Moving on to Day 2. With two relays , this could be a kind of separation day between different tiers. On to the events…
200 Free Relay
Women:
As I mentioned, Ashland is the two-time defending champ in this event. They have to replace half the relay from last year but still have their biggest gun in Julie Widmann. Drury's got a strong stable of sprinters, Tiffany Bell and Tinsley Andrews have experience at the big show, and Janet Yu has times above the cut line in both sprint events. Watch out for CalU, they have the favorite in the individual 50, Melissa Gates, as well as returning their entire nationals relay from last year.
Men:
This one ought to be a two team race between Drury and GCU. Both have multiple guys that should split under 20, something almost unheard of in DII swimming until now. Wayne State is hiding down in the psyche sheet, but they are especially dangerous with Andrey Seryy probably not having been tapered yet. Florida Southern could also be up there depending on how they decide to swim their studs.
400 IM
Women:
This one could shake out exactly like the 200 IM. UCSD's Alex Henley has already been as fast as she was last year and is the top seed this year and the only woman coming in under 4:20. Look down a little further in the cut sheet though, and you'll see last year's runner up Amanda Thomas of Southern Connecticut State. She has an interesting decision to make though, as the 100 fly preview will show. These two ought to have a big lead for the first half of the race, but there's a lot of ace breaststrokers, like UCSD's Emily Adamcyzk and Nova's Ewa Jamborska and distance swimmers such as Drury's Erin Dolan that will be working to make up the deficit in the back half.
Dark Horse: Jaclyn Hynson, IUP – one of the very few that could challenge the top two in the front half, Hynson was 3rd at last year's nationals in both the 200 back and 200 fly.
Men:
Wingate's Marko Blazevski and Wayne State's Joaquin Abascal Gallegos have won this event the past two years, both in pretty dominating fashion, but top seed GCU's Brian Morrison has spent the past two years training at the University of Arizona and really has no weaknesses either. Drury, Incarnate Word and Nova Southeastern bring multiple guys each from their solid distance programs, and UCSD's Adam Rice could move up from his 5th place finish last year if he can control his fly leg.
Dark Horse: Ethan Goldfarb, S&T – Looking to continue S&T's recent string of 400 IM success, he's one of the best back-half swimmers in the race.
100 Fly
Women:
Grand Canyon's Mychala Lynch is two tenths off the national record already, and the top seed in the race over a second. The aforementioned Amanda Thomas will have to choose between this and the 400 IM but is the second seed here as well. After that, there are a lot of 55-mid entry times, seniors Ksenia Gromova (OBU), Joy Turner (UIW), Maura Anderson (Ashland) and Lindsay Calimer (Tampa) are returning All-Americans looking to go out with a bang.
Dark Horse: Natalie Gallant, Henderson State – Senior does it all for the Red Wave, she could also hold this designation for the backstrokes.
Men:
This could be another really good race without Jun Han Kim's figuratively massive shadow, GCU's Buddy Turner, GVSU's Aaron Beebe and Drury's Carlos Viveros have all been sub-48. The only other returning A-finalist is Wingate's Liubomyr Lemeshko, who could very well join the three under that mark. We could have the entire top 16 under 49 seconds.
Dark Horse: Hudson Tucker, Mars Hill – Another fly/back combo, he may have the best underwaters in DII. The only question is if he can avoid the turbulent waves of the bigger sprint flyers.
200 Free
Women:
This was possibly the best race of the national meet last year, with the top 3 all within .09. Two of those return, Indy's Maura Donohue and Drury's Bell (nee Van Dongen). Also under the 1:50 mark this year is Drury's Andrews and UCSD's Anjali Shakya.
Dark Horse: Casey Jeppsen, Truman State – Was one of 4 women under 1:50 last year, but snuck in through a relay this year. Was she saving for a big taper or just fighting over a plateau?
Men:
Another close race, it's becoming a theme in today's events. Seryy and Wingate's Iaro Denysenko were close last year, and Beebe‘s got a seed time under 1:37, although I doubt he will swim the race, he should be swimming both relays today in addition to the 100 fly. This race has an amazing 14 guys under the A cut so far, with a mixture of sprinters and longer-distance guys, so we should see all styles of swimming the race here.
Dark Horse: Julius Espiritu, UCSD – Has learned to swim the race after two years of going out like a monster and having trouble finishing. Doesn't have a great seed time, but has had some outstanding relay splits over the year.
400 Medley Relay
Women:
Wayne State's again the favorite in the longer medley relay despite having to replace three legs from last year's record setting relay. On the other hand, UCSD returns three of their four legs from the 3rd place relay, or they could go several different ways with lineups. This is a race where one outstanding leg could make the difference for the entire race, so GCU with flyer Lynch and Ashland with breaststroker Maura Anderson are highly-seeded teams with advantages in that department.
Men:
Expect a new national record in this relay. Florida Southern has the best front half in backstroker Jeb Halfacre and breaststroker Miguel Ferreira, but it's not like they are head and shoulders above everybody else. Incarnate Word, Grand Valley, Grand Canyon, UCSD and Drury should all be in striking distance, and really all of these relays have elite legs in every stroke. This one should be a dogfight with multiple lead changes, and could come down a strong charge from an anchor. I'd mark this one down as the race of the meet to see.
That's all for Day 2. Last two days to come next week.