Kenyon Frosh Crile Hart Dominates NCAC Champs; Kenyon W, Denison M Win

2018 NCAC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• February 14-17, 2018
• Denison, OH
• Full results

The Kenyon women and Denison men swam to NCAC conference titles over the weekend, with notable performances shown by Kenyon freshman Crile Hart.

The first year from Pepper Pike, OH, won three individual titles and was a force on relays, helping Kenyon to victories in three of the four relays she swam on.

Hart posted times of 1:59.70 in the 200 IM (NCAC Championships meet record, Denison pool record), 54.55 in the 100 fly (meet record, pool record), and 1:56.83 in the 200 back (meet record, pool record). She broke program records in the 200 IM and 200 back. On relays, Hart led off the victorious 200 medley (25.48), their runner-up 400 medley relay (55.02), split 22.69 on their winning 200 free relay, and led off their winning 400 free relay in 50.28.

Kenyon’s relays were very quick this weekend. Their 200 free relay (which had a 22.67 anchor from another freshman, Emmerson Mirus) combined for a 1:32.73, while their 200 medley relay was 1:41.18 (pool record, .01 off of the meet record) and their 400 free relay was 3:22.22 (pool and meet record, with a 49.85 anchor from Hannah Orbach-Mandel). Denison was their toughest competition in all of these relays, and while they DQ’d their 200 medley relay, they beat out Kenyon by a single hundredth in the 400 medley relay, 3:44.03 to 3:44.04.

KT Kustritz and Maddie Hopkins had remarkable legs on Denison’s winning 400 medley relay, as Kustritz, a sophomore, split 1:00.76 on the breaststroke, while the freshman Hopkins was 54.83 on the fly leg. Kustritz won the 100 breast (1:01.74), 100 IM (57.21, new pool and meet record), and took 2nd in the 200 IM (2:02.51). Hopkins finished 2nd in the 50 free (23.62) behind Kenyon’s Mirus (23.51), 2nd in the 100 fly (56.10) behind Hart, and 7th in the 100 free (52.25).

Hannah Orbach-Mandel was big for Kenyon as well, winning the 100 free (50.82) over Denison’s Gabriella Nutter (50.88) and the 200 free (1:49.14). Orbach-Mandel was 4:57.50 for 3rd in the 500 free, and was great on relays, splitting sub-50 twice on the end of 400 relays and splitting a 1:48.74 on the end of Kenyon’s winning 800 free relay.

WOMEN’S SCORES

1. Kenyon 1,953
2. Denison 1,860
3. Wooster 1,225.5
4. Depauw 1,075.5
5. Allegheny 981
6. Ohio Wesleyan 806
7. Oberlin 584
8. Wittenberg 518
9. Hiram 315

Denison controlled the men’s meet, cruising to their tenth consecutive NCAC title.

They kicked off the meet in dominant fashion with the 800 free relay, turning in a 6:33.03 to beat 2nd place Kenyon by over eight seconds. Ryan Stevenson delivered a 1:37.36 2nd leg for the Big Red, as they set new meet and pool records with that relay. Stevenson went on to win the 200 IM (1:50.58) and the 200 breast (2:00.35). In the 200 free relay, Denison was 1:20.57 to Kenyon’s 1:22.29, putting up another big win.

Matthew Hedman was big for Denison, picking up two individual wins. He went 3:54.00 to win the 400 IM, setting new pool and meet records, then was 15:27.93 to break the pool record in the mile. Hedman was also third in the 500 free (4:29.81), a race won by Kenyon’s Connor Rumpit (4:28.03).

Carson Clear of Denison won the 100 back in 47.87, a win by nearly two full seconds, breaking the pool and meet records there.

A rare non-Denison/Kenyon win came in the 100 breast. Depauw’s Sam McManus, a senior, was 54.95 to win, the only sub-56 swimmer in the field. McManus also had the fastest medley relay breaststroke split (54.38), with Stevenson’s 54.88 for Denison marking the second-fastest split.

Denison closed the meet out with a 2:58.89 400 free relay, the only team to break 3:00. Drake Horton (44.91), Kymani Senior (44.36), and Zach Wagner (44.11) all dipped below 45 seconds on their swims, all with flying starts.

MEN’S SCORES

1. Denison 1,908
2. Kenyon 1,797.5
3. Depauw 1,155
4. Wabash 1,154
5. Wooster 872
6. Ohio Wesleyan 755
7. Allegheny 613
8. Oberlin 430
9. Wittenberg 418.5
10. Hiram 234