Truman Women, MIST Men Defend New South Titles

Six of the top Division II programs in the country travelled to Mississippi for the NSISC Championships, but it was Truman State and Missouri S&T who left with the titles.   Its a road well travelled for the two Missouri schools.

Truman State, the defending Division II national champions, finished with 960 points followed by Delta State with 805 and Henderson State (761). Ouachita Baptist (547) and Drury (243) closed out the day in the final two spots.

Defending men’s champion Missouri S&T sealed their second title in a row, racking up 868 points, followed by Delta State (740) and Ouachita Baptist (589.5). Truman State (554.5), Henderson State (507) and Drury (159) closed out the group.

The Truman women’s swimming team captured their fifth straight New South Intercollegiate Swim Conference championship on Saturday night in Cleveland, Miss.  The Bulldogs have won a conference championship 15 out of the last 16 years.  On the men's side, Missouri S&T’s swimming led the New South Intercollegiate Swimming Championships from wire-to-wire and put an exclamation point on its triumph Saturday night with wins in the final four events.
 
The Miners clinched their third straight win at the NSISC meet as David Sanchez-Turner, Zlatan Hamzic and Andrew Schranck won their individual events, then the Miners’ 400-yard freestyle relay finished the competition with a win by over three seconds over host Delta State.

The women collected six more A-cuts on the final night and have 14 swimmers qualified for the national meet next month in Houston, Texas.

Jessie Lemaster and Stephanie Myers picked up their A-cut times by coming in first and second respectively in the 1650 free, while Krista Tippin, Kate Aherne and Anna Grinter also achieved their marks on the last night of the meet.  Tippin placed third in the 200 back, Aherne was second in the 100 free and Grinter was second in the 200 fly.

The 400 free relay squad of Aherne, Carina Pautz, Tanya Slyvester and Kendra Brunkow won that event in an A-cut time of 3:29.59.
 

The women finished with 960 points and easily won the title over Delta State who amassed 805 points.  Rival Drury finished last with just 243 points.

Some Bulldogs may participate in a last chance meet in the next couple of weeks before nationals begin on March 11th at the Division II Winter Sports Festival in Houston, Texas.