NCAA Division III Championships: Kenyon Builds Leads in Both Men’s, Women’s Team Races

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, March 19. KENYON continued to demonstrate its dominance of NCAA Division III swimming as both the men's and women's squads built on their leads at the championships.

Kenyon's men pushed their top total to 358.5 points, while Emory stood second with 221 points. Denison (160), St. Olaf (150) and Grove City (97) made up the rest of the top five.

Kenyon's women wound up the night with 309 points, while Emory also sat second with 246 points. Denison (233), Williams (214.5) and Amherst (110.5) were third through fifth.

Emory's Ruth Westby, Lillian Ciardelli, Morgan Klinzing and Claire Pavlak completed a two-part revision of the women's 200-yard free relay division record with a time of 1:32.08. The swim beat the 1:32.34 set by Denison in the morning, which edged the 1:32.93 set by Denison back in 1999. Denison's Olivia Zaleski, Annamarie Novinger, Ksenia Golovkina and Kristen Hohl took second in 1:32.14, while Kenyon's Tina Ertel, Elizabeth Carlton, Meghan Quinn and Brittany Hurd finished third in 1:33.27.

Kenyon's Michael Mpitsos, David Somers, Matthew Harris and Zachary Turk set the division record in the men's 200-yard free relay with a time of 1:19.15. The readout wiped out the 1:19.14 set by Kenyon back in 1998. Denison's David Curtis, John Geissinger, Chris Bagley and MJ Barczak touched second in 1:20.79. Grove City's Drew Snyder, Kirk Gagliardo, Tim Whitbeck and Caleb Courage placed third in 1:21.08.

The women's 400-yard IM mark went through a pair of revisions. The 4:20.31 set by Williams' Amanda Nicholson last year fell to Emory's Liz Horvat in prelims with a 4:18.32. Horvat then dropped the standard to 4:16.17 in finals for the title. Nicholson settled for second in 4:17.24, while Kenyon's Victoria Lederer touched third in 4:23.88.

The 3:53.99 set by Carnegie Mellon's Brian McCarthy back in 2003 suffered the same fate in the men's 400-yard IM. First, Washington's Alex Beyer dropped a 3:53.63 during prelims before winning the title with a 3:51.45 at night. Emory's Keith Diggs finished second in 3:52.32, while Kenyon's Kegan Borland rounded out the top three.

Williams' Logan Todhunter downed the division record in the women's 100-yard fly twice. First, she clocked a 53.76 during prelims to break the 55.08 set by TCNJ's Ava Kiss last year. Todhunter then clocked a 53.54 to claim the title at night. Denison's Olivia Zaleski finished second in 54.44, while Emory's Ciardelli finished third in 55.07.

In a bit of a surprise considering the record onslaught during the evening, Denison's Aaron Cole's division record of 47.43 set in 2000 in the men's 100-yard fly remained on the books for another year. Kenyon's Harris (47.86) and Nathaniel Carruthers (48.39) finished 1-2, while UW-Stevens Point's Chase Gross finished third in 48.41.

Amherst's Kendra Stern put together a time of 1:47.67 in the women's 200-yard free to walk away with the title. The time came up short of her division record of 1:47.19 set last year. Emory's Westby took second in 1:48.80, while Amherst's Meaghan Stern finished third in 1:50.32.

The division record assault continued to be on pause in the men's 200-yard free as Kenyon's Marc Courtney-Brooks' 1:36.98 set in 2003 held up under pressure. Denison's David Curtis won the title in 1:37.20, while Amherst's Fraser finished second in 1:37.48. Emory's Mark Bernstein placed third in 1:37.69.

Merchant Marine's Nicholas Halbach won the men's one-meter diving title with 524.70 points, while Rowan's Bryan Carlisle (518.20) and Springfield's Brian Sobel (513.50) rounded out the podium.

After downing the division record of 3:46.11 set by Denison in 2001 with a preliminary time of 3:45.94, Denison's Zaleski, Golovkina, Kate Rich and Hohl crushed the record with a winning women's 400-yard medley relay time of 3:43.42 in finals. Kenyon's Carolyn Barer, Tracy Menzel, Danielle Arad and Ertel took second in 3:44.55, while Emory's Tess Pasternak, Jennifer Aronoff, Ciardelli and Westby finished third in 3:45.53.

Kenyon's Mpitsos, David Lazarus, Harris and Blair Withington broke the division record in the men's 400-yard free relay with a time of 3:15.58. The swim beat the previous record of 3:16.70 set by Kenyon in 2004. St. Olaf's Adam Meyer, Nelson Westby, Eric Witzel and Jacob Koch took second in 3:17.71, while Denison's Robert Barry, John Nemeth, Chris Bagley and David Curtis finished third in 3:19.05.

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