BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Drury men's and women's swimming & diving teams are both the NCAA-II Runner-Up as the national championship meet concluded on Saturday night at the CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama.
The Drury men's team cut into Queens (NC) lead on the final night of competition but fell just short as Queens won the title with 561 points while the Panthers were just 30 points behind with 531. Indianapolis came in third with 369 points, and McKendree was fourth with 337. For the DU men's team, the runner-up position is their best finish nationally since 2017 (last year, the national championship meet was canceled after one night of finals).
Queens also won the women's title, outdistancing the competition with 695 points, while Drury was second with 441. Indianapolis was third with 391, while Lindenwood came in fourth with 364 points. It was the fourth consecutive national meet the Drury women's squad finished second in the country.
Men's Highlights
The Drury men's team picked up three national championships on the final night of competition.
Karol Ostrowski set an NCAA-II meet record with his win in the 100 Free. The freshman from Poland had a time of 41.25 to win by 0.62 seconds. Drury's
Alex Bowen was fifth with a time of 43.42.
The Panthers won a national title in the next event, and
Nathan Bighetti won the 200 Back with a time of 1:43.51.
Andrew Rodriguez as fifth for the Panthers posting a 1:45.59 in the race.
Drury capped the night by winning the 400 Free Relay. Bowen,
Kham Glass,
Ahmed Wahby, and Ostrowski combined won by 1.30 seconds over second-place finisher Queens. It was Drury's third relay win in the national championships.
"I'm really proud of those guys," said Drury head coach
Brian Reynolds. "It was just a gutsy performance by all of them. It's a race where you're fatigued, and you've been racing all week, but we capped it off with a phenomenal relay. Our kids fought hard, got us within 30 points (of the national championship), and made it close."
The Panthers also got a third-place finish in the 1-meter diving competition from
Cole Earl. Earlier in the meet, the sophomore from Springfield-Glendale, had Drury's best finish by a men's diver in more than a decade when he came in third in the 3-meter competition. On Saturday, Earl matched that performance as 502.80 points to finish third again.
Drury won a total of seven national championships during the meet, and Ostrowski was a part of five NCAA-II titles winning the 100 Free, the 200 Free, the 50 Free, the 400 Free Relay, the 200 Free Relay, and one national runner-up finish in the 800 Free Relay.
"I know Ostrowski felt bad about his finish in the 100 Back, but that wouldn't have made a difference in the meet; we had other opportunities," stated Reynolds. "He more than made up for that tonight with a spectacular swim. That time he posted (in the 100 Free) will be one of the top times in the United States this year. He's such a personable, lovable kid that he brings a lot of energy with him and that's contagious among all of our other kids."
Women's highlights
Bec Cross took a national championship in the 200 Breaststroke. The junior from Australia reached the wall in 2:13.59 to win by nearly a full second.
"Bec just had a phenomenal meet this week," said Reynolds. "That was an unexpected win in the 200 Breaststroke, but we've worked hard on that to make her a better IM'er and for her to come up with that individual win was spectacular."
Drury picked up a third and sixth-place finish in the 1650 Free.
Allison Weber was third in the event posting a time of 16:37.86, while
Marina Amorim was sixth (16:45.06), topping her seed time by six seconds.
Yasmin Preusse was sixth in the 100 Free (50.56), and
Laura Pareja came in eighth in the 200 Back (2:03.46).
The Panthers ended the night with a third-place finish in the 400 Free Relay as Preusse,
Mackenzie Wieberg,
Josie Bushell, and Cross combined for a time of 3:22.49.
Drury's women's swimmer took four national championships during the week, with
Bec Cross winning two of them.
#MoreThanChampions
