INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Seems almost too appropriate that the school that knocked the perennial NCAA-II swimming king off the throne for the first time in a decade was a school named Queens.

Such was the case on Saturday night, as 10-time defending men's national champion and two-time defending women's national champion Drury finished as national runner-up to Queens (N.C.) as the NCAA-II Swimming and Diving Championships came to a close Saturday night at the IU Natatorium.

Queens finished with 433.5 points to Drury's 417.5 to end the Panthers' 10-year stranglehold on the men's national title, an NCAA-II record.

On the women's side, Queens amassed 540.5 points to Drury's 489.5 to make it a sweep for the Royals and their first two titles in the program's history after four days of what, by late Thursday, had essentially become a Drury vs. Queens showdown to determine both the men's and women's champions.

So what happened? As one DU fan and former swimmer stated so accurately on Twitter, "crazy that it's surprising when my alma mater doesn't win at nationals."

Well, Matthew Josa happened. And Patricia Castro-Ortega happened.

The two Queens sophomores were the unquestioned stars of the meet, winning their respective "Swimmer of the Meet" distinctions. And they were surrounded by a talented cast of Royals who helped Queens win individual events, win relays and provide depth when they didn't win.

Josa won the 200 IM, the 100 Fly, the 200 Fly. Castro captured the 200 IM, the 200 Free, the 500 Free and the 100 Free. Both were "stop and watch" swimmers when it came to their turns on the relays for all four days of competition.

And really, Queens happened.

The Royals, in winning their first national titles, won 19 events and set 12 national records.

"They've done a remarkable job of building a quality program in a short amount of time," said Drury coach Brian Reynolds, owner of 33 national championships. "Their team swam very well and deserved to win the meet, so my hat's off to them and the kids that program. You can tell they've been working hart at it."

On Drury's end, a combination of things led to their first meet without a national title since 2004 - chiefly, some ill-timed illness on the men's side and quite frankly, some performances that didn't live up to expectations. And largely, because Queens was just that good.

Daniel Rzadkowski, one of the stars for DU all season and owner of the nation's fastest time in the 50 Free coming in, was ineffective all week after coming down with an upper respiratory virus (and losing 10-plus pounds as a result) about a week before nationals. 

"Without a doubt Daniel's sickness was devastating because he's capable of scoring 40-plus points here and then making a bigger splash on a lot of our relays," Reynolds said. "But it is what it is. The ups and downs of athletics and some of the things you have to battle that don't go your way."

One Panther who most certainly did not disappoint - sophomore Katya Rudenko, who added the 200 Back national title to the 100 Back she claimed on Friday. Rudenko was also a part of two national champion relay squads for DU.

"Katya got beat at this meet last year, and I don't think that set well with her," Reynolds said. "To have two of her best performances of her career here, I'm very proud of her accomplishments and very proud of her efforts."

After receiving an eighth from Allie Reynolds in the 1650 Free to start things off Saturday, the final race of her career for the four-year distance standout, Drury also got a second and a fourth from Ariel Xu and Janet Yu in the 100 Free on Saturday, yet another event captured by Ortega. Chelsea Staab supported Rudenko with a seventh in the 200 Back, Rebecca Laupp finished sixth in the 3-meter diving, and the DU squad of Xu, Leah Reed, Rudenko and Yu closed the night with a second place in the 400 Free Relay behind an Ortega-led Queens.

The DU men closed the four days of competition with a victory in the 400 Free Relay - with Aaron Buckingham, Sean Feher, Rodrigo Caceres and Sam Olson - in its own way a reminder that the storied program will be back. 

Other top efforts for the Panthers men on Saturday included a second place from Olson in the 100 Free, a fifth from Feher and a seventh from Jordi Montseny in the 200 Back and a seventh from Kacper Pelczynski in the 200 Breast.

All were seniors - as were Allie Reynolds, Staab, Reed and Yu - a group Reynolds says he was particularly proud of not just this week, but throughout their careers.

"That senior group as a whole did a phenomenal job this weekend of carrying the team," Reynolds says. "We're just going to have to go out and find ... there's no way we're going to go out and find kids of this caliber right away. It's going to be a task to get this team back to strength in a year or two, but we'll continue to move forward in the process of helping some of the younger kids get faster."

Final Results