NCAA Division II Championships, Day 3: Luna Mertins Sets Meet Record in 100 Fly
Luna Mertins has been on a multi-year climb back to the summit of NCAA Division II butterfly. The fifth-year student at Lynn University won the NCAA title in 2022. She finished third in 2023 and second in 2024.
Thursday morning at Indiana University Natatorium, she set herself up as the person to beat, swimming a meet record 52.00 in prelims. That sets the meet record, and she owns the NCAA record at 51.85 from February.
Mertins took the record of 52.06 set in 2022 by West Chester’s Anna Carozza. That year, Carozza set the time in prelims before Mertins bested her in finals by .08 in a time of 52.19. Mertins, a German international, is looking to build on 22 career All-American honors, including the 200 medley relay Wednesday night in which she split a meet-best 23.16 for the third-place Fighting Knights.
Mertins is the top seed by 1.4 seconds in Thursday night’s final. Among the chasers is 200 IM champion Mellie Wijk of Drury, in third place in 53.60.
The prelims of the 400 individual medley bring the team battle into focus, with the top four in the team standings represented in the top five finishers. After five A finalists in the 200 IM, Drury has only two, led by Claire Conover in second. She had been fourth in the shorter IM. The top seed is May Lowy of Nova, the 200 IM runner-up.
Lucy Hedley of Grand Valley is the top seed in the 200 free, having gone 1:46.78. She was .01 ahead of Azusa Pacific’s Montana White, with Kristina Orban not far behind in 1:47.00. Nova has two A finalists, with just one for Drury.
On the men’s side, 1,000 free champion Jacob Hamlin is after a double, leading the way in the 200 free with a time of 1:33.90. That was a drop of more than a second over his prelim time. He was .14 seconds up on Matthew Bosch of Grand Valley. Tampa, eight points behind Drury at the end of Night 2, pushed three into the A final to Drury’s one.
Jackson Lustig led the way in the 100 fly in 46.35, though the top eight are blanketed by .49 seconds. Oskar Sawicki of UIndy is second in 46.46, though it’s likely going to be an open race. Medalists in the 50 freestyle, Tibor Tistan and Maurice Grabowski, ended up in the B final.
Connor Bichsel of Missouri S&T led the way in the 400 IM prelims in 3:50.23, .02 up on UIndy freshman Jeremias Pock, the runner-up in the 200 IM Wednesday. Rollins’ Evan McInerney is also in the mix in 3:50.90. Ivan Adamchuk of Drury, the 200 IM champ, didn’t swim the 400 IM.
Thursday’s finals session in Indianapolis also include men’s 3-meter diving and the 400 medley relays.
The team scores after Night 2:
Women - Team Rankings - Through Event 10 1. Nova S'Eastern 170 2. Drury 143 3. Indy 114 4. Colorado Mesa 104 5. Clarion 73 6. Lynn 67 6. Grand Valley 67 8. Tampa 63 9. West Florida 61 10. Augustana 57 10. Simon Fraser 57 12. Wingate 41 13. Azusa Pacific 36 14. Findlay 34 15. Wayne State 29 16. Oklahoma Christi 21 17. Msu Mankato 20 18. McKendree 16 19. Henderson St. 15 19. Umsl 15 21. Nmu 13 22. Delta State 10 23. Catawba 5 24. Florida Southern 2 24. Csu East Bay 2 24. Davenport 2 24. Truman St. 2 28. Concordia 1
Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 11 1. Drury 151 2. Tampa 143 3. Indy 111 4. McKendree 89 5. Grand Valley 82 6. Florida Southern 50 7. Lewis 48 8. Lynn 46 9. Colorado Mesa 45 10. Wingate 41 11. Wayne State 30 12. Nmu 28 13. Catawba 27 14. Nova S'Eastern 26 15. Rollins 25 16. St Cloud St 23 17. Delta State 15 17. West Chester University 15 19. Ouachita 14 20. Mines 12 20. Barry U 12 22. Missouri S & T 11 23. Carson-Newman 10 24. Simon Fraser 9 25. Biola University 7 26. Saginaw Valley 4 27. Montevallo 3 28. Henderson St. 2
