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Queens Leading After Day 2 of NCAA D2 Championships

Queens Press Release

The Queens University of Charlotte men's and women's swim teams rattled the standings on day two of the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships, taking five national titles while breaking a national record in one event.
 
"Tonight has to go down as one of the most memorable in my coaching career," said Head Coach Jeff Dugdale. "The fight our student-athletes put forth was special. Georgia Dacruz showed incredible poise, for a freshman, in her first national championship. Our men also put together a special night winning every event except for the 200 free relay."
 
The men's team gained distance in the overall rankings, pushing their score out by a hundred points to reach 296. Drury placed second after the day's events at 187 while Grand Valley posted in third place with 149.
 
The women's team would move past Drury to claim the top spot at the halfway point in the meet. The Royals concluded the day at 245 points while Drury held second at 223. Wingate sat in third place at the day's end with 173 points.
 
Before the night concluded, the Royals shattered the NCAA record in the men's 400 yard medley relay. Paul Pijulet, Rostyslav Fedyna, Marius Kusch, and Dion Dreesens, respectively, led the pool by four seconds to clock a 3:07.38. They would be the first division II 400 yard medley relay team to swim under the 3:08 mark.
 
Nicholas Arakelian maintained his sweep on the 400 yard individual medley, taking his third national title in the event. Arakelian accelerated throughout the race to top the pool by three seconds, clocking a time of 3:45.01.
 
Dion Dreesens also held his claim to the 200 yard freestyle, placing first in the event for the second year-in-a-row. Dreesens would clock a 1:33.85 for his gold medal.
 
The Royals saw a 1-2 finish in the men's 100 yard butterfly as Paul Pijulet earned the national title, reaching the wall with a 45.62. Marius Kusch followed to grab the silver medal with a time of 45.81.
 
The women's 400 yard medley relay team of Hannah Peiffer, Shelly Prayson, Georgia Dacruz, and Kyrie Dobson, respectively, added a national title to the women's side. The Royals charged into the wall with a 3:38.35 for the first place touch.
 
Dacruz earlier in the meet earned herself a school record in the 100 yard butterfly. She clocked a 53.24 for the second overall finish. Peiffer added her name in the top of the rankings, earning the fourth place touch with a time of 53.92.
 
McKenzie Stevens landed in the top three of the women's 200 yard freestyle, powering into the wall for the bronze. Stevens clocked a 1:48.33 driving through the last one-hundred yards of the event to move up into medal range.
 
The women's 400 individual medley placed Josefina Lorda-Taylor in the top heat, ranking fifth in the event. She would take a 4:22.06 for the swim.
 
The women's 200 yard freestyle relay team of Alexandra Marshall, Dobson, Shane Knight, and Prayson, respectively, earned the second-fastest time of the night. The four clocked a 1:32.54.
 
In a highly contested race that saw all eight teams within a second difference, the men's 200 yard freestyle relay team of Dmytro Sydorchenko, Ben Mayes, Bradford Hancock, and Zach Bunner, respectively, clocked a 1:20.57 in the top heat of the night.

Drury Press Release

Both the men's and women's Drury swimming & diving teams are in second place after two days of competition at the NCAA-II national championship in Birmingham, Alabama.
 
The Drury women's team is just 22 points behind first place Queens (N.C.). Queens has 245 points to the Panthers 223. Wingate is in third place with 175 points while Lindenwood is in third with 119.
 
The Queens (N.C.) men's squad owns a 109-point lead after two days. Queens has 296 points while Drury has 187. Grand Valley State sits in third with 149 points and Nova Southeastern is in fourth with 137 points.
 
The Panthers won women's 200-yard Freestyle Relay. Bailee Nunn, Vera Johansson, Katya Rudenko and Madeline Nelson combined for a time of 1:31.03.
 
"We have a strong bond between all of the members of our team and it's just incredible to be a part of this legacy," said Johansson following her team's win in the event.
 
Nunn, a freshman from Marshfield, added a third place finish in the 100 Butterfly (53.48).
 
The women's 400 Medley Relay with Rudenko, Zuza Chwadeczko, Johansson, and Chrysoula Karamanou, was edged by Queens (N.C.) by 0.60 seconds to come in second place.  
 
Joan Casanovas had the best finish of the day for the Drury men's team finishing second in the 200 Free. Casanovas finished with a time of 1:35.13 as Dion Dreesens of Queens (N.C.) repeated as national champion in the event with a time of 1:33.85. Drury's Konrad Stepien was fifth in the event with a time of 1:37.07.
 
Drury's men's team was fourth in the 200 Free Relay. Daniel Rzadkowski, Jun Han Kim, Ryan Walker and Rodrigo Caceres teamed up to finish with a time of 1:20.06.
 
Kim would also finish sixth in the 100 Fly with a time of 47.62.
 
The Panthers would also get a sixth place finish from their men's 400 Medley Relay team of Casanovas, Andrea Bozzoli, Kim, and Caceres. Drury finished with a time of 3:13.21.
 

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