The NCAA Division III Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships will take place in Greensboro, North Carolina from March 16-19, 2016. A total of 527 participants (479 swimmers and 48 divers) will compete in the championships.
With 20 qualified swimmers from Denison and 17 from Kenyon, it is not surprising that the Big Red and the Lords are expected to be the teams to beat this year. Kenyon won its third consecutive title last year, and its 34th in 36 years. Denison, who scored heavily in diving, was runner-up. If the Big Red is dominant on the boards again, they have a shot at the NCAA DIII title. Diving could make a big difference in the second tier, where teams are battling for fifth through 13th place.
Below is a breakdown of the points awarded for each event at the NCAA Championships:
A Final Points
| Place | Individual Events | Relay Events |
| 1 | 20 | 40 |
| 2 | 17 | 34 |
| 3 | 16 | 32 |
| 4 | 15 | 30 |
| 5 | 14 | 28 |
| 6 | 13 | 26 |
| 7 | 12 | 24 |
| 8 | 11 | 22 |
B Final Points
| Place | Individual Events | Relay Events |
| 1 | 9 | 18 |
| 2 | 7 | 14 |
| 3 | 6 | 12 |
| 4 | 5 | 10 |
| 5 | 4 | 8 |
| 6 | 3 | 6 |
| 7 | 2 | 4 |
| 8 | 1 | 2 |
Here is our version of the psych sheet –without diving included– for 2016 NCAA Division III Men’s Championships. Our rankings are based on the official DIII men’s psych sheet released by the NCAA.
| Rank | Team | Points |
| 1 | Kenyon College | 404 |
| 2 | Denison University | 389 |
| 3 | Emory University | 307 |
| 4 | Johns Hopkins University | 253 |
| 5 | Washington University (MO) | 186 |
| 6 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 181 |
| 7 | Williams College | 174 |
| 8 | University of Chicago | 131 |
| 9 | Rowan University | 122 |
| 10 | Calvin College | 114 |
| 11 | New York University | 111 |
| 11 | The College of New Jersey | 111 |
| 13 | Claremont-Mudd-Scripps | 104 |
| 14 | Keene State | 55 |
| 14 | University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point | 55 |
| 14 | Whitworth University | 55 |
| 17 | Washington & Lee University | 54 |
| 18 | Worcester Polytechnic Institute | 53 |
| 19 | Albion College | 51 |
| 20 | Stevens Institute of Technology | 50 |
| 21 | Pomona-Pitzer | 49 |
| 22 | Tufts University | 47 |
| 23 | Wheaton Illinois | 46 |
| 24 | Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology | 42 |
| 25 | DePauw University | 41 |
| 26 | St. Thomas | 35 |
| 27 | York College of Pennsylvania | 33 |
| 28 | Case Western Reserve | 32 |
| 29 | Buffalo State College | 29 |
| 30 | Gettysburg | 25 |
| 30 | Sarah Lawrence | 25 |
| 32 | Wabash College | 21 |
| 33 | Birmingham-Southern College | 19 |
| 34 | Amherst College | 17 |
| 34 | Baldwin Wallace University | 17 |
| 36 | Nebraska Wesleyan University | 15 |
| 37 | Hartwick | 14 |
| 37 | Westminster | 14 |
| 39 | UC Santa Cruz | 13 |
| 40 | Connecticut College | 12 |
| 41 | University of Mary Washington | 11 |
| 42 | Franklin | 9 |
| 42 | Ohio Northern | 9 |
| 44 | Carnegie Mellon University | 5 |
| 44 | Widener University | 5 |
| 46 | Goucher | 4 |
| 46 | Linfield | 4 |
| 46 | Springfield College | 4 |
| 46 | U.S. Coast Guard Academy | 4 |
| 46 | University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire | 4 |
PANINI!!!! GET THAT COACH A HOAGIE!
But in all honesty, too bad that diving plays any role. Any diver will tell you that having their championship points added to a swimming meet makes as much sense as gymnastics being added to track & field.
Hmm, then I wonder why they call it Swimming & Diving?? Ask any diver if they feel like they are part of the team: They do dryland together with swimmers, they room together, eat together, travel together. They may not train together in the water, but then neither do the sprinters and the distance… My guess is they feel they are as much of the team as anyone and I’m sure if you ask any diver, they want their points part of the team points.
Kenyon will need to outswim seed times by a large margin to keep this close. It will come down to whether the “magic'” of the Kenyon taper is strong enough to offset Denison diving. I’m guessing that the strategy of not resting or swimming exhibition some national team members will pay off for the Lords and they win a close one.
Big Red return 61 diving points from last year’s NCAAs. Add that on and they’re seeded first by 45 points. That said, Kenyon has a couple of seed swims that are way below conservative estimations of where the guys will hit at NCAAs (e.g. Conover seeded 9th in 500 as 2nd fastest performer in D3 history). All this means it’ll be my favorite kind of swim meet: one that’s too close to call.