Division III Championship Preview: The NEWMAC

Championship season is officially in full swing. With NCAA Division III teams competing in over 30 different conference championship meets, it’s tough to keep track of them all, but Swimming World will offer a preview of the action at the country’s fastest and deepest meets. Here’s a glimpse at what to expect at the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference Championships.

Teams: Babson, Clark, Coast Guard, MIT, Mount Holyoke, Springfield, Smith, Wellesley, Wheaton (MA), WPI

Location: WPI

Dates: February 21-24

An overview: The MIT women will be looking for their ninth straight and the men are chasing their 11th consecutive NEWMAC title. Wheaton made leaps and bounds last year for their women to be not far behind the Engineers. The MIT men are currently all over the top of the national rankings in a number of events and it’s tough to envision them losing a conference event this year. Their biggest competition will come from Coast Guard and WPI.

Here’s just seven of many great races (and dives) to keep an eye on this weekend…

Women’s Diving

Diving is what separated MIT from Wheaton in the team scores last year. MIT’s divers were second through fifth on three meter and first, third, fifth, and sixth on one meter.

The NEWMAC as a whole is strong at diving. It qualified seven women to Nationals last year. These women will get a first run competing against their chief competition for next weekend’s Diving Regionals.

Women’s 200 Freestyle

The 800 freestyle relay got interesting last year, with Coast Guard upsetting MIT, and Wheaton in hot pursuit in third (still in an NCAA qualifying time that featured the most unbalanced of splits).

Wheaton graduated 200 freestyle champion Jenna Hayden but runner up Lydia Dacorte returns with the second fastest time in the conference, a 1:54.44. Dacorte rocked a 4:25.41 400 IM in December though, opening up the possibility that she chooses that as a day two event, an event where she’d be the clear favorite.

For now, MIT’s Hannah Mahaffey has the fastest seed time (1:54.11) ahead of teammates Kathy Pan (1:55.47) and Ashley Pearson (1:55.49). Wellesley’s Hannah May (1:55.71) and Springfield’s Olivia Paione (1:55.80) have the fifth and sixth best times.

Then, there’s last year’s bronze medalist and relay key Kristen Durham-Young. Young was a 1:52.98 in the individual event after her 1:52.37 relay split. So far this year she’s been 1:56.29.

Women’s 200 Fly

MIT is recruiting and turning out 200 butterfliers. Last year freshman Kailey Allen dropped lifetime best 200 flies early in the season and kept improving, ultimately capping her season in a NEWMAC meet record time and NEWMAC title with a 2:00.81 and then tying that time at NCAAs for a runner up finish.

At NEWMACS, classmate Mahaffey was on her tail in 2:03.99. On the national stage, Kayla Holman finished fourth in 2:02.09 while Mahaffey was 13th (2:04.01).

Headed into the 2019 Championships Mahaffey (2:04.57), Holman (2:05.97), and Allen (2:06.02) have the three fastest times in the NEWMAC. Dacorte has some decisions to make on her races, as she’s got the fourth best time (a 2:06.90), but leads the mile by a solid margin.

WPI freshman Rayna Harter should be in the chase pack, along with Coast Guard’s senior Cece Marzinsky, and then another quartet of Engineers.

Women’s 100 Fly

Despite MIT’s 200 fly dominance, there’s a different favorite in the 100 fly: Wellesley’s freshman Jessica Wegner. Wegner raced to a 56.44 at the MIT Invite in December, ahead of a duo of MIT sophomores: Olivia McGrath (57.24) and Mahaffey (57.81).

Allen won the event in a meet record 55.74 last year, putting plenty of Engineers on the list of potential challengers for Wegner.

Men’s 500 Free

After the Engineers hold the top seven times in the 100 free and top five in the 200 free, Coast Guard breaks in with a meaningful challenge in the 500.

MIT senior Josh Graves has the fastest 500 free of the year, a 4:39.70. Coast Guard freshman Devin McClure (4:40.85) and senior Taylor Rowe (4:41.51) are the second and third seeds, though Rowe is the defending champion. Last year he touched in 4:32.90 to Graves’ 4:34.23.

While Rowe went a touch faster at NCAAs, he was still off his best from NEWMACs the year before (a 4:30.69). While Graves’ best time is a 4:27.76 from NCAAs his freshman year, he managed a 4:30.94 at Nationals last year. This race could really just come down to who is “on” on Friday night.

Men’s 100 (and 200) Back

The backstrokes are MIT’s most likely chance to lose an event. WPI’s senior Jack Bauer is the top seed in both the 100 and the 200. But, the Engineers have a crew of men behind Bauer (the next eight in the 200 and five in the 100). Bauer’s season best 100 back stands at 49.22 while MIT’s junior Tim Krajl was 49.30 in December.

In the 200, freshman Jaya Kambhampaty has the number two time, a 1:49.92 to Bauer’s 1:48.52.

Men’s 400 IM

While it looks like the butterflies should be his, Bouke Edskes will have to fight teammate Jordan Ren for the 400 IM title. Though both men are under last year’s 2018 NCAA Invited time, and might not be very rested, there’s still a meet record up for grabs- the 3:54.66 Edskes swam last year.

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