The Division II season is culminating in what will certainly be the fastest NCAA Championships in Division II history. In the second year of DII going to a selection process more like DI and DIII, around 70% of all entries will be A cut swims. This is especially impressive given that the cuts are based on times expected to be reached by 3 swimmers per event. You can find the cut sheets here. Here's how the events line up for the first day of competition:
1000 Free
Women:
UIndy's Maura Donohue is the top returning swimmer, she's currently ranked 13th, but her 9:59 from last year makes her the favorite. Drury's Erin Dolan comes in with the top seed time of 10:05, while 3rd seed Tampa sophomore Heather Glenday is looking to improve on her very strong freshman campaign.
Dark Horse: Deanna Sorenson, Drury – 8th last year, but only ranked 22nd coming in to the meet.
Men:
Wingate's Iaro Denysenko is the top seed in all 3 longer freestyle events, his conference 500 missed the NCAA record by a whisker. This event returns 3 of the top 4 finishers from last year, with Denysenko joining defending champ UCSD's Matt Herman and Drury's Olympian Ryan Arabejo. Oskar Nordstrand‘s transfer to Nova Southeastern was a big part of building the country's best distance corp, as 4 men put up 1000 times above the cut line.
Dark Horse: Jerod Simek, Truman State – This program has had a turbulent past couple of years, but Simek has been a steadying force throughout.
200 IM
Women:
Southern Connecticut has the defending champion in Amanda Thomas. It'll be quite a battle between her, UCSD's Alex Henley and Drury's Katia Alyabyeva. I'm expecting a national record in this race, possibly the first few women under 2:00 in DII.
Dark Horse: Emily Adamcyzk, USCD – High seed anyway at 6th, but look for a big drop from the Olympic Trials qualifyer.
Men:
Possibly the best race of the whole meet, without defending champion Jun Han Kim, this race could go to a number of people. USCD's Nick Korth is the top seed and the only man currently under 1:48 this year thanks to his stellar midseason taper meet. UIW's Nikita Belousov is the fastest returner, but he did not swim any meets for his team over the second semester which opens up the question as to whether he will compete at NCAAs. Aaron Beebe of GVSU is entered in the event, but he could go any of several different directions. He's one of the favorites if he does enter, in my opinion he's one of the three most talented swimmers in DII right now. The other returning All-American in this event is GCU's Ivan Nechunaev.
Dark Horse: Dan Torres, Incarnate Word – Transfer from Lake Erie made a huge jump his sophomore year. The best IMers can do all strokes well, and Torres has no weaknesses.
50 Free
Women:
Defending champ CalU's Melissa Gates is also the top seed, so that dovetails nicely with her being the favorite in this race. Ashland's Julie Widmann is the star of the 2-time defending champion 200 free relay, and UIW's Tamiris Nascimento and GCU's Mychala Lynch are returning All-Americans.
Dark Horse: Tinsley Andrews, Drury – Scored in this event last year, might have some fresh water in the first heat of prelims this year.
Men:
It took him 4 swims to do it, but Andrey Seryy broke Ben Michaelson's record in this event last year. He's the favorite, but this year he'll be challenged by DI transfers Buddy Turner of GCU and John Long of Queens as well as last year's only other sub-20 performer, GCU's Michael Branning. Grand Canyon also offers sub-21 entrants Artem Tretiakov, Kyle Shores and Tom Wahlers, making them the current sprint powerhouse.
Dark Horse: Nick McCarthy, Drury – Long and athletic, but still raw. Already one of the best relay 50 swimmers in the nation, could join the big boys under 20 flat start if he puts it all together.
200 Medley Relay
Women:
Wayne State lost the best medley relay front half in DII history this year, but still return and replace enough to be the favorite this year as well. Their key will be breaststroker Kayla Scott, the nation's best so far in the 100. Ashland is always strong in the sprint relays and returns everything from the 3rd place relay last year except the fly leg. The top-ranked team to return everybody is UCSD, 3rd seed this year and 6th place last year.
Men:
Although ranked 3rd coming in, Grand Canyon is my favorite in this relay. They have the current top sprint breaststroker and flyer and that aforementioned 50 free group, so the key leg will be their backstroker, either Brazilian Everton Kida or versatile Kyle Shores. Drury will be dangerous with their mystery relay (up to 3 legs could be guys that didn't swim first semester), and Florida Southern has tons of firepower and options. Queens boasts a backhalf of DI transfers in flyer/backstroker Kyle House and the aforementioned John Long, and they are the top seed coming into the meet.
Check back soon for the Day 2 preview. I'll make my final team picks at the end of the Day 4 preview!