2018 NCAA Division III Women’s Championships: Day 2 Finals Live Recap

2018 NCAA DIVISION III WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Dates: Wednesday, March 21 – Saturday, March 24
• Swimming: prelims 10am, finals 6pm
• Location: IU Natatorium, Indianapolis, Indiana (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champions: Emory (x8) (results)
• Psych Sheet
• Video
• Live Results
• Championship Central

TEAM SCORES FOLLOWING DAY 2 (TOP 10)

1. Emory – 318
2. Williams – 254
3. Kenyon – 243
4. Denison – 203
5. Johns Hopkins – 149
6. MIT – 103
7. Pomona-Pitzer – 91
8. Wash U.  – 89
9. Amherst – 68
10. NYU – 44

WOMEN’S 200 FREE RELAY

• NCAA Record: 1:30.52 3/16/2017 , Emory (Muir, Sanchez-Aizcorbe, Taylor, Bergh)

1. Williams – 1:32.48
2. Kenyon – 1:32.77
3. Johns Hopkins – 1:33.27
4. Denison – 1:33.34
5. Pomona-Pitzer – 1:34.10
6. Calvin – 1:34.38
7. MIT – 1:34.47
8. Amherst – 1:34.96

The Williams team of Delaney Smith, Rollie Grinder, Laura Westphal, and Emma Waddell ran down Kenyon on the final 50 thanks to an incredible 21.95 split from Emma Waddell. That, as far as I can tell, is the only sub-22 splits in Division 3 history(when I have more time, I will make sure of this). Smith led off that relay in 24.03, followed by 23.44 from Grinder, and 23.06 from Westphal.

WOMEN’S 400 IM

• NCAA Record: 4:13.14 3/22/2012 Caroline Wilson, Williams

1. Molly Craig – 4:18.56
2. Ming-fen Ong – 4:19.80
3. Erica Hsu – 4:20.50
4. Julia Durmer – 4:20.59
5. Natalie Zaravella – 4:20.70
6. Maria Magdalena Turcanu – 4:22.10
7. Emma Nicklas-Morris – 4:24.82
8. Bridgitte Kwong – 4:25.18

Molly Craig, a Williams freshman, held on to the lead during the back half of the race to finish first, claiming her first individual NCAA title as a freshman. Craig posted great splits all-around, coming in at 58.14, 1:04.94, 1:15.52, and 59.96 respectively. She managed to hold off runner-up Ming-fen Ong, who outsplit Craig on fly, breast, and free, but posted a 1:07.56 backstroke split, leaving her with too much ground to make up. Craig was still over 5 seconds off the Division 3 record, but she has 3 more years to work her way down.

WOMEN’S 100 FLY

• NCAA Record: 52.64 3/20/2014 Kirsten Nitz, Wheaton (IL)

1. Emma Waddell – 53.39
2. Anne Shirley Dassow – 54.63
3. Niamh O’Grady – 54.89
4. Angela Le – 54.94
5. Meg Campbell – 55.20
6. Madeline Downs – 55.33
7. Maria Kyle – 55.49
8. Maddie Hopkins – 55.54

Emma Waddell followed up her astonishing 21.95 anchor split on the 200 free relay with a 53.39 100 fly. That time came in a bout .3 seconds faster than she registered in prelims, and was good to win by over a second. Waddell was also the only swimmer in the field to take the race out under 25 seconds, splitting 24.89 on the first 50. The race for 2nd was a tight one, with Angela Le going out 2nd fastest in the field, posting a 25.22 on the first 50. Anne Shirley Dassow then posted a 28.68 on the 2nd 50 to come in 2nd.

WOMEN’S 200 FREE

• NCAA Record: 1:44.82 3/24/2011 Kendra Stern, Amherst

1. Cindy Cheng – 1:46.89
2. Fiona Muir – 1:47.64
3. Hannah Orbach-Mandel – 1:48.45
4. Becca Erwin – 1:48.74
5. Kendall Vanderhoof – 1:49.19
6. Laura Westphal – 1:49.35
7. Julia Wawer – 1:49.42
8. Abby Wilson – 1:50.57

Cindy Cheng built an early lead and managed to hold on to it for a fairly comfortable win. Cheng had the fastest first 100 by far, splitting 24.63 and 26.65 on the first 2 50s for a 51.28 first 100. She then held on to her lead over teammate Fiona Muir to touch the wall first. Hannah Orbach-Mandel had a very fast 2nd 100 to come in 3rd. She split 55.26 after going out in 53.19, which is very good splitting for the Kenyon junior.

WOMEN’S 1 METER DIVING

• NCAA Record: 515.90 3/25/2011 Danica Roskos, TCNJ

1. Nickie Griesemer – 467.60
2. Sarah Hayhurst – 466.55
3. Blake Zhou – 466.30
4. Maura Sticco-Ivins – 453.25
5. Allison Fitzgerald – 430.70
6. Lindsey Ruderman – 426.25
7. Deborah Wen – 408.00
8. Nicki Bailey – 392.75

WOMEN’S 400 MEDLEY RELAY

• NCAA Record: 3:39.57 3/16/2017 , Emory (Cheng, Kowalsky, Sanchez-Aizcorbe, Muir)

1. Kenyon – 3:39.95
2. Emory – 3:40.32
3. Williams – 3:40.81
4. Denison – 3:41.62
5. Johns Hopkins – 3:45.20
6. Pomona-Pitzer – 3:46.35
7. Wash U. – 3:46.58
8. MIT – 3:49.47

The Kenyon team of Caitlin Foley, Julia Wilson, Crile Hart, and Hannah Orbach-Mandel held off Emory’s Fiona Muir, who was charging on the anchor leg. Foley was out in 56.14, well off the 53.65 Cindy Cheng threw down to lead the Emory relay off. Julia Wilson then cut into Emory’s lead, posting a 1:01.36 breast split to Hannah Lally’s 1:02.56 for Emory. Crile Hart was the biggest difference maker for Kenyon, blasting a 52.94 fly split to Megan Campbell’s 55.08 for Emory. Hannah Orbach-Mandel then brought Kenyon home in 49.51, which was enough to hold off Muir’s 49.03.