NCAA Division III Championships: Emory Women, Kenyon Men Extend Leads Amid Several Divisional Records

By Reed Shimberg

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee, March 24. DAY two of the NCAA Division III Championships featured a number of division records as the Kenyon men and Emory women extended their leads at the meet.

The Emory women finished the day in first with 320 points, while Denison held second with 225 points. Williams (217), Kenyon (198) and College of NJ (115) stood third through fifth. Kenyon led the men's race with 258 points, while Denison stood second with 217 points. Emory (183), MIT (137) and Williams (120) rounded out the top five.

The Denison women opened up the night with a victory in the 200 freestyle relay defeating the two-time defending champions Emory, 1:32.33 to 1:33.03. The Denison team was made up of Morgan Nuess, Alyssa Swanson, Lianne McCluskey, and Ksenia Golovkina, while the Emory team was comprised of Renee Rosenkranz, Suzanne Lemberg, Ann Wolber, and Claire Pavlak. The Williams women were third with a time of 1:33.85.

The Kenyon men won the 200 freestyle relay, just off their national record setting time last year finishing in 1:19.70 with David Somers, Michael Mpitsos, Collin Ohning, and Curtis Ramsey. They handedly defeated Emory and Denison, which finished second and third with times of 1:21.00 and 1:21.48 respectively. Kenyon relied on two sub-20 second splits by Mpitsos and Ohning to win the event.

Williams junior Caroline Wilson came back after finishing second in the 500 freestyle last night to win the 400 IM, crushing the divisional record by more than two seconds. She defeated the record holder Elizabeth Horvat from Emory, 4:13.90 to 4:15.02. Horvat had held the record with a 4:16.17 from 2009. Kaitlyn Meirs from Kenyon finished well behind in third finishing in 4:25.00. Wilson relied on a fast opening 100 (57.27) to win the event.

Paul Dyrkacz of Wiilliams continued the winning ways of Williams to win the men's 400 IM in 3:52.97. He defeated St. Olaf senior Chris Bateman and Denison junior Daniel Thurston, who finished in 3:54.74 and 3:55.22, respectively. Dyrkacz split a 1:05.03 in the breaststroke leg to cement the win.

Logan Todhunter of Williams won the 100 butterfly for her second national title of the meet in 53.57 after breaking her own divisional record in the prelims with a time of 52.84. Leslie Hackler of Emory finished second in 54.75 and Laura Pierce of College of New Jersey finished third in 55.01.

Middlebury senior John Dillon won the 100 butterfly for the second year in a row finishing in 47.62 defeating Michael Mpitsos of Kenyon and Wyatt Ubellacker of MIT, who finished in 48.15 and 48.24 respectively.

Kendra Stern of Amherst won her second national title of the meet, crushing her divisional record in the 200 freestyle and dominating the event winning in 1:44.82. Stern's previous mark had been a 1:45.31 set last year. Alyssa Swanson of Denison finished second in 1:48.89 and Amanda Croix of Carthage finished third in 1:49.25.

Williams senior Gary Roberson won the fourth individual event of the night for Williams winning the 200 freestyle in 1:37.51. Craig Fleming of Kalamazoo finished second in 1:37.79, and Alex Fraser who won the event last year finished third in 1:38.47.

Nick Halbach of the US Merchant Marine Academy won the one-meter diving with a score of 497.80. Andrew Krafft of Calvin finished second with 459.00, and Brian Sobel of Springfield finished third with 448.35.

The Emory ladies broke the divisional record in the 400 medley relay as Sadie Nennig, April Whitley, Leslie Hackler, and Claire Pavlak finished in 3:42.82. Denison held the previous standard with a 3:43.42 from 2009. Williams finished second with Stephanie Nguyen, Caroline Wilson, Logan Todhunter, and Carolyn Geller finishing second with 3:43.49. Denison finished third in 3:43.89.

The Kenyon men continued their relay dominance as they broke their divisional record in the 400 medley relay in a time of 3:15.35. Kenyon owned the old mark with a 3:15.48 from last year. The team was made up of Michael Mpitsos, Collin Ohning, James Chapman, and Ian Stewart-Bates. The Denison team of Robert Barry, James Lewing, Spencer Fronk, and Michael Barczak finished second in 3:16.29 and Amherst finished third in 3:18.76.

Action continues tomorrow at 11 a.m. ET with the 200 fly, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke, women's 1 meter diving, and the 800 free relay.

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