After a quiet month, Division III action is back in full swing this weekend. On Friday Emory races at Division II Florida Southern. Kenyon hops back in the pool against Ohio Northern. The NYU women will race LIU Post while their men take on USMMA.
Saturday is another big day–MIT enters four consecutive weeks of racing, each against big name teams. They’ll get things rolling against NEWMAC competition Coast Guard. Denison will take on some of Division II’s best in UIndy.
Calvin has back to back meets, racing at Albion on Friday before racing Rose Hulman Saturday. A rapidly improving Colby College squad will swim at Middlebury Saturday. The Panthers will then welcome Bates College on Sunday. On the West Coast, Pomona-Pitzer races Cal Lutheran and CMS will take on Whittier.
Denison vs. UIndy
It’s tough to find competition at any level for KT Kustritz. After all, the 100 breaststroke Division III NCAA record holder boasts a lifetime best (59.77) that would have scored points at last year’s Division I Championship. It also would have been last year’s winning time in Division II. This weekend should be no different, as Kustritz is light years ahead of UIndy’s best.
But, breaststroke appears to be the team’s week point. The Hounds have a whole crew of freestylers, backstrokers, and butterfliers who should give the Big Red some great races in their return to racing.
For the men, UIndy’s top swimmers are a small step ahead ot the Big Red’s best in many events, likely giving the Denison men some great racing opportunities as well.
Emory vs. Florida Southern
After not racing at the Denison Invite in December, we’ll see if Tom Gordon is back in the water for the Eagles. If he is, does he look like a swimmer who is moving in the direction of defending his 500 and 1650 NCAA titles? Regardless, Division II Florida Southern is likely to set the tone for the distance races, with a crew of swimmers faster than the Eagles.
In other events, the two mens teams appear well matched. The Emory women, however, especially their strong freestyle crew, are tough to keep up with.
Colby at Middlebury
Neither Colby nor Middlebury are ranked so far this year, but Colby has put together an impressive short fall season, and shows promising signs for Championship season.
Distance swimmer Ryan Bedell is having a strong sophomore season. The pieces are starting to come together for the men as first year breaststroker Max Babej has swum near his bests, and classmates John Connors and Jacob Grey have been the team’s strongest freestylers. Addie Page has been huge for the Mules in her first year so far, and is laying the foundation for the program to grow.
At last year’s Men’s NESCAC Championships Colby finished just seven points behind Middlebury. We’ll see how things shake out as the Mules and Panthers go head to head this weekend.
It’s a big weekend in terms of sheer numbers of meets, but some of the best rivalries and closest meets are still ahead. Check back Monday to see the highlights of this weekend’s NCAA Division III action.
.jpg "NCAA Division III Coverage - logo"){kind=logo}