NCAA Division III Championships: Kenyon Men, Emory Women Lead After Day One

By Reed Shimberg

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, March 17. THE first night of action at the NCAA Division III men and women's national swimming and diving championships is in the books. Quick times and national records highlighted this evening's short course yards action.

After one day, the men's heavy favorite Kenyon Lords are leading the meet by more than 100 points with a score of 173, while Emory is in second with a score of 70.5. Kalamazoo, Denison and MIT round out the top 5 with 63, 61, and 53 points.

On the women's side the Emory Eagles have more than a 30-point lead with 135 points to Denison's 102. Williams, Kenyon and Amherst are third, fourth and fifth with 81, 70, 41 points each.

Men's 500 Freestyle
Alex Fraser of Amherst came from behind again to retain the title in the event with a time of 4:24.84 well off his national record. His final 50 of 25.12 was the fastest of the night. Mike Vernoia of TCNJ was the runner up in 4:25.28. Going out in first and second for most of the race were Ian Stewart-Bates of Kenyon and Alex Beyer of Washington University who finished third and fourth respectively with times of 4:25.34 and 4:26.21.

Women's 500 Freestyle
Caroline Wilson of Williams and Kendra Stern of Amherst swam the race in dominant fashion leading the entire way as Wilson snuck in at the end and out touched Stern in a time of 4:45.47 to 4:45.53. Both times were under the national record set by Liz Horvat of Emory last year. Hillary Callen of Denison was third 4:50.41 and Horvat was fourth in 4:52.45.

Men's 200 IM
Collin Gladys of Redlands won the event in 1:48.55 leading from start to finish but rode his very fast 50 breast split of 30.46 to victory. Blair Withington of Kenyon was second in 1:50.43 and Chirs Bateman of St. Olaf was third in 1:50.64. Jake Lewing of Denison was fourth in a time of 1:51.04.

Women's 200 IM
Logan Todhunter of Williams who earlier this morning rocked the fastest time in prelims out of lane eight and heat two won the event in 2:02.57. She dominated the underwaters having more than a body length lead after the first 25. Anna Kokensparger of MIT was second in 2:03.23 while Jenn Aronoff of Emory was third in 2:04.08. Caitlin Lehberger took her fastest final 50 in the heat to a fourth-place finish in 2:04.15.

Men's 50 Freestyle
This morning preliminary session saw Zachary Turk set the national record in a swift 19.75. The swim cleared the time of 19.85 set by Alex Sweet of Washington and Lee back in 2008. Turk did go on to win the event in 19.99. David Somers of Kenyon was second in 20.08. Craig Fleming of Kalamazoo was third and Luke Cummings was fourth in 20.30 and 20.37. Notably Tufts' Owen Rood finished in ninth in 20.44 a time that would have placed him fifth.

Women's 50 Freestyle
Ruth Westby scared the national record in prelims, just .01 off the 22.71 but it was Amanda Croix of Carthage who finished first with a time of 22.77 also just off the record. Westby finished second in 22.92 and Sheila Rhoades from Ithaca finished third in 23.18. Rounding out the top four was Laura Barito of Stevens in 23.23.

Men's 3 meter Diving
Phil Devine of UW Oshkosh won the 3 meter diving this evening with a score of 563.00. Nicholas Halbach of Merchant Marine was second with a score of 555.00 and Nathan LaRowe of SUNY Potsdam was third with a score of 542.95. Taking fourth was Eric Messina of SUNY Oswego with a score of 541.95.

Men's 200 Medley Relay
Not surprisingly Kenyon repeated as champions while breaking their national record by a full second with a time of 1:27.74. Their relay of Michael Mpitsos, Collin Ohning, Nathan Carruthers, and Turk took the lead during the breaststroke leg and never looked back. Turk anchored the relay in a blistering 19.12. Kalamazoo's relay of Paul Ellis, Alfonso Espinosa, Barrett Mueller, and Brian Bazzell was second in a time of 1:29.59. Third place went to MIT with Jeff Zhou, Rastislav Racz, Wyatt Ubellacker, and Luke Cummings with a time of 1:29.94 and fourth place went to Denison's Robert Barry, Jake Lewing, Matt Edgin, and MJ Barczak with a time of 1:31.28.

Women's 200 Medley Relay
Denison repeated as champions going 1:41.92 with Olivia Zaleski, Kate Rich, Gail Blachly, and Ksenia Golovkina. CMS was runner-up with Elsa Cheng, Annie Perizzolo, Katie Bilotti, and Emma Jones going 1:43.09. Williams and Emory finished third and fourth with Kathryn Ha, Lisa Cucolo, Todhunter, and Carolyn Geller going 1:44.55 while Jackie Schneider, April Whitley, Lillian Ciardellie, and Claire Pavlak going 1:44.71.

The meet continues tomorrow at 11 a.m. ET with the 200 free relay, 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 free, and 400 medley relay.

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