Lindenwood University's men's and women's swimming and diving teams both captured top-ten finishes at the 2019 NCAA DII National Championships last weekend at the IU Natatorium. The Lady Lions fought hard to maintain their position and finished 9^th overall. The Lion Men battled through the last relay to jump 3 spots and finish 7^th overall. This is the third time in program history that both teams have finished in the top 10.

Overall, the Lions earned 8 Individual All-American Honors and 4 Relay All-American honors. In addition, the Lions received recognition for 13 Individual All-American Honorable Mention Honors and 4 Relay All-American honors.
1650 Freestyle

Distance training partners, Jana Hellenschmidt and Simone de Rijcke finished 9^th and 10^th in the women's 1650 freestyle. Hellenschmidt posted a time that held 4^th leading into the championship final of the event. De Rijcke had a
solid swim in the championship final of the event and earned a 10^th place finish.

In the timed-final 1650 freestyle, Jan Hanzal and Angel Regalado earned a podium finish and All-American honors. Freshman, Jan Hanzal, in the early heats of the mile was able to post a time that earned him the top spot leading into the final heat of the event, earning him a 7^th place finish and the third fastest time in program history. Newcomer, Angel Regalado raced in the championship final of the event and leading the pack for nearly half of the race to earn 8^th overall.  

100 Freestyle
Zach Linder shaved off some time from his preliminary swim to touch 12^th in the consolation final of the men's 100 freestyle.

200 Breaststroke
Maxime Eekhof achieved a personal best time in prelims to earn him in the last spot of the consolation final. In finals, he hit another personal best time to finish 12^th overall with a final time of 1:59.26.

3m Diving
Senior Ashley Holloway qualified for the consolation final  of women's 3m diving in 11^th place overall, just a few points shy of the top 8.
 
400 Freestyle Relay
The women's 400 Freestyle relay team of Kamila Kunka, Morgan Fischer, Jana Hellenschmidt and Simone de Rijcke dominated the consolation final to finish 9^th overall and post a season best time.
The men's 400 Freestyle relay made up of Daniel Jacob, Justin Winnett, Haoning Chen and Zach Linder raced in the final event of the championships to touch 6^th overall and earn All-American status. 12^th – Zach Linder
22^nd – Daniel Jacob

200 Breaststroke
30^th – Lexie Winnett
-- -- Shelby Quinn
12^th – Maxime Eekhof
17^th – Justin Winnett
20^th – Haoning Chen
21^st – Isaak Webb

3m Diving
11^th – Ashley Holloway
20^th – Katie Werkema
 
400 Freestyle Relay
9^th – Kunka, Fischer, Hellenschmidt, de Rijcke
6^th – Jacob, Winnett, Chen, Linder

Women's Final Team Standings – Top 10 of 45 Teams
1. Queens (NC) 707.5
2. Drury 345
3. West Chester 249
4. Nova S'Eastern 213.5
5. Tampa 207.5
6. UCSD 206
7. Wingate 201.5
8. Wayne State 178
9. Lindenwood 166
10. Oklahoma Baptist

Men's Final Team Standings – Top 10 of 31 Teams
1. Queens (NC) 606
2. Delta State 364.5
3. Indy 305
4. Wayne State 238.5
5. Grand Valley 222
6. Missouri S & T 207
7. Lindenwood 202
8. McKendree 196
9. Simon Fraser 183
10. UCSD 176

Day 3 Recap

The Lions continued to improve their overall team standings on day 3 of the 2019 NCAA Championships. Both teams now sit in the top ten rankings with one day left of competition: the Lady Lions sit in 9^th, while the Lion Men are currently in 10^th.

500 Freestyle
After qualifying for the consolation final in prelims, Morgan Fischer and Jana Hellenshmidt opened the night with a dominant showing claiming the top 2 spots in the consolation final.  From opposite sides of the pool, the two training partners destroyed the field posting times of 4:52.67(Fischer) and 4:52.73(Hellenschmidt).

100 Breaststroke
Maxime Eekhoff made his NCAA debut qualifying for the consolation final in the prelims.  In finals he finished 13^th with a time of 54.89.  Justin Winnett qualified for his second consecutive Championship final and finished 4^th in the finals with a time of 53.30.  This is his highest finish and the highest finish in Lindenwood history in the 100 breaststroke.

200 Butterfly
Seniors Cristian Vasquez and Kian Quigley and freshman Jan Hanzal qualified for the consolation finals.  Similar to the women's 500 consolation heat, the lions put on a show finishing in 1^st(Hanzal), 2^nd(Vasquez), and 5^th(Quigley) in the heat.  Hanzal came home in the fastest final lap of the field, even faster than the national record setting performance from Alex Kunert from Queens to touch out his teammate Vasquez and post a time of 1:47.35.

1m Diving
Dylan Callaghan finished off his last event of the national meet with another strong performance in the 1m diving. Putting down one dive after another, he battled his way to a 10^th place finish.
 
800 Freestyle Relay
Seniors Simone de Rijcke and Morgan Fischer, Junior Kamila Kunka, and Freshman Jana Hellenschmidt joined forces for the women's 800 freestyle relay was entered as the top seed.  Kunka put up a strong opening leg with a personal best by .58 seconds.  Kunka handed it off to Hellenschmidt who helped to separate the lions from the rest of the field.  Fischer dove into the water in second place to Queens University of Charlotte and swam a solid leg to give de Rijcke a fighting shot against the Royals.  De Rijcke touched the wall to give the lions their second consecutive National Runner-Up finish in the event and second fastest performance in program history.

The men's 800 freestyle relay made up of Seniors Cristian Vasquez and Haoning Chen and Sophomores Daniel Jacob and Zach Linder raced in the last final of the evening from lane 8.  The lions battled through four legs to ultimately place 8^th earning All-American status.  Their performance was the second fastest in school history.
 
Stay tuned HERE for Live Results. Tomorrow's preliminary session begins at 10am CT.

500 Freestyle
9^th – Morgan Fischer
10^th – Jana Hellenschmidt
29^th – Erin Sutton
35^th – Simone de Rijcke
21^st – Angel Regalado

100 Breaststroke
23^rd – Lexie Winnett
27^th – Shelby Quinn
4^th – Justin Winnett
13^th – Maxime Eekhof
19^th – Isaak Webb
23^rd – Haoning Chen

200 Butterfly
9^th – Jan Hanzal
10^th – Cristian Vasquez
13^th – Kian Quigley

1m Diving
10^th – Dylan Callaghan
 
800 Freestyle Relay
2^nd – Kunka, Hellenschmidt, Fischer, de Rijcke
8^th – Jacob, Chen, Vasquez, Linder



Day 2 Recap

The Lions improved their team standings on Day 2 of the 2019 NCAA Championships in Indianapolis thanks to strong performances from multiple lions including 8 individuals and 3 relays. 

200 Freestyle Relay
The women's team of Kamila Kunka, Morgan Fischer, Maddy Webb, and Lexie Winnett qualified for the consolation final by finishing 13th in the prelims.  In finals, the team of Kunka, Fischer, Erin Sutton, and Winnett moved up 3 places to 10th to score the first relay points of the meet for the LU Women. 

The men's team of Zach Linder, Justin Winnett, Haoning Chen, and Jared Thornton posted a season best time of 1:20.66 and finished 12^th in the prelims.  In the consolation final, they moved to 11^th place for their highest relay finish of the meet thus far. 

400 Individual Medley
Senior Erin Sutton posted a personal best with a time of 4:23.67, qualifying for the consolation final in 10^th place.  Fresh off the 200 freestyle relay, Sutton came from behind in her heat to finish 13^th in her final 400IM as a lion with a time of 4:25.31.

Freshman Jana Hellenschmidt qualified for her first championship final in the prelims in 5^th place with a time of 4:21.62.  Like Sutton, she fought from behind to finish in 6^th place with a time of 4:19.42.

Senior Cristian Vasquez qualified for the Championship final in the 3^rd position with a time of 3:50.74.  In finals he held his 3^rd position dropping to 3:49.75.  During his 4 years, Vasquez has qualified for the 400 IM Championship final a perfect 4 for 4 times at the NCAA Championships, the first Lion to do so in school history in any event. 

100 Butterfly
Senior Kian Quigley qualified for the consolation final finishing 16^th in prelims with a time of 48.07.  In finals he moved up to 15^th place with a time of 48.29.  This was Quigley's first time to score in this event at the NCAA Championships.

200 Freestyle
Senior Simone de Rijcke qualified for the Championship final finishing 6^th in prelims with a time of 1:49.25.  In finals she fell to 7^th place finishing with a time of 1:50.93.

Sophomore Zach Linder qualified for the Consolation final in 16^th place and held his position in finals.

1m Diving
Senior Ashley Holloway qualified for the consolation final finishing 16th and earning her second All-American Honorable Mention recognition. Freshman Katie Werkema became the program's third female diver to earn NCAA All-American recognition. After finishing 7th in preliminaries, she entered finals as the only freshman in the field; Werkema fought hard and finished 6th overall.
 
400 Medley Relay
The Lion Women fell just short of making the consolation final.  The team of Ola Tomala, Shelby Quinn, Lexie Winnett, and Simone de Rijcke finished 17^th with a time of 3:46.91

The men's team of Isaak Webb, Justin Winnett, Kian Quigley, and Zach Linder qualified for the first relay Championship final of the meet for the Lions, finishing 7^th in prelims.  They held their position in finals, improving their time to 3:13.80. 

To finish the day, the Lion Women are in 12th place overall with 76 points, while the Lion Men are currently in 12th place with 75 point.

Stay tuned HERE for Live Results. Tomorrow's preliminary session begins at 10am CT.

200 Freestyle Relay
10th – Fischer, Kunka, Sutton, Winnett
11th – Linder, Winnett, Chen, Thornton

400IM
6th- Jana Hellenschmidt
13th- Erin Sutton
3rd- Cristian Vasquez
21st- Jan Hanzal

100 Butterfly
15th- Kian Quigley
32nd­- Isaak Webb
200 Freestyle
7th- Simone de Rijcke
20th- Morgan Fischer
28th- Kamila Kunka
16th- Zach Linder
22nd- Daniel Jacob
29th- Haoning Chen
39th- Angel Regalado

1m Diving
6th- Katie Werkema
16th- Ashley Holloway

400 Medley Relay
17th- Tomala, Quinn, Winnett, de Rijcke
7th- Webb, Winnett, Quigley, Linder



Day 1 Recap

The Lions began competition today at the 2019 NCAA DII National Championships at the IU Natatorium, with 2 freshmen earning All-American honors in their first event.

1000 Freestyle
Freshman, Jana Hellenschmidt dropped 10 seconds from her personal best in the 1000 Freestyle to finish 6th overall in the event with a final time of 10:01.90. Simone de Rijcke and Morgan Fischer finished 16th and 17th, respectively.
Freshman Jan Hanzal dropped over 3 seconds in the 1000 Freestyle to finish 8th overall, with a final time of 9:13.05.

50 Freestyle
After tying for 8^th in the prelims with a season best time of 23.23, Lexie Winnett raced in a swim off to make the championship final.  In a rematch of the conference final only 3 weeks ago, Lexie finished .01 seconds behind Western Florida's Ester Rizzeto whom she had recently defeated to be crowned conference Champion.  In the consolation final, Winnett improved upon her time from the swim off and finished 12^th with a time of 23.29

3-Meter Diving
Dylan Callaghan kept his streak alive with his third consecutive strong session of diving.  After qualifying for the first time to the championships on Tuesday, he was back on the 3m boards to claim his first points at NCAAs for the team as a Lion finishing 14th overall.

200 Medley Relay
The men's 200 Medley Relay Brown, Winnett, Quigley, and Chen battled the field in the consolation-final to finish 14th overall.  Senior Justin Winnett posted the second fastest split in the field with a time of 23.84 in the 50 breastroke behind only Sasha Palazzo from Wayne State who swam a time of 23.53. 
The Lions will continue competition at the 2019 NCAA Championships tomorrow morning at 10am with finals starting at 6pm. Stay tuned for the live stream of the event at ncaa.com

Full Recap of the Day-

1000 Freestyle
6th- Jana Hellenschmidt
16th- Simone de Rijcke
17th-Morgan Fischer
8th- Jan Hanzal
24th-Angel Regalado

200IM
33rd-Erin Sutton
17th- Cristian Vasquez
25th- Kian Quigley
29th- Isaak Webb

50 Freestyle
12th- Lexie Winnett
41st- Kamila Kunka
25th- Zach Linder
30th- Justin Winnett
35th- Daniel Jacob

3-meter Diving
14th- Dylan Callaghan

200 Medley Relay
17th- Tomala, Quinn, Winnett, Kunka
14th- Brown, Winnett, Quigley, Chen