This is the pennultimate session of the Men’s and Women’s 2014 NCAA Championship, and it’s also one of the longest sessions, having the 100 freestyle, 200s of backstroke and breaststroke, the 400 freestyle relay and the extra heats of the mile in the morning.
While we wait for the miles to conclude, here are the morning results through the relay.
Men
100 Freestyle
The top seed for tonight’s 100 freestyle is the Trinity junior Stephen Culberson who put up a 44.29 to claim the top seed this morning. TCNJ has the second seed in senior Stephen Tarnowski who has been swimming excellently this meet. CMS sophomore Alex Poltash takes the third seed with Anthony Lordi a senior at JHU coming in at fourth. Coast Guard junior Christian Brindamour will be the fifth seed. Kenyon junior Austin Caldwell is sixth, with Gettysburg junior Jason Potter in seventh. Denison sophomore Ryan Fleming rounds out the top eight.
Top 8 cut line: 44.91
Qualifying for the B final: St Olaf junior Michael Gratz, JHU senior Will Kimball, Albion senior Brian Fiorillo, MIT junior Austin Fatham, Denison sophomore Conrad Wuorinen, Amherst junior Connor Sholtiz, Kenyon sophomore Joey Duronio and Whitmin junior Karl Mering.
Top 16 cut line: 45.18
Alternates: MacKay (Middlebury) and Meek (Chicago)
200 Backstroke
The top seed for tonight will be Kevin Lindgren, a junior from USMMA, but it’ll be a very, very tight race with Kenyon junior Harrison Curley only .05 behind him after prelims. Curley’s 26.6 final 50 suggests he has much more left in the tank than his competitors, and it’ll be interesting to see how it shakes out. Let’s also not forget the national record holder who is swimming in the B final: Michael Brus put up a 1:44.81 last year; the morning swim may just have been a miscalculation. From a points perspective, Kenyon has one in A final and one in B final as well as Denison, leaving the event virtually null in terms of point swings, unless something big happens. Third for finals is Williams freshman Ben Lin. Fourth is Albright senior Ralph Porrazzo. JHU junior Dylan Davis is in fifth. Emory senior Ross Spock sits in sixth. Conn’s sophomore Loring Bowen is seventh and the Denison senior Jackson Humphrey rounds out the top eight.
Top 8 cut line: 1:47.39
Qualifying for the B final: Grinnell senior Michael Brus, MIT sophomores Bo Mattix and Bradford Jokubaitis, Williams freshman Nathaniel Boley, Denison freshman Jackson Lindell, Williams freshman Colin Hogan, Stevens sophomore Ravi Sun, and Kenyon freshman Oscar Anderson who won his way into the heat from a three-way swim off.
Top 16 cut line: 1:49.24
Alternates: Lednev (MIT) and Heise (Amherst)
200 Breaststroke
There were two men under the 2 minute mark this morning. Fastest to the wall was Eau Claire senior Alex Card who finished with a 1:59.37. In second going into tonight is Occidental junior Steven Van Deventer. Kenyon freshman Trevor Manz came in as the top seed and will be third going into tonight’s final, which will put him right next to Card for the race of a lifetime. Emory sophomore Andrew Wilson was also right on that 2 minute mark, and swimming by Van Deventer may pull him under as well. Calvin sophomore Johnson Cochran is fifth. Alex Beckwith of Kenyon was sixth, just .01 ahead of Williams junior Tim Lattimer. MIT senior Michael Liao rounds out the top eight.
Top 8 cut line: 2:01.21
Qualifying for the B final: Case Western senior Sean Nickley, Kenyon freshman Ian Reardon, TCNJ sophomore James Shangle, Wash U freshman Michael Lagieski, Denison freshman Addison Evans, York sophomore Kyle Walthall, Denison junior Damon Rosenburg and Denison sophomore Bart Brunk.
Top 16 cut line: 2:03.60
Alternates: Ruggieri (Emory) and Normoyle (Springfield)
400 Freestyle Relay
Once again, TCNJ is sitting at the top of the dogpile after prelims in the sprint relay. They finished this morning with a 2:58.60 – about half a second ahead of second seed Denison for tonight.
Qualifying for the A final: TCNJ (2:58.60), Denison (2:59.26), Kenyon (2:59.68), Gettysburg (3:00.38), Chicago (3:00.88), MIT (3:01.12), DePauw (3:01.18), CMS (3:01.49)
Qualifying for the B final: Emory (3:01.80), JHU (3:01.92), Stevens (3:02.00), Keene St (3:02.10), Conn (3:02.63), St Olaf (3:03.22), Williams (3:03.66), Albion (3:03.85)
Alternates: Trinity and Wash U
1650 Freestyle
Competing with finals: Keene St senior Drew Ledwith, Kenyon freshman Arthur Conover, Denison senior Al Weik, JHU freshman Andrew Greenhalgh, Wash U junior Carter Turpin, Kenyon senior Andrew Chevalier, Wash U junior Luke Dobben and Keene St sophomore Shahar Resman.
Top 8 times from this morning:
- Williams’s Christian Gronbeck 15:38.55
- MCDA’s Bradley Brooks 15:44.66
- CMS’ Conrad Shabb 15:45.57
- Denison’s Peter Fallon 15:48.12
- Amherst’s Parker Moody 15:51.74
- Wheaton’s William McCauley 15:52.07
- Kenyon’s Alex Seaver 15:53.96
- Kenyon’s Joe Guilfoyle 15:53.96
Women
100 Freestyle
The finals of this event are going to be very fast, and there are a lot of names we’ve seen again and again this week who will be competing. The top seed goes to Springfield senior Kellie Pennington who put up the only sub 50 time this morning to come in with a 49.86. In second from JHU is Ana Bogdanovski who we’ve all heard from in the 200 freestyle, on that 800 freestyle relay and who was very strong in the 400 freestyle relay this morning. Despite Pennington’s morning race, I think my money’s on Bogdanovski to win. Emory junior Nancy Larson is up there as the third seed, with Kenyon junior and senior Jourdan Cline and Hillary Yarosh in fourth and fifth, respectively. Joining her teammate in the top eight from JHU will be senior Kylie Ternes. The youngest member of this top heat is Denison freshman Carolyn Kane and Conn senior Julia Pielock rounds out the top eight.
Top 8 cut line: 51.04
Qualifying for the B final: Gustavus junior Catherine Olson, Denison sophomore Mary Van Leuven, Wheaton and Kenyon sophomores Kirstin Nitz and Haley Townsend tied, JHU senior Sarah Rinsma, Denison senior Morgan Nuess, Geneseo junior Abigail Max and Kenyon freshman Jenner McLeod after winning a swim off.
Alternates: Bridges (DePauw) and Scheidl (Chicago)
200 Backstroke
As expected, the 200 backstroke was pretty darn quick this morning. Luther sophomore Clare Slagel took control of her heat and dominated from start to finish to come up with a 1:58.74, which survived the consecutive heats to be the top seed after this morning’s prelims. JHU senior Taylor Kitayama came in with the top seed in this event, and may have saved up a little for tonight’s final. Williams sophomore Katherine Bennett will be the third seed. Emory senior Sadie Nennig is going to be the fourth seed, and is the final woman under 2 minutes after the prelims. Gustavus senior Alisa Tinklenberg came in with a sub 2 minute seed time, and may repeat that performance tonight. Kenyon junior Celia Oberholzer was well under 2 minutes last year and finished as the runner up in this event. Chicago freshman Alison Wall is seventh going into tonight and Rose-Hulman freshman Eleanore Hong rounds out the top eight.
Top 8 cut line: 2:01.05
Qualifying for the B final: La Crosse junior: Brooke Reynolds, MIT senior Christy Roberts, Emory sophomore Ella Thompson, JHU junior Samantha Fox, Denison sophomore Elizabeth Dalziel, Bates freshman Sara Daher, MIT freshman Vernica Jedryka, and Williams freshman Olivia Jackson.
Top 16 cut line: 2:02.63
Alternates: Anderson (Wash I) and Olson (DePauw)
200 Breaststroke
They say eagles don’t flock, but Emory must be a different kind of Eagle, because there are four of them in the A final of this event. Megan Beach put up the fastest time with a 2:16.58 in prelims. Teammates Elizabeth Aronoff, Kylie McKenzie and Annelise Kowalsky are second, seventh and eighth for some serious point scoring for the Eagles. Kenyon sophomore Katie Kaestner is in third with the top seed from Whitewater, junior Amy Spaay in fourth. Denison senior Natalie Lugg is fifth with Amherst sophomore Emily Hyde rounding out the top eight in sixth.
Top 8 cut time: 2:18.52
Qualifying for the B final: Gustavus junior Jennifer Strom, Denison sophomore Marissa Bednarek, Whitman senior Claire Collins, Wheaton freshman Erin Bagley, Wash U sophomore Sophie Gan, CMS freshman Kelly Ngo, Occidental senior Caroline Chang, and Middlebury junior Jamie Hillas.
Top 16 cut line: 2:20.76
Alternates: Beauchamp (Trinity) and Escobar (Sewanee)
400 Freestyle Relay
JHU sits at the top of the pool in this event, and they may end up with a clean sweep of the relays if they can hold off Kenyon and Denison. The times here are all bunched together at the top end with only .2 separating first and third. With things that tight, exchanges are going to be very important, and anyone too slow could lose the relay; or worse, an over-excited swimmer may jump early and DQ.
Qualifying for the A final: JHU (3:24.42), Kenyon (3:24.55), Denison (3:24.66), Emory (3:25.56), CMS (3:27.09), Gustavus (3:27.21), MIT (3:27.42), Chicago (3:27.47)
Qualifying for the B final: Wash U (3:27.74), Williams (3:27.85), DePauw (3:27.89), Amherst (3:28.77), Springfield (3:28.95), Conn (3:29.78), Geneseo (3:30.19), Pomona-Pitzer (3:30.85)
Alternates: Wheaton and Stevens Point
1650 Freestyle
Competing with finals: Denison sophomore Taylor Johns, Emory junior McKenna Newsum-Schoenberg, Denison freshman Campbell Costley, Kenyon sophomore Mariah WIlliamson, Emory senior Courtney McDermott, Williams junior Sarah Thompson, Kenyon senior Syd Lindblom and Williams freshman Megan Pierce.
Top 8 times from this morning:
- Grove City’s Megan Bilko 17:01.13
- Kenyon’s Alexa Korsberg 17:04.64
- Emory’s Carolyn Bonfield 17:06.75
- Chicago’s Cara Lopiano 17:07.84
- Amherst’s Charlotte Chudy 17:11.25
- Kenyon’s Emma Stewart-Bates 17:11.62
- Bates’ Julia Smachlo 17:11.72
- Mary Washington’s Jessica Singer 17:12.06
3 Meter Diving
To be posted after the conclusion of the prelims session.
For live meet results, click here.