Division III Weekend Preview: Best of D-3 Challenges Best of D-2

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Photo Courtesy: Emory Athletics

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Three of the nation’s top Division III swimming schools will be going up against Division II schools of equal caliber this weekend. At the end of last year on the men’s side, Emory ranked third, TCNJ ranked seventh and Rowan eleventh. For the women, Emory won the NCAA team title once again, claiming their seventh-straight Championship for women’s swimming and diving.

Division III Meet of the Week: Emory vs. Queens

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Photo Courtesy: Emory Athletics

While the Rowan/Bridgeport meet will post some fast men’s times, Emory vs. Queens will do the same for the women. The two teams did not face each other in a dual last year, but both won their respective NCAA Championships. As the best of Division III takes on the best of Division II, keep an eye out for the following races:

  • 50/100 free – Emory’s Fiona Muir will have her work cut out for her in the sprint events against the Royals’ Kyrie Dobson. Dobson swam a 23.01 last season while Muir posted a 22.81. Dobson has already gone 23.90 this season, which is faster than Muir swam in dual meets last year. She also has the upper edge in the 100 after last year, but will need to contend with Dobson and possibly NCAA Champion Patricia Castro Ortega.
  • 100 breast – Even though Division II NCAA runner-up Brittney Phelan graduated, sophomore Shelley Prayson is ready to take over as the top breaststroker for the Royals. She posted a 1:01.83 and and has been 1:06.57 so far this season. Her challenge will come from Emory senior Annelise Kowalsky, who raced to a 1:02.52 at last year’s NCAAs. While Kowalsky is more dominant in the 200 breast and should win that event, taking the 100 will be a challenge.
  • Freestyle relay – At the 2016 NCAA Championships, Emory swam to a 1:31.42 while Queens posted a 1:32.76. In the 400 distance, the roles were reversed as the Eagles swam a 3:21.37 to Queens’ 3:20.27. Both teams have depth to support their sprint stars, but Emory has a much better chance at winning the shorter distance. The Royals have already had two swimmers post :52s this season.

The College of New Jersey vs. Southern CT State University

Photo Courtesy: Hayley Good

Photo Courtesy: Hayley Good

After an impressive showing at last year’s NCAA Championships, TCNJ will take on an impressive SCSU squad. The Owls sent two men to last year’s NCAA Championships. Both of these men graduated, but they will look to junior Tyler Vander Vos and senior Dylan Swanepoel to lead the way. At last year’s Metropolitan Championships, TCNJ outscored SCSU 1325 to 894. Expect TCNJ to come out on top of the team scores, but keep an eye out for these races to watch:

  • Men’s 50/100/200 free – Vander Vos may be up against three separate competitors in these events. TCNJ’s freshman Harrison Yi has already swam a 1:44.5 this season, less than four seconds off his lifetime best from YMCA Nationals in March. Adam Coppola will step up in the 50, as will Scott Vitabile in the 100.
  • Men’s 500 free – Yi will lead the way again in this event; his closest challenger will be freshman Max Padro for the Owls. Both first years have been 4:49 this year. This was just off Padro’s lifetime best as this was not one of his primary events in high school. Yi comes in at 4:36.89.
  • Men’s 200 IM – Padro will most likely be at it again the 200 IM. His 2:03.76 from two weeks ago will stack well against Christopher O’Sullivan and Andrew Ro who have both gone 2:04.6 this season. The TCNJ men swim essentially the same race, and will need to push the breaststroke leg of the race if they want to track down Padro in the back end.

On the women’s side, the ultimate score should be a bit closer, but TCNJ should win this side of the meet as well. At last year’s contest, TCNJ won 160-128. With the graduation of Lauren Rothstein, SCSU’s All-American Katie Crochet should have the sprint events pretty much wrapped up this go around. She will need solid back-up from her teammates if the Owls want to come out on top on Saturday. It may come down to these races:

  • Women’s 200 back – Juniors Jillian Galindo (TCNJ) and Aubrey Bailey (SCSU) will battle in this event for the third year. Galindo got the edge last year, but Bailey has already been 1:03 in the 100 back this year, equal to what she swam against TCNJ last year.Galindo will have strong backup from Hailey Thayer and Katie Kilfeather, so it will be up to Bailey to make a statement in this race.
  • Women’s free relay – SCSU out-touched TCNJ by .09 in last year’s 400 free relay. With Crochet as the anchor you can expect the Owls to come out on top in this one. However, you will not see TCNJ go down without a fight, expect this one to be close right down to the finish.

Rowan vs. Bridgeport

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Photo Courtesy: Rowan University Athletics

At last year’s dual meet between these two teams, the Rowan men were victorious in a close 104-98 match up. The Bridgeport women won 117-76. Neither team lost too much star power due to graduation last year, and Rowan’s depth should put them over the edge against Bridgeport. On the men’s side, the teams have opposite strengths; Rowan’s power is in the sprint events while Bridgeport has shown success in the distance races. This will not pose too many tight races themselves, so it will come down to the second, third and fourth place swimmers to decide to will win this one. Swimmers to watch include NCAA runner-up Jesse Novak in the 50 and 100 free and senior Nick Marks in the fly events. Marks’ 100 fly may be one of the more intense races against Bridgeport’s Brian Kelly and Didac Matsuyama. Novak will be looking to start his hunt for an individual national championship title and to challenge the current national top times lists in his respective events. The times currently stand at 21.01 (Ian Gaynor – Widener) and 46.16 (Ryan Boraski – Keene State).

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