) was the Argos’ lone competitor in the 100 back, and the senior finished 33rd with a time of 57.59.
The final day at the national meet will be a big one for the Argonauts, as UWF will have competitors in the 100-yard freestyle (de Villiers), 200-yard breaststroke (Macht, Paulina Szydlo), 400-yard freestyle relay, 1,650-yard freestyle (Gallastegui, Pitt) and the 3-meter diving event (Monica Amaral, Josie McKee).
Wingate
Wingate University sophomore Sofia Petrenko (Arkhangelsk, Russia) collected two All-American trophies at the 2015 NCAA Division II swimming and diving championships Friday night. The Bulldogs recorded 10 All-American swims on day three of the four-day NCAA event, hosted in the IU Natatorium on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
On the team leader board, the Wingate women are third with 248 points. Queens University of Charlotte is first with 422.5 points, followed by Drury (Mo.) with 356.5 points. The Bulldog men are 12th with 120 points; six points separate Wingate from number nine the University of Tampa with 126 points. Queens is first with 316.5 points, followed closely by Drury (Mo.) with 302.5 points. Drury is the defending champion on both the men's and women's sides.
"I am very proud of the fight in our team," Wingate head men's and women's swimming coach Kirk Sanocki says. "We continue to swim hard to make program history with the women attempting to finish out the meet in the top three and the men attempting to continue a nine-year run of finishing in the top 11 at the NCAAs."
Wingate women's recap
Petrenko finished fourth in the 200 Butterfly with her time of 2:00.03. Petrenko recorded a time of 2:01.14 in the morning session, giving her the top time for Friday night's 200 Butterfly championship race. Queens University of Charlotte sophomore Hannah Peiffer (Hixson, Tenn.) won the 200 Fly with her triumphant time of 1:59.06.
In the 800 Freestyle Relay, Petrenko swam the first leg as the Bulldogs finished fourth with a time of 7:25.92. She was joined by freshman Leigh-Ann Clark (Newport News, Va.), senior Kellie Gervas (Imperial, Pa.) and junior Armony Dumur (Amiens, France). Queens won the endurance race with a national meet record time of 7:14.69.
Bulldog sophomore Jessika Weiss (Macon, Ga.) won the 100 Breaststroke consolation final with a time of 1:02.84. WU redshirt sophomore Olga Kosheleva (Yekaterinburg, Russia) was fifth with a time of 1:03.66. Kosheleva set a new Wingate 100 Breaststroke school record in Thursday night's 400 Medley Relay national championship title race with her time of 1:02.12.
Wingate redshirt junior Julie Wessler (Sprockhövel, Germany) started Friday evening for the Bulldogs with a fifth-place performance in the 500 Freestyle with her time of 4:57.72. In the 100 Backstroke, sophomore Vika Arkhipova (Seversk, Russia) and junior Rita Koryukova (Omsk, Russia) finished second (55.21) and third (55.62), respectively. Both Arkhipova and Koryukova break Wingate's previous school record of 55.63.
Wingate men's recap
Wingate sophomore Leif-Henning Klüver (Risum-Lindholm, Germany) matched his classmate Petrenko with two All-American trophies Friday night. Klüver claimed seventh place in the 500 Freestyle final with a time of 4:29.02. He helped the Bulldogs finish fourth in the 800 Freestyle Relay with a new school-record time of 6:31.57.
Klüver was joined by senior Issam Zeraidi (Brussels, Belgium), junior Ossian Arvidsson (Kungälv, Sweden) and freshman Jerome Heidrich (Hamburg, Germany). With the fourth-place finish, Zeraidi receives All-American honors in four of his four years in the Wingate Navy Blue and Vegas Gold.
Wingate sophomore Roman Kanyuka (Moscow, Russia) and senior David Collum (DeLand, Fla.) earn honorable mention honors in the 100 Breaststroke consolation finals Friday night. Kanyuka finished fifth with a time of 54.71, while Collum was seventh with his 55.31 clocking.
