INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Lynn University men's and women's swimming teams will send five invited student-athletes and four relay only swimmers to the 2023 NCAA Division II Championships as announced by the NCAA Swimming and Diving Committee, Wednesday. The National Championships will be held March 7-11 in Indianapolis.
NCAA Release I
SSC Release
Leading the way for the Fighting Knight men's team will be senior
Malek Masmoudi who qualified in both the 200 (1:37.05) and 500 freestyles (4:26.02). He will also compete in the 1,000 (9:18.39) and 1,650 freestyles (15:50.83) after hitting B cut times during the season.
Masmoudi was a medalist this past weekend at the Sunshine State Conference Championships in both the 200 and 500 freestyles.
Four swimmers will head to the NCAAs from the Lynn women's team and those four qualified in 13 individual events and five relay teams.
Sophomore
Laura Dekoninck will compete in the 50 (22.71), 100 (50.50) and 200 freestyles (1:50.09) along with the 100 backstroke (55.18). Dekoninck won the SSC title in the 50 freestyle and finished runner-up in the 100 freestyle.
Graduate student
Helga Fodor will swim in the 50 (22.96), 100 (49.90) and 200 freestyles (1:47.98) and 100 backstroke (55.54). She won the SSC Championship in the 100 freestyle and finished second in both the 50 freestyle and 200 freestyle.
Senior
Luna Mertins enters her second NCAA Championships after a highly successful trip a year ago. She won the 2022 NCAA Championship in the 100 butterfly (52.19) and earned four All-American awards in the process.
This year, Mertins will defend her 100 butterfly as she enters the NCAAs with a 53.19. She will also compete in the 50 freestyle (22.83), 200 butterfly (1:58.43) and 200 backstroke (1:56.56).
This past weekend, Mertins was crowned SSC Champion in the 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly and 200 backstroke. She also finished second in the 50 freestyle.
Graduate student
Karolina Smylek will compete in the 100 backstroke (55.50). This past weekend at the SSCs, she finished in sixth place in the 100 backstroke.
The relay only swimmers are
Shachaf Bachar,
Mathilde Bartolini,
Olivia Flack and
Claudia Porta.
The Lynn women also had five relay teams hit the NCAA provisional time and the swimmers for each team will be announced closer to the NCAA Championships.
The medley teams are arguably the strongest of the five relays as the 200 medley relay team is fourth in the country at 1:41.15 and the 400 medley is fourth at 3:42.44.
The 800 freestyle relay is eighth nationally at 7:23.42, the 400 freestyle team is ninth in 3:24.50, while the 200 freestyle team is 10
th at 1:32.86.
A complete NCAA Championship preview will be announced prior to the championships.
