Both Men’s, Women’s Team Races Intriguing After Day One at NCAA Division III Championships

NCAA Championship editorial coverage is proudly sponsored by Competitor Swim. Visit CompetitorSwim.com for more information on our sponsor. For all the latest coverage, check out our event coverage page.

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, March 19. NOTHING has been close to decided after day one of the NCAA Division III Championships at the IU Natatorium at IUPUI other than a clear delineation of which teams are title contenders, and which are not.

The Denison men are looking to recapture their title after losing it to Kenyon last year. Kenyon had won 31 straight titles from 1980-2010 before Denison won in 2011 and 2012. Kenyon turned the tables last year.

Denison finished the night with 173 points, while Kenyon stands second with 104 points. Emory (73), Chicago (59) and MIT (47) rounded out the top five. Keene State (45), St. Olaf (40), CMS (39), Williams (34) and Johns Hopkins (34) hold the rest of the top 10 spots.

Meanwhile, the Emory women is looking to win their fifth consecutive team title after collecting 127 points after day one. Johns Hopkins, meanwhile, surprised with 100 points due largely to their incredible depth in the sprint events with a strong 50 free and 200 medley relay.

Denison (99) and Kenyon (97), the other two team title contenders, finished night one in third and fourth, while Amherst tied Williams for fifth with matching 49s. Middlebury (26), Luther (24), Washington U (23) and Gustavus Adolphus (21) comprised the rest of the top 10.

Denison’s senior Allen Weik opened up the night in dominant fashion with a 4:24.31 to win the men’s 500-yard freestyle. That’s his third time winning the event, a streak that included the NCAA D3 record of 4:21.79 from 2012. Securing the top spot also proved to be important in the team battle as Denison needs Weik firing on all cylinders as well as an overwhelming diving performance to claim the team title ahead of Kenyon.

Keene State’s Drew Ledwith posted a second-place effort of 4:26.94, while Kenyon’s Arthur Conover clinched third overall in 4:27.40 as part of a huge Kenyon effort in the finale. Kenyon’s Andrew Chevalier (4:30.09) and Jose Guilfoyle (4:30.36) also went sixth and seventh to maximize team points for the Lords with 41 points overall.

Johns Hopkins’ Andy Greenhalgh (4:28.37), Keene State’s Shahar Resman (4:29.46) and TCNJ’s Stephen Tarnowski (4:36.38) also competed in the finale, taking fourth, fifth and eighth overall in the finale.

Williams’ Sarah Thompson blistered the field in the women’s 500-yard freestyle with a winning time of 4:48.19. She averaged 29 lows the entire swim before coming home in 28.75 to win by more than three seconds.

Kenyon’s Mariah Williamson took second in 4:51.48, just edging Emory’s Courtney McDermott (4:51.53) for what could be an all-important team point as Kenyon, Emory and Denison do battle for the team title. Denison’s Campbell Costley checked in with a fourth-place time of 4:51.96 in what proved to be a close contest for the second-fourth spots.

Emory’s McKenna Newsum-Schoenberg (4:52.08), Denison’s Taylor Johns (4:52.29), Kenyon’s Sydney Lindblom (4:57.06) and Washington U’s Sara Taege (4:59.61) rounded out the rest of the championship finale.

Redlands’ Jeffrey Depew defended his men’s 200-yard IM title from last year in a close competition with Mary Washington’s Hugh Anderson. Depew clinched the title, 1:47.44 to 1:47.75, after turning nearly identical with Anderson at the 150-yard mark.

Denison had a monster event with four up and one down as Carlos Maciel (1:48.92), Spencer Fronk (1:49.96), Jack Humphrey (1:50.00) and Bart Brunk (1:51.24) finished third, sixth, seventh and eighth in the finale, while Jack Lindell finished 15th in 1:50.71.

USMMA’s Kevin Lindgren (1:49.43) and Emory’s Andrew Wilson (1:49.66) also competed in the championship finale. Denison had a huge event in terms of scoring, taking an 81-50 lead ahead of Kenyon, which only had Ian Reardon score with a ninth-place 1:49.32.

Amherst’s Emily Hyde cruised her way to a one-second victory in the women’s 200-yard IM with a 2:01.53, fending off a pair of Emory swimmers who are battling for ever-important team title points. Annelise Kowalsky took second overall on 2:02.78 with Emory teammate Sadie Nennig clinching third in 2:03.33.

Johns Hopkins’ Samantha Fox (2:04.10), Denison’s Michelle Howell (2:04.15), Bates’ Sara Daher (2:04.31), Washington U’s Anh Chi Pham (2:05.01) and Denison’s Natalie Lugg (2:07.86) earned the rest of the finished in the championship finale.

After the 200 IM, Emory pushed its lead with 86 points as Denison stood second with 53 points. Kenyon, the other team title contender, stood third with 38 points.

In the always-popular men’s 50-yard free, Coast Guard’s Chris Brindamour matched his preliminary time of 20.06 to win the NCAA title, while morning top-seed Austin Fathman of MIT couldn’t replicate his 20.04 from prelims as he wound up seventh in 20.63.

Emory’s Ross Spock hit the wall second in the sprint freestyle with a 20.15, while Gettysburg’s Jason Potter finished third overall in 20.32.

Denison’s Ryan Fleming (20.35, 4th) and Conrad Wuorinen (20.59, 12th) helped their squad become the first team to clear 100 team points with a leading tally of 101.

Trinity’s Stephen Culberson (20.37), Kenyon’s Joseph Duronio (20.48) and Johns Hopkins’ Anthony Lordi (20.64) finished fifth, sixth and eighth overall in the splash-and dash. Duronio helped Kenyon stand second with 72 points against Denison’s 101, as the two teams already began powering away from the rest of the field.

Notably, Whitter’s Filip Dajkovich was disqualified in the consolation heat after falling into the water prior to the start. Twitter blew up in response believing he should have had another shot at swimming.

Johns Hopkins put together an epic outing in the women’s 50-yard freestyle with three of the championship eight finalists. Anastasia Bogdanovski threw down a 22.80, the only sub-23 of the day in the event, to capture the title. She just missed Elizabeth Carlton’s 2009 D3 meet record of 22.71.

Teammates Kylie Ternes (23.47) and Sarah Rinsma (23.53) finished sixth and seventh for JHU in the finale.

Denison’s Carolyn Kane clipped Kenyon’s Jourdan Cline, 23.27 to 23.38, for third-place honors, while IWU’s Kirsten Slaughter placed fifth in 23.44. Redlands’ Chandra Lukes claimed the final finish with a 23.67.

Heading into the diving break, Emory held the lead in the women’s race with 95 points, while Denison (69) and Kenyon (63) were in a battle for second. Johns Hopkins also entered the fray with 60 points for fourth.

Denison then dropped a big-time hammer on Kenyon in the men’s three-meter diving finale. Connor Dignan won with an NCAA meet record tally of 613.90 points. That beat USMMA’s Nicholas Halbach, who totaled 591.65 in 2011. Dignan, however, set the D3 overall record with 645.70 points at his conference championships.

Teammates Max Levy (536.40), Ben Lewis (459.90) and Brian Allen (459.00) placed second, eighth and 11th to push Denison out to a big lead.

Chicago’s Anthony Restaino took third overall with 520.60 points, while Tufts’ Johann Schmidt placed fourth with 520.10 points.

Colorado’s Austin Howlett (501.50), CMS’ James Stevick (49.3.65) and Chicago’s Matt Staab (493.60) placed fifth through seventh.

Heading into the 200 medley relays, Denison held the men’s team title lead with 155 points against Kenyon’s 72.

Denison then made the best of a potentially bad situation in the men’s 200-yard medley relay by winning the consolation heat with a 1:29.63 as Spencer Fronk, Damon Rosenburg, Andrew Rich and Conrad Wuorinen maximized the available team points. Wuorinen even threw in a sizzling 19.97 anchor.

Emory’s Ross Spock (21.97), Andrew Wilson (24.68), Jacob Stephens (21.75) and Ryan Bass (19.76) took home the championship title with a time of 1:28.16. MIT’s Bo Mattix (22.71), Michael Liao (24.88), Sean Corcoran (22.06) and Austin Fathman (20.02) raced their way to second in 1:29.67, while Kenyon’s Harrison Curley (22.56), Trevor Manz (25.42), Ryan Funk (21.71) and Joseph Duronio (20.05) earned third in 1:29.74.

St. Olaf (1:29.98), Chicago (1:30.06), CMS (1:30.10), Williams (1:30.28) and TCNJ (1:30.81) comprised the rest of the championship heat in the relay.

Although most of the attention has been on Emory, Kenyon and Denison, Johns Hopkins’ made some serious noise after the 50 free and relays as Taylor Kitayam (25.00), Pilar Shimizu (28.85), Kylie Ternes (24.89) and Sarah Rinsma (23.20) won the 200-yard medley relay with a 1:41.94 to help JHU end the night in second.

Kenyon’s Celia Oberholzer (25.80), Katie Kaestner (28.25), Jourdan Cline (25.31) and Jenner McLeod (23.05) took second in 1:42.41 with Emory’s Ella Thompson (26.17), Annelise Kowalsky (28.79), Marcela Sanchez-Oizcorbe (24.94) and Marissa Bergh (23.08) taking third in 1:42.98.

Denison (1:43.59), Amherst (1:44.18), Middlebury (1:44.43), Luther (1:44.65) and Williams (1:45.26) made up the rest of the finale.

Results For: NCAA Division III Championships: Day One

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use