Coaches predicted the 2009 Division II Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships would be the fastest ever.

So far, so fast.

Whether it’s because of the talent or the technical suits the talent is wearing, Division II swimmers set four meet records in the first day’s eight finals – and that was after four others were set in the afternoon preliminaries, only one of which survived the evening.

After it was all swum and done, Drury and Wayne State (Michigan) flip-flopped the 1-2 positions in the team standings, with Drury’s men leading by two and one-half points and Wayne State’s women ahead by 31 ½.

The records started in the meet’s second event when Drury’s Mitch Snyder beat Panthers alum Henrik Weible’s 2005 mark by almost five seconds in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 8:57.06. Snyder was a freshman when Weible set his standard.

“Once I got in the pool, it was a different feeling,” said Snyder, who won the event last year in 9:11.85. “The main goal was just to win. I just felt that time was unbelievable. Mentally, I just put the pedal to the metal and just went for it. It still hasn’t sunk in.”

Other men’s records fell shortly thereafter. Tampa’s Aleksander Hetland won the 200-yard individual medley in 1:46.03, breaking the “old” record of 1:47.22 that Wayne State’s Duarte Mourao set in the preliminaries. Second-place finisher Manuel Stiem of Indianapolis also topped Mourao’s mark, but it wasn’t good enough to top Hetland.

Ouachita Baptist, which stands third in the men’s team race, got there primarily because of its winning 200-yard medley relay, which set records in both the preliminaries (1:28.04) and the finals (1:27.25). Wayne State finished second and also beat Ouachita Baptist’s preliminaries time with a 1:27.97.

Significantly, the Drury men’s medley relay team was disqualified or the Panthers’ day-one lead might have been wider. Tampa and UC San Diego also lost their medley relay teams to DQ.

A DQ in the same event may have cost the Panthers even more dearly on the women’s side. Drury’s quartet completed the race as the unofficial winner until it and its 40 points were wiped off the board. Wayne State, which had finished second in the event, used the Panthers’ misfortune to lead the meet after the first day.

The Warriors got help from their first individual champion, Ashley St. Andrew, who won the meet’s leadoff event when she cruised home in 9:54.97 in the 1,000-yard freestyle, about 12 seconds faster than her own school record. Wayne State in fact scored 62 of its 114 points in the event as Catherine Leix, Melissa Duff and Natalia Buso placed fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.

“To have three teammates up there (on the podium)with me was really special,” St. Andrew said. “I really can’t believe it. I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time.”

While St. Andrew did not set a meet record, Truman’s Kate Aherne did in the 200-yard individual medley – twice. Her finals time of 2:00.61 beat her preliminaries mark of 2:01.41. Aherne also placed second – by just one one-hundredths of a second – to Drury’s Eunate Garro in the 50-yard freestyle. Garro had set a meet record in the prelims (22.64) but posted a 22.80 in the finals.

UC San Diego won the women’s 200-yard medley relay to help the Tritons to a third-place standing after the first day, followed by Truman and Ouachita Baptist.

Men’s team standings

1. Drury, 101; 2. Wayne State (Mich.), 98.5; 3.Ouachita Baptist, 78; 4.Limestone, 74; 5. Grand Valley State, 53.

Women’s team standings

1. Wayne State (Mich.), 114; 2. Drury, 82.5; 3.UC San Diego, 74; 4.Truman 63; 5.Ouachita Baptist, 62.

Event winners

Women’s 1,000-yard freestyle: Ashley St. Andrew, Wayne State, 9:54.97

Men’s 1,000-yard freestyle: Mitch Snyder, Drury, 8:57.06*

Women’s 200-yard individual medley: Kate Aherne, Truman, 2:00.61*

Men’s 200-yard individual medley: Aleksander Hetland, Tampa, 1:46.03*

Women’s 50-yard freestyle: Eunate Garro, Drury, 22.80

Men’s 50-yard freestyle: Goran Majlat, Limestone, 19.63

Women’s 200-yard medley relay: UC San Diego, 1:42.56

Men’s 200-yard medley relay: Ouachita Baptist, 1:27.25*

Men’s three-meter diving: Logan Pearsall, Clarion, 504.25