Meet results

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Missouri S&T wrapped up its week at the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships with an All-America performance from its 400-yard freestyle relay team, as the quartet of Aljaz Kerc (Ljubljana, Slovenia/Gimnazija Bezigrad), Keith Sponsler (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln East), Matt Zieger (St. Joseph, Mo./Central) and Jacob Dole (Corbin, Ky./Country Day School) finished in eighth place in the event.

The relay team posted a time of 3:03.19 in the finals after reaching the championship round with a time of 2:59.99 in the morning session.  It was the third top-eight finish for the Miners over the course of the four-day meet as Missouri S&T finished in 14^th place in the final team standings.

The Miners had two scorers in the consolation finals of the 100-yard freestyle, as Dole finished 15^th in 45.18 seconds and Kerc was 16^th with a time of 45.31 seconds.

In the preliminary rounds Saturday, Sponsler had a time of 45.80 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle, while Zieger had a mark of 46.09 and Danylo Mykhailov (Khankiv, Ukraine/Sport Collegue N.S.) a time of 46.74.  Ethan Goldfarb (Arlington, Texas/The Oakridge School) posted a time of 2:02.59 in the 200-yard breaststroke.

Drury claimed its ninth consecutive national championship by nearly 150 points over Florida Southern.   Incarnate Word came in third place and Grand Canyon finished fourth in the team standings.  The Miners finished the meet with exactly 100 points as 29 teams scored points at the meet.

Friday's Recap

Missouri S&T's swimming team got its second top-eight finish in as many days at the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships, as the Miners' 800-yard freestyle relay team posted an eighth place finish Friday night.

The team of Aljaz Kerc (Ljubljana, Slovenia/Gimnazija Bezigrad), Keith Sponsler (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln East), Matt Zieger (St. Joseph, Mo./Central) and Jacob Dole (Corbin, Ky./Country Day School) earned All-America honors in the event by finishing in a time of 6:40.19, finishing a little over a second better than the ninth-place time of 6:41.33 recorded by the University of California-San Diego.

The eighth place showing by the Miners was the only scoring performance by S&T on Friday. 

In the morning preliminaries, Andrew Schranck (Alton, Ill./Marquette Catholic) just missed the finals of the 200-yard butterfly as he finished 18^th in a time of 1:52.05.  Ethan Goldfarb (Arlington, Texas/The Oakridge School) recorded a time of 4:40.90 in the 500-yard freestyle and Danylo Mykhailov (Khankiv, Ukraine/Sport Collegue N.S.) finished with a mark of 51.91 seconds in the 100-yard backstroke.

Thursday's Recap

Missouri S&T got its first top-eight finisher at the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships Thursday evening, as Keith Sponsler (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln East) took seventh place in the 200-yard freestyle.

Sponsler, who qualified eighth in the event in the morning preliminaries, improved his time by 0.05 seconds to 1:38.44 to earn his seventh place finish and first top-eight finish at the national level as a collegian.

The Miners got a pair of 12^th place finishes Thursday from their relay teams, as the 200-yard freestyle quartet of Jacob Dole (Corbin, Ky./Country Day School), Keith Sponsler (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln East), Aljaz Kerc (Ljubljana, Slovenia/Gimnazija Bezigrad), and Danylo Mykhailov (Khankiv, Ukraine/Sport Collegue N.S.) finished with a time of 1:21.79 and the 400-medley team of Mykhailov, Kerc, Andrew Schranck (Alton, Ill./Marquette Catholic) and Dole finished their race in 3:22.13 after posting a 3:20.38 in the morning session.

Ethan Goldfarb (Arlington, Texas/The Oakridge School) recorded a 15^th place finish in the 400-yard individual medley, posting a time of 3:58.80 as did Schranck in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 49.68 in the consolation finals.  Schranck had a mark of 49.25 in the morning session.

Earlier in the day, Matt Zieger (St. Joseph, Mo./Central) had a time of 1:41.02 in the preliminary rounds of the 200-yard freestyle.

Wednesday's Recap

The Miners' best performance Wednesday came from its 200-yard medley relay team of Andrew Schranck (Alton, Ill./Marquette Catholic), Aljaz Kerc (Ljubljana, Slovenia/Gimnazija Bezigrad), Danylo Mykhailov (Khankiv, Ukraine/Sport Collegue N.S.) and Jacob Dole (Corbin, Ky./Country Day School), as it finished in 12th place in a time of 1:30.38.

Ethan Goldfarb (Arlington, Texas/The Oakridge School) placed 13^th in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:22.21, while Jacob Dole (Corbin, Ky./Country Day School) finished 14^th in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 20.49 seconds.

Schranck swam in the preliminaries of the 200-yard individual medley and finished with a time of 1:52.06, while a trio of Miners competed in the preliminary round of the 50-freestyle.  Mykhailov had a time of 20.74 seconds in that event, Keith Sponsler (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln East) finished in 20.86 and Matt Zieger (St. Joseph, Mo./Central) in 21.15 seconds.

The national meet, which is part of the NCAA Division II Winter Sports Festival, will continue through Saturday.