Yesterday morning, Kenyon trucked out to Denison’s pool in Granville, Ohio for one of the great rivalry meets of the year. (The other two being at NCAC Conference and DIII Nationals.) The Lords and Ladies proceeded to wreck havoc, claiming the top score on both sides (170-130 men, 166-128 women). In the melee, many athletes put up Division III B cut times.
Women’s Meet
In a dual meet, top end speed usually trumps depth – the team with the most victories wins. The Ladies put up a number of wins up on the board en-route to their defeat of the Big Red women’s team with the help of two key players: National record holder and champion in the 100 backstroke Celia Oberholzer and NCAA runner up in the 500 freestyle Mariah Williamson.
Kenyon started the meet off with a win in the 200 medley relay. The team of Oberholzer, Hannah Cooper, Katie Kaestner and Jenner McLeod put together a 1:44.81 to claim the victory. Three of the four fastest splits in the field belonged to the quartet. Runner up spot went to Denison’s A relay. Both teams posted DIII B cuts.
Then Williamson stepped up and took her first individual event win of the day: the 1000 freestyle. Williamson posted a 10:15.57 to beat Denison’s runner up Taylor Johns by over four seconds. In third was Denison’s Campbell Costley, another NCAA player who finished 4th in the 500 as a freshman and 8th in the mile at the 2014 NCAA champs.
Immediately thereafter, Williamson was back on the blocks for the 200 freestyle, pulling out another win from the tough double. Her final time of 1:55.52 was more than a second ahead of Denison’s runner up Molly Willingham. Kenyon’s Julie Dierker placed third.
Oberholzer returned to the pool to post the first individual B cut of the day for the Ladies. She swam a 57.22 to take the crown, just slipping under the B cut time of 57.59. Denison’s Ashley Yearwood was runner up with Kenyon’s Cooper in third. All three ladies were the only ones in the field under the minute mark in the event.
Kaestner also posted a B time in the following event: the women’s 100 breaststroke. Her time of 1:04.81 was a little over half a second faster than the provisional time, and nearly two seconds faster than runner up Marissa Bednarek of Denison. Laura Duncan of Kenyon touched third.
In the women’s 200 butterfly, Denison earned its first first place of the meet with a 2:06.46 out of freshman Halli Garza. Second place went to Kanchi Desai of the Ladies; both women were well under the B cut time of 2:08.59. Third place went to Denison’s team record holder, Michelle Howell.
Picking up momentum, Denison’s Carolyn Kane put up yet another B cut – this in the 50 freestyle at 23.52. She was a third place finisher in the event at the 2014 NCAAs as a freshman. Runner up was Kenyon’s McLeod with Rima Jurjus of Denison taking third.
Diving turned the tide again and went the way of the Ladies. Two time NCAA champion Maria Zarka easily won both the women’s 1 and 3 meter diving competition, posting respective scores of 281.33 and 304.65 to take each. Runner up and third in each event were Denison’s Sarah Lopez and Katherine Hennigan.
Undaunted, Kane got back in the pool to claim another win for Denison and post another B cut in the 100 freestyle. Her time of 51.79 was nearly half a second faster than the provisional cut and a full second and a half ahead of teammate Yearwood. KEnyon’s McLeod finished in third.
Oberholzer returned to the pool for the Ladies to claim a second individual victory, sweeping the backstroke events. Her time of 2:07.38 was more than two seconds ahead of runner up Elizabeth Kane swimming for Denison, though still two seconds shy of a second B cut. Willingham was third for Big Red.
The women’s 200 breaststroke produced the most B cuts of any event, with all three top finishers putting up times faster than 2:24.39. The winner was Kaestner of Kenyon, sweeping the breaststroke events. Her time of 2:22.26 was a little over a second faster than her teammate, Ellie Crawford who took second. Bednarek of Denison claimed third.
In her third individual event of the day, Williamson took to the pool yet again and this time picked up a B cut for herself as well in the 500 freestyle. She posted a 5:00.77 for the win, more than two seconds ahead of Big Red’s Costley. Johns was third for Denison. Williamson currently owns the fastest 500 freestyle in DIII, with Costley in fourth and Johns fifth.
The Ladies continued their domination of events with Cooper’s victory in the 100 butterfly (57.91). She and teammate Cecina Babich Morrow went 1-2 with Denison’s Howell coming in third.
The momentum carried across to the women’s 200 IM: Desai zoomed along to a 2:10.68 victory with teammate Dierker just a few tenths behind. Garza finished third for Denison, making the top three of the 200 IM all freshmen.
In the final event of the meet, Denison gathered up and posted a B cut time and took the victory in the 200 freestyle relay. The team mof Jurjus, Yearwood, Maggie Pyett and C. Kane posted a 1:35.45 to slip under the B cut time. C. Kane came very close to posting a 22 relay split: her reaction time was a .35 (pretty slow) and she had a 23.03 split for her anchor leg. She will be very quick this year, and one to keep an eye on in the sprint events.
For complete meet results, click here. The Lords and Ladies return to the pool for the three day Ohio State University Invitational on Friday, November 21st. Big Red will be out of the water for a month before returning to compete at the three day Miami University Invitational on December 4th.
Men’s Meet
Out of the sixteen events contested on Saturday morning, the Lords took nine of them. Leading the way for the Lords’ victory was sophomore Trevor Manz who took three individual victories and helped earn a relay win as well.
Manz and the Lords opened the meet with a victory in the 200 medley relay. The team of Harrison Curley, Manz, Kevin Magee and Austin Pu put together a 1:32.77 effort to post a B cut in the first event of the day. Denison was a little less than a second behind (a flaw that may be remedied by fixing some of those .3 reaction times) to take second.
In the first individual event, the 1000 freestyle, freshman David Perez stepped up for the Lords to take the event with a come-from-behind win, running down Denison freshman Stuart Hohm on the last 50. Perez finished with a 9:37.78, after a closing 50 of 25.52. Hohm had to settle for second with Kenyon’s Arthur Conover taking third. Conover was an NCAA qualifier and took third in the 500 and the mile at the NCAA championships last year.
The first individual B cut for the Lords appeared via two time NCAA champ Austin Caldwell in the 200 freestyle. He took the win with a 1:40.24 to beat out teammate Joey Duronio by over two seconds. Duronio was 10th in this event at last year’s NCAA championship. Denison’s Max Howes took third.
Curley led the first through third sweep of the men’s 100 backstroke. He posted a 51.51, just three tenths shy of the NCAA B cut time to win. Teammates Magee and Oscar Anderson followed Curley to the wall in second and third, respectively. All three competed at last year’s NCAA champs, with Curley winning the 200 back and Anderson claiming a 15th place finish in the 200 backstroke after earning a spot in finals through a three-way swim off.
In the 100 breaststroke, NCAA record holder Damon Rosenburg of Big Red went head to head with Kenyon’s 2014 NCAA qualifier Manz and fell just short. Rosenburg led through the 75, but Manz powered home to win the touch-out by just over a tenth, finishing in 57.17. The pair of them both made the NCAA B cut. In third was Kenyon’s Ian Reardon.
Denison launched its own campaign in the 200 butterfly, gaining a 1-2 finish from Dan Hellman and Aaron Saccurato. Hellman posted a 1:55.77 to claim the top honors. In third was Kenyon’s Christina Josephson.
The Lords regained their streak with a victory in the 50 freestyle from Austin Pu, who posted a 21.08 for the win. He was followed by Denison’s Conrad Wuorinen and Ryan Fleming who tied for second place.
Denison’s second counter came in the diving events. Including the exhibition, they claimed first through fifth on both the 3 meter and 1 meter diving competitions. NCAA record holder and champion in the 3 meter, Connor Dignan, claimed the victory easily on both boards, scoring 371.10 and 337.58, respectively. Runner up and third place in both events were teammates Max Levy and Brian Allen on 3 meter and Max Levy and Ben Lewis on 1 meter.
Continuing to fight back, Big Red took the 100 freestyle as well with a 1-2 finish from Ryan Fleming and Wuorinen. Fleming, who took 8th in the 100 and 4th in the 50 freestyles at the 2014 NCAAs, posted a 46.34 to take the victory with Wuorinen right on his heels. Kenyon’s Pu came in third, just milliseconds behind.
After winning the 100, Curley returned to the pool to sweep the backstroke events by laying claim to the 200. His time of 1:51.54 was a B cut, and nearly two seconds under the provisional time. He led from wall to wall with Denison’s Jack Lindell gaining some ground – though not quite enough – on the final lap. Lindell also posted a B cut time in the event. In third was Denison’s Alec Carlson.
Also sweeping his specialty event – breaststroke – Manz returned to the pool in fine form, posting a B cut by over two seconds in the 200 breaststroke with a 2:04.60. He was followed to the wall by teammate Reardon for a 1-2 finish. Denison’s Gus Evans claimed third.
Denison’s Hohm and Kenyon’s Perez flip-flopped places from the 1000 to the 500 freestyle. Hohm took off and held his lead all the way through the event to finish in 4:38.63, almost four seconds ahead of Perez. Third went to Kenyon’s Joe Guilfoyle.
In another tight match up, Kenyon’s Wes Manz faced off against Denison’s Andrew Rich in the 100 butterfly. With a strong back half, W Manz caught and surpassed Rich by a bare .2 seconds to take the win, finishing in 51.15. Josephson was third for the Lords.
T Manz hit the water for his third individual event in the 200 IM, posting yet another B cut en route to victory. T Manz’s final time was a 1:52.36. Runner up Lindell of Denison was a little more than a second behind with Kenyon’s Reardon trailing them into third.
To close out the meet, the Lords put together a swift 200 freestyle relay, with Duronio, Percy Gates, Pu and Caldwell joining forces to post a B cut and take the win. Their final time was 1:22.66 with Caldwell posting the fastest split of the event in 20.08. Denison was runner up, though as with the women, it’s conceivable that with some work on reaction time, the gap will become much, much smaller.
For complete meet results, click here. The Lords and Ladies return to the pool for the three day Ohio State University Invitational on Friday, November 21st. Big Red will be out of the water for a month before returning to compete at the three day Miami University Invitational on December 4th.
As the local
Hahahhahaha Christina Josephson. I knew it all along.
Alright kids, settle down.
I think some of the Kenyon swimmers (at least Caldwell & Trevor Manz) were already into their taper for this meet–they will almost surely be swimming the Ohio State Invitational next week. The meet would have been somewhat closer otherwise. But overall Kenyon should dominate this year, including winning nationals. Next year will be more competitive for Denison after Kenyon graduates Curley & Caldwell.
As someone pretty close to the team I can tell you that no one on Kenyon’s team was even the slightest bit rested for this dual meet. In fact one could argue that the Lords and Ladies had their hardest training week of the year leading up to the dual meet.
From what I understand, these two have both stopped attending morning practices this year which may explain their fast times. Caldwell has also taken several 8-10 day hiatuses so far this year and they have both begun eating McDonalds breakfast nearly every single day. Expect some improvements once they suit up but I don’t see them doing too well at the end of the year.
From sources even closer to the team than LORDS, I can tell you the recent times of Lord’s are directly correlated to the recent release of Taylor Swift’s 1989 album, and Wednesday night bowling outings with an individual by the name of Ben Payner. We’ll see if they can continue this trend into Feburary/March…
Yes this is correct….the Lords have been resting for this meet since the beginning of October. Massages every day…….no doubles. I even understand they managed to find stealth jammers that look like briefs. This is only possible explanation for the outcome.