EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Drury junior
Gwen Bergum captured the Panthers' first individual national championship at the
2026 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships, while
the
Drury men maintained their position atop the team standings heading into the final day of competition at Deaconess Aquatic Center.
Seeded seventh entering Friday's championship final, Bergum overtook Wingate's Natalia Dwojak in the final 50 yards to capture the second consecutive national title in the 100 breast by a Panther, following
Jonette Laegreid's gold in 2025. The Skedsmokorset, Norway native clocked a time of 1:00.91, narrowly missing her personal best of 1:00.67 from one month ago at the GLVC Championships.
Bergum becomes the third Panther swimmer to capture the title in the 100 breast, joining Laegreid (2025) and
Bailee Nunn (2017, 2018, 2019) in that exclusive Drury club.
On the men's side of the competition, Drury (384) holds the slimmest of leads over second-place Tampa (381.5) heading into the final day in Evansville.
Leading the way for the Panthers was
Alvaro Zornoza (46.34) and
Ivan Adamchuk (46.45) with their 2-3 finish in the 100 back, while freshman
Evaldas Babakinas (47.46) captured the win in the consolation final.
The Drury women also enjoyed a strong performance in the 200 fly, with
Maria Fe Munoz (1:59.25) and
Rianne Rose (1:59.36) finishing second and third, respectively. Munoz claimed silver, finishing just 0.32 seconds behind national champion Emily Mears-Bently of Findlay, while Rose -- who earned an All-America nod in the 1000 free on Wednesday -- registered a personal-best effort in the 200 fly to earn her highest finish yet at the Championships.
Thanks to those efforts, the DU women (229) climbed to third in the team standings, trailing second-place Tampa (309.5) by 79.5 points and first-place Nova Southeastern (374) by 145 points, while leading Colorado Mesa (224.5) by just 4.5 points for the No. 3 spot heading into Championship Saturday.
Matteo Vissotto (4:21.14) also delivered a key effort for the Drury men, placing fourth in the men's 500 free, while
Matheus Siniscalchi (4:23.52) used a personal-best effort to finish 12th overall. The Panthers also received a boost from
Elliot Weber's (53.16) seventh-place showing in the 100 breast and
Belhassen Ben Miled's win in the consolation final of the 200 fly with a career-best time of 1:44.88 that tied Florida Tech's Akos Hajagos for the fourth-fastest time overall in the competition.
In the night's relay competiton, the Panthers finished third in a photo-finish in the 200 free relay, with the quartet of Marwane Sebbata, Lucas Mineur, Yuri Cabral and Vissotto finishing just 0.39 seconds behind second-place Colorado Mesa, which lost to national champion Tampa by a mere 0.01 seconds.
The Drury women finished ninth in the 200 free relay, with the team of Belen Morales, Petra Baumane, Nikol Maniko and Ashlyn Moore turning in a time of 1:32.15.
The fifth and final day of the NCAA Championships gets underway Saturday with preliminary heats at 10 a.m. (CT).
NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships
Saturday, March 14
Live Results | Watch live on NCAA.com
Prelims | 10 a.m. (Central)
Finals | 5:30 p.m. (Central)
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