It’s the first session at the Division III National Championship meet in Indianapolis. As always coming into a championship meet, the mood was pretty tight at first, and amped up with each successive event. There have been some great moments, and some less-than-stellar ones. But when the morning is over, it’s time to reset and relax and wait for finals.
In the mean time, here’s how the morning played out, and what we might expect come tonight.
Men
500 Freestyle
To those “in the know,” it’s no surprise to see Denison senior Al Weik at the top of the qualifying pool for the A final tonight. He dropped a little under five seconds to take the top seed (finished 4:26.73), but he’s the only Big Red swimmer in the A final. Kenyon’s Lords have three men sitting top eight, with two – senior Andrew Chevalier and freshman Arthur Conover – in the 2nd and 3rd spots. Junior Joe Guilfoyle is sixth. Keene State also has multiple men in the top final: senior Drew Ledwith and sophomore Shahar Resman are fourth and eighth, respectively. Finishing out the top eight with a seventh place seed going into the finals is JHU freshman Andrew Greenhalgh, who has broken numerous records this season, and may have something special for tonight as well.
Top 8 cut time: 4:29.02
Qualifying for the B final: Junior from Wash U, Carter Turpin; juniors from Williams, Chris Gronbeck and Thadde Ricotta; Senior from Amherst, Parker Moody, Denison sophomore Peter Fallon, junior from Wash U, Luke Dobben; freshman from JHU, Evan Holder; and sophomore from DePauw, Thomas Grissom.
Top 16 cut time: 4:32.76
Alternates: Zelehowsky (Ithaca) and Hooker (DePauw)
200 IM
Qualifying with the top time for the men’s 200 IM is the junior from Redlands, Jeffrey Depew who finished with a top seep of 1:49.03. He looked strong and relaxed this morning while rocking the mohawk, so let’s see what he has in store for us tonight. Denison has populated this event well, perhaps to make up for the 500: they have three seniors and a sophomore in the top 8: Spencer Fronk, Carlos Maciel, Jackson Humphrey and Bart Brunk seeded second, third, fifth and eighth. Usmma junior Kevin Lindgren is fourth seed. Emory sophomore Andrew Wilson is sixth and rounding out the top eight is the junior from Mary Washington, Hugh Anderson who dropped almost six seconds off his seed time to make it in as the seventh seed.
Top 8 cut time: 1:49.9
Qualifying for the B final: St Olaf junior Tanner Roe; Kenyon freshman Ian Reardon, St Olaf junior Michael Gratz, Denison freshman Jackson Lindell, JHU freshman Evan Holder (pulling a tough double with the 500), Birmingham South sophomore Duncan Bonney, Keene State senior Jared Hyde, and MIT sophomore Alex Lednev.
Top 16 cut time: 1:50.84
Alternates: Aquaviva (JHU) and Hallman (Chicago)
50 Freestyle
The A final of this event is spread evenly across teams, which could prove interesting, as they jockey for position at finals. The top qualifier in the 50 is from MIT, which shouldn’t surprise anyone, given the team’s history of sprinters. Junior Austin Fatham comes in as the top seed with a 20.04, with the hope of going under 20 this evening. A bare .02 seconds behind him from Coast Guard is junior Chris Brindamour. Jason Potter, a junior at Gettysburg sits in third. Trinity junior Stephan Culberson is fourth. Denison sophomore Ryan Fleming is fifth, followed by Emory senior Ross Spock. Senior for JHU Anthony Lordi is seventh, and Kenyon sophomore Joey Duronio squeaked into finals with a .01 differential between himself and 9th.
Top 8 cut line: 20.48
Qualifying for the B final: Albion senior Brian Fiorillo, Kenyon junior Austin Caldwell tied with Chicago sophomore Thomas Meek, Emory senior Ryan Bass tied with Keene State sophomore Gregory Youngstrom and Denison sophomore Conrad Wuorinen, Middlebury senior Ian MacKay and Whittier junior Filip Dajkovich.
Top 16 cut line: 20.56
Alternates: Chiu (MIT) and Dunn (TCNJ)
200 Medley Relay
There have been some surprises this meet in relays, and some DQs that have left teams hurting as well. The A final of the relay will not include Denison (who qualified 11th after leaving Damon Rosenburg off the morning relay) and both NYU and JHU lost relays to disqualification that would have made it back for the B final.
A Finalists: Emory (1:29.03), MIT (1:29.62), Chicago (1:29.89), Kenyon (1:30.15), CMS (1:30.69), St Olaf (1:30.75), Williams (1:30.81), TCNJ (1:31.17)
B Finalists: Connecticut (1:31.19), Wash U (1:31.38), Denison (1:31.49), Amherst (1:31.69), DePauw (1:31.93), Keene State (1:32.14), Union (1:32.29), Stevens (1:32.41)
Alternates: Ithaca and Calvin
3 Meter Diving
After prelims, it’s no surprise who is in the lead for the Big Red on the boards. Connor Dignan set the NCAA record on both 1 and 3 meter at the NCAC Conference Championships about a month ago, and looked strong enough this morning to have a shot at repeating the performance this evening. He is joined in the top eight by teammates Max Levy and Ben Lewis as second and fifth ranks, respectively. Tufts’ Johann Schmidt is ranked third going into tonight. Chicago’s Anthony Restaino is fourth, with teammate Matt Staab coming in eighth. Colorado has the sixth ranked diver in Austin Howlett. Rounding out the top eight is James Stevick of CMS.
B finalists in order of finals placing: Amherst’s Colin White (475.80), Tufts’ Matt Rohrer (467.40), Denison’s Brian Allen (459.00), UW-L’s Justin Bublitz (437.90), Ithaca’s Matt Morrison (433.10), St Thomas’ Nick Johnson (429.55), RIT’s Matt Depalo (415.25), Buffalo State’s Alec Fleet (351.65)
Women
500 Freestyle
Once again, Williams junior Sarah Thompson has put herself on display as the swimmer to beat. She dropped six seconds from her seed time to end up as the top seed going into finals with a 4:51.32. Given what I know of Williams and their swimmers’ abilities to be staggeringly awesome on any stage, it’s a given she’ll be faster tonight. The question is, by how much? Kenyon put two Ladies in the top eight – sophomore Mariah Williamson took down the school record en route to a second place seed, and senior Syd Lindblom dropped four seconds to take fifth. Denison and Emory also have two women in the top eight: freshman Campbell Costley and sophomore Taylor Johns are sitting third and sixth. For the Eagles, junior McKenna Newsum-Schoenberg and senior Courtney McDermott come in at fourth and seventh seed, respectively. Rounding out the top eight is Wash U junior Sara Taege.
Top 8 cut line: 4:54.32
Qualifying for the B final: Emory junior Megan Beach, Emory sophomore Carolyn Bonfield, Geneseo junior Abigail Max, DePauw freshman Angela Newlon (worth noting she was the top seed at 4:50.91 coming into this meet; may have something saved up for tonight), Williams freshman Lauren Jones, Grove City sophomore Megan Bilko, Bates freshman Julia Smachlo and Amherst sophomore Charlotte Chudy.
Top 16 cut line: 5:00.09
Alternates: Weber (DePauw) and Stewart-Bates (Kenyon)
200 IM
The 200 IM played out pretty much as expected: Amherst sophomore Emily Hyde finished well in this event last year, and is leading the way into finals with the top seed of 2:02.12. She’s followed by the Emory duo of senior Sadie Nennig and Annelise Kowalsky in second and third. Denison junior Michelle Howell is fourth, with senior teammate Natalie Lugg sitting in eighth. JHU junior Samantha Fox qualified fifth. A freshman from Bates, Sara Daher, is sixth. Rounding out the top eight as the seventh seed is Anh Chi Pham, a senior at Wash U.
Top 8 cut line: 2:04.77
Qualifying for the B final: Emory junior Nina Zook, Kenyon senior Rachel Flinn, CMS senior Michele Kee, Kenyon sophomore Katie Kaestner, Ithaca freshman Grace Ayer, Kenyon sophomore Natalie Parker, Emory senior Kylie McKenzie and Williams sophomore Katherine Bennett.
Top 16 cut line: 2:06.56
Alternates: Jackson (Williams) and Pierce (Conn)
50 Freestyle
I have to admit, watching a 50 freestyle is a little different when you’re not quite sure what stroke each athlete is going to be swimming. The first couple heats of men’s and women’s saw some butterfliers and breaststrokers practicing, which was unique. But at the top of the line, no one was playing around. Kellie Pennington, the senior from Springfield, certainly wasn’t: she comes into the finals heat tonight with a 23.06, oh-so-close to breaking under that 23 second barrier, and she’ll be gunning for it tonight. JHU had a breakout event, sneaking three women into the top 8: junior Ana Bogdanovski took second seed, and seniors Kylie Ternes and Sarah Rinsma tied for sixth. Denison freshman Carolyn Kane is third seed going into tonight’s finals. Redlands junior Chandra Lukes will be fourth. Kirsten Slaughter, the sophomore from IWU, will be fifth going into tonight. Kenyon’s Jourdan Cline squeaked into finals by .01 for eighth.
Top 8 cut line: 23.51
Qualifying for the B final: Gustavus senior Alissa Tinklenberg, Emory junior Nancy Larson, Kenyon senior Hillary Yarosh, MIT sophomore Lena Yang, Kenyon freshman Jenner McLeod, Kenyon sophomore Haley Townsend, Conn senior Julia Pielock, and Carleton senior Milana Socha.
Top 16 cut line: 23.67
Alternates: Rogers (MIT) and Hable (UWEC) after a swim-off
200 Medley Relay
It will be a tight race tonight for first through third. There were some great splits out there this morning, and it’ll be interesting to see how coaches switch out athletes, or if they do at all. Shoutout to JHU’s Kylie Ternes who posted a 22.7 relay split on her anchor 50. That was the capstone to a great relay, which earned them the top seed for tonight. Kenyon and Denison both got 28.6 out of their breaststroke legs, and were 23.09 and 23.1 on the anchor leg freestyles – it may all come down to who gets picked for what tonight.
A Finalists: JHU (1:42.35), Kenyon (1:42.81), Emory (1:42.94), Luter (1:43.29), Denison (1:43.59), Middlebury (1:44.17), Williams (1:44.36), Amherst (1:44.84)
B Finalists: Rochester (1:44.89), Chicago (1:45.08), Gustavus (1:45.12), MIT (1:45.33), NYU (1:45.48), CMU (1:45.50), Wheaton IL (1:45.56), St Thomas (1:45.58)
Alternates: Wash U and CMS
For a comprehensive list of A final and B final swims by team after prelims, click here.
For live meet results, click here.
It is going to be awfully tough for Denison to stick with Kenyon if some of their relays slide to the B finals.
Watch out for that Wash U relay, I hear their butterflier Reed Dalton knows how to seal the deal in finals.