Williams senior Caroline Wilson, handling masterfully her tough double from this meet’s first day, is in line to add an 11th career individual title on day 3 of the Women’s 2013 NCAA Division III Championships in Conroe, Texas.
Despite being outseeded coming into this 400 IM, Wilson is the three-time defending champion, and took the top seed going out of finals in 4:21.09. In finals, she should be able to gas things up a little bit more on her breaststroke leg.
Emory’s Taryn Lushinsky was the 2nd best in the morning in 4:23.78, and Denison’s Michelle Howell placed 3rd in 4:24.06. Howell has been a 4:21 this year, so she could certainly come back in and challenge Wilson in the final.
The Emory women continued to be the story of this meet. After overwhelming their competitors from Kenyon and Denison with sheer numbers, they continue to put up a lot of finalists on Thursday morning: only now those finalists are creeping higher. They have four headed to the A of the 400 IM (including Luchinsky above), plus a 4th in the B-Final. Anna Dobben took the top seed in the 200 free (1:49.00)
Things won’t be as easy for them tonight, however, as this is a run of events that Kenyon and Denison are very good in as well. Kenyon’s Hannah Saiz is the top seed headed into the 100 fly final in 53.37: a race she is expected to win hands down. She has a tough double herself, as she will also swim the A-Final of the 200 free. That made making top 8 in the morning very important for her. The Ladies have two in the top 8 of that race; whereas Emory mustered only a single B-Finalist.
In the 200 free, there is a lot of pressure on Dobben. She’s being chased by 6 swimmers who were also 1:49’s in prelims (consider that it only took a 1:50 to win this race last year). That includes Hillary Yarosh form Kenyon, who is the 2nd seed in 1:49.29. Kenyon got two swimmers into that A-Final, and a third into the B.
The saving grace for Emory would be if a few relay upsets could be pulled off; specifically Johns Hopkins in the 400 medley: the only ones who were faster in the morning than Kenyon was. Hopkins will count again on their anchor Anastasia Bogdanovski, who split 49.60 in prelims, to run-down Kenyon. Kenyon saved Saiz some energy in prelims by not using her in this relay, though, so they’ll be at least a 3:42 in finals.
Emory is the 4th seed in that medley and Denison the 5th.
In the 200 free relay, Denison took top honors in 1:33.20, followed by Emory in 2nd (1:33.45) and Kenyon in 3rd (1:33.87).
On the men’s side of the pool, MIT’s Wyatt Ubellacker took down a 13-year old Championship Record in the 100 fly by swimming a 47.34: the top seed by a full second. The old record was a 47.43 done by Denison’s Aaron Cole in 2000.
Ubellacker won the 50 free on Wednesday, but was slower in finals than he was in prelims. He still has a good cushion to work with here, though, with Amherst freshman Samuel Stewart taking the 2nd seed in 48.35.
Al Weik, already champion in the 500 free, is looking to add a second victory in the 500 to his resume. He swam a 3:53.29 for the top seed, and the final looks like it should be between him and Mary Washington’s Hugh Anderson (3:53.79).
The final should feature a great race for 3rd as well, as the rest of the A-Final all were between 3:55.1 and 3:56.3 in the morning. The two-time defending champion Paul Dyrkacz from Williams continues to have trouble in this meet, and ended up in the B-Final in 3:57.11.
Kenyon has the top two seeds in the 200 freestyle, with Austin Caldwell swimming 1:37.52 and Ian Stewart-Bates swimming a 1:37.60. They will be shooting for the NCAA Record of 1:36.98 in the final, and further will be counting on that race for big team points; Denison, who sits in 2nd placeafter the meet’s first day, has one A-Finalist in Carlos Maciel with a 1:38.28.
Full, live meet results available here.
Thursday prelims results available here.
A quick up/down for the leaders of each meet, counting just individual swims:
Men – Kenyon 5 up/5 down, Denison 2 up/5 down, MIT 3 up/0 down
Women – Emory 5 up/2 down, Kenyon 5 up/2 down, Denison 2 up/3 down
Saiz went from a 55 flat lifetime best last year at this meet. She’s gotten much faster, but I wouldn’t count Nitz out just yet… As Paul pointed out Nitz has been faster. I give the edge to her. It would be insane if someone took down Todhunter’s record… I’d say Nitz gets it before she graduated… The winner tonight will be tight.
Hannah Saiz is expected to win hands down? Nitz doesn’t look awesome so far, but she did go 53.0 at conference…
Good point…..Saiz is the “hands down” favorite in the 200 fly not the 100 fly. Still I do think she’s steps up on the blocks tonight as the one to chase.
Some impressive doubles by the Div III Ladies….first 500 free and 200 IM by Wilson and now the 100 fly and 200 free by Saiz.
While many have cast Denison as the favorite the Lords are not making it easy for Big Red…though the Lords weakest events (breast) are yet to come. I’ve not caught up with diving results did Denison get anyone in finals?
*Boom* goes the dynamite! 2-2 for Nitz. Her 200 Back seed time is from Dec, she didn’t swim it at conference.