NCAA Division III Women’s Championships: Kenyon Women Claim Title With Depth; Amherst Lights Up Final Day

OXFORD, Ohio, March 15. THE Kenyon women's team stood upon the top of the NCAA Division III women's pedestal for the 22nd time in 25 years when the team depth was just too much to handle at the NCAA Division III Women's Championships held in Oxford, Ohio.

Kenyon captured the team title with 566.5 points, while Amherst finished second with 341 points. Amherst definitely dominated the top end of the meet, however, as the squad finished the meet with six of the 10 DIII records set during the meet. Records were set in the 200 free, 500 free, 100 back, 200 back, 100 fly, 200 IM, 400 IM, 200 medley relay, 400 free relay and 800 free relay.

Denison wound up taking third place with 328 points, while Emory (288) and Williams (269.5) rounded out the top five.

The "murder swans", as Emory's Katie Mroz called them in her Swimming World blog, took center stage during the 1650 freestyle. Kenyon's Kaitlyn Meirs owned the show as she dropped a time of 16:52.90 for the victory. That was nearly 10 seconds ahead of Mroz's teammate Liz Horvat, who finished second in 17:02.32. Washington's Kelly Kono rounded out the top three in 17:11.16.

Amherst's Brittany Sasser then became the first DIII female under 1:57 in the 200 back as she dropped a time of 1:56.33, just off her preliminary record of 1:56.23 earlier today. She'd posted a 1:57.55 in prelims last year to originally set the standard.

Sasser's teammate Kendra Stern copped another national title, this time with a 49.78 to claim the 100 free. That performance came close to the DIII record time of 49.46 of Marie Marsman in 2005.

In the 200 breast, Washington & Jefferson's Kaitlyn Orstein surfaced from the event with a win when she hit the wall in 2:16.29. Annie Perizzolo of CMS and Moira Price of Springfield placed second and third, respectively, with times of 2:18.31 and 2:18.54.

Next, Middlebury's Marika Ross recorded a one-second triumph in the 200 fly when she stopped the clock in 2:01.49 with Swathmore's Anne Miller picking up second in 2:02.44.

Kendall Swett of Tufts knocked off Shanti Freitas of Smith, 509.30 to 507.60, in a diving shootout for the three-meter title.

Amhert finished an incredible day in the 400 free relay when the team of Kendra Stern, Sasser, Erin Morrison and Meaghan Stern crushed one of the oldest DIII records on the books with a time of 3:23.64. That eclipsed Kenyon's 1998 time of 3:24.95.

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