Mansfield, Texas----Wingate sophomores
Marko Blazevski (Skopje, Macedonia) and
Liubomyr Lemeshko (Poltava, Ukraine) claimed NCAA Division II national championships Thursday night, while classmate
Iaroslav Denysenko (Poltava, Ukraine) earned a silver medal. Blazevski wins the national title in the 400 Individual Medley, while Lemeshko earns his gold medal in the 100 Butterfly.
For the second year in a row, Blazevski won the national championship in the 400 IM. On Thursday, his triumphant school-record time was 3:50.56. In 2011, Blazevski won the NCAA crown with a time of 3:51.29.
UC San Diego junior
Adam Rice had the top 400 IM time in the morning preliminaries, recording a 3:53.72. Blazevski was fourth this morning with a time of 3:54.74. Grand Canyon (Ariz.) sophomore
Brian Morrison finished second in the 400 IM with a time of 3:51.57. Rice was third in 3:53.77.
Lemeshko’s 100 Butterfly crown is his first national championship. He clocked a 47.29 in Thursday night’s championship race. Drury junior
Carlos Viveros was second with a time of 47.91. He had the top morning preliminary time with a 47.60. Incarnate Word (Texas) senior
James Shake was third at 48.15.
Denysenko missed a second national championship (in as many nights) by 0.02 seconds. He broke the NCAA Division II record with a finals (and school record) time of 1:35.63. The previous record was 19 years old. Wayne State (Mich.) senior and 2011 NCAA Division II Swimmer of the Year
Andrey Seryy won the race with a time of 1:35.61. Grand Valley State (Mich.) senior
Aaron Beebe was third (1:35.97).
Interestingly enough, Denysenko, Seryy and Beebe had already won national championships this year. On Wednesday, Denysenko won the 1000 Freestyle, while Seryy and Beebe won the 50 Freestyle and the 200 Individual Medley, respectively. Beebe is the first national champion in GVSU history.
“This was a great night for the Bulldogs,” Wingate head coach
Kirk Sanocki says. “We were two/one-hundredths of a second away from a three-for-three national championship sweep. I am happy for Liubomyr…he set a team and personal record and took control of his race.”
“Marko defended his title…definitely not an easy feat,” Sanocki says. “We are swimming well across the board. I looking forward to the next two days…and hoping good things will happen.”
For the second consecutive night, the Wingate men recorded an All-American relay performance. The Bulldogs finished eighth in the 400 Medley Relay with a school-record time of 3:16.16. Lemeshko swam the third leg; he was joined by sophomore
Tim Kniffler (Mulheim, Germany) and juniors
Rory Julyan (Cape Town, South Africa) and
Spencer Waganaar (Satellite Beach, Fla.). Former Bluegrass Mountain Conference rival Florida Southern College won the gold medal with a new NCAA Division II record time of 3:12.43.
The Wingate women posted an honorable mention All-American swim in the 400 Medley Relay. The Bulldogs were 16th with a time of 3:58.61. The quartet includes sophomores
Alex Andrechuk (Ajax, Ontario, Canada),
Valerie Dembny (Bremen, Germany) and
Cameron Washburn (Wilmington, N.C.) and junior
Elly Speer (Manly, Sydney, Australia). Wayne State (Mich.) won the race with a time of 3:41.20.
Earlier in the day, Dembny was 25th in the 100 Butterfly with a time of 57.30. “The women are hanging tough,” Sanocki says. “They are working hard and doing everything they can to score points.”
On the team leader boards, the fourth-place Wingate men have 151 points, one point ahead of fifth-place Incarnate Word. Drury leads with 248 points, followed by UC San Diego (205) and Grand Canyon (170). Only seven points separate fourth-place from seventh-place. The Wingate women are tied with Ouachita Baptist (Ark.) and Queens (N.C.) for 20th place with 31 points. Wayne State (Mich.) leads defending national champion Drury by one point on the top of the charts.
The four-day meet continues Friday, with preliminaries in the morning and finals at night. Watch the
Wingate University web site for updates from Mansfield. Fans can access additional information at the following addresses:
Bulldog fans can watch free video and view live stats at this link:
http://www.ncaa.com/news/ncaa/article/2012-03-03/winter-championship-multimedia
The NCAA men’s swimming and diving web site can be found at this link:
http://www.ncaa.com/championships/swimming-men/d2
The NCAA women’s swimming and diving web site can be found at this link:
http://www.ncaa.com/championships/swimming-women/d2
