EVANSVILLE, Ind. – On the biggest stage, the Nova Southeastern University women's swimming team clinched some hardware to come back to Fort Lauderdale, led by the relay team of Kristina Orban, Mollie Morfelt, Hannah Montgomery and Maya Esparza. That group proved nobody can swim with the Sharks, as they set a new national record and won the NCAA DII National Championship in the 200-yard medley relay. At the NCAA DII National Championships, the Sharks' 200-yard medley relay team delivered a historic performance, with the anchor touching the wall at 1:39.79 to set a new NCAA DII National Record. That time eclipsed the previous mark of 1:38.30 set by the University of Indianapolis during last year's national championships. The quartet wasn't the only Shark to dominate the waters on Wednesday, as Emilia Ronningdal claimed the national championship in the women's 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:58.83 beating out runner-up Gwen Bergum of Drury by less than half a second to clinch the national title in the event.
Other Sharks to take home trophies included Hailey Williams, the runner-up in the women's 1000-yard freestyle less than five seconds behind the national champion from Missouri-St. Louis. Williams finished with a time of 9:50.42.
The Sharks claimed silver not only in the longest event of the day, but also the shortest, with short-distance swimmer Kristina Orban claiming second in the women's 50-yard freestyle finishing the race in just 22.35 seconds, well below her seed time.
Williams wasn't alone in the pool as teammate Zsofia Kurdi ran the national championship heat as well, finishing in fifth with a time of 22.67. Through 10 events at the NCAA National Championships, the Nova Southeastern women sit comfortably in the lead in the team standings with 163 points, trailed in second position by Tampa with 129.5 points and Drury sitting in third with 94.
The Sharks are seeking their fourth-consecutive women's team swimming national championship while in Evansville.
Action resumes with preliminaries in Evansville on Thursday at 10:00 a.m. with more national championships, trophies, and team points being handed out at 5:30 p.m. for the event finals for 100-yard butterfly, 400-yard individual medley, 200-yard freestyle, and the 400-yard medley relay. With three national championships already secured this during the meet, the Sharks continue to circle and dominate the waters and will look to bring another team national title back to Fort Lauderdale. The national championship meet will go through Saturday night. To stay up-to-date on the Sharks, follow on Instagram and X at NSU_Swim.
