Aurora Duncan is national runner-up in 400 IM; DU men’s 400 Medley Relay team finishes second at national meet

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.— Drury women’s swimmer Aurora Duncan was the national runner-up in the 400 Individual Medley, and the Drury men’s 400 Medley Relay team finished second in the nation on the second full night of competition at the NCAA-II swimming & diving national championships at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis, Indiana on Thursday.
 
The Drury women’s team is in third with 178.5 points. Nova Southeastern leads the meet with 300.5 points, and Indianapolis is in second with 227.
 
The DU men’s squad is also in third but in a much tighter race among the top three teams. Indianapolis leads the meet with 254.5 points, McKendree is in second with 197.5 and the Panthers have 189 points for third.  
 
Aurora Duncan swam to a national runner-up in the 400 Individual Medley. The sophomore from Irvine, California, posted a time 4:15.43 to finish behind May Lowy from Nova Southeastern, who won with a time of 4:13.80. Duncan’s second place time was nearly seconds ahead of the third-place finisher.
 
Drury had two top-eight finishers in the women’s 200 Freestyle as Josie Bushell came in fifth with a time of 1:48.80 and Ellie Walker was seventh (1:49.50).
 
The Drury women’s team finished the night with fourth place in the 400 Medley Relay. Allie Waller, Claire Conover, Mellie Wijk and Ellie Walker combined for a time of 3:43.14.
 
Drury’s men’s 400 Medley Relay team was the national runner-up. The Panthers were edged by McKendree as Nathan Bighetti, Davi Mourao, Dominik Karacic, and Kham Glass’ time of 3:08.85 was just short of the Bearcats mark of 3:08.08.
 
Dominik Karacic reached the podium earlier in the night as he finished sixth in the 100 Butterfly with a time of 46.70.
 
The Panthers also finished fourth and eighth in the men’s 400 IM as Joao Nogueira was fourth (3:47.66), and Andrew Rodriguez came in eighth (3:53.02).
 
Cole Earl, a senior from Springfield (Glendale HS), came in fifth in three-meter diving. Earl racked up 520 points and was just 1.55 out of fourth. He will compete again in the one-meter competition on Saturday night.
 
“Our women’s and men’s team are similar in that we know our first two days are not our best days,” said Drury assistant coach Zach Mertens. “We’re looking for our depth on the guys’ side to drive home the last two days. On the girls side, we’ve got a bunch that are really fast. We can put together some good events and great freestyle relays, so we’ve still got that to come.”
 
The NCAA-II National Championships continue Friday morning at 9 am (Central) with the preliminary heats of the 500 Freestyle. Friday night’s finals start at 5 pm (CST).
 
 
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This article is provided by Drury University Athletics
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