2018 NCAA Division III Men’s Championship: Day 4 Finals Live Recap

2018 NCAA DIVISION III MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Dates: Wednesday, March 21 – Saturday, March 24
• Swimming: prelims 10am, finals 6pm
• Location: IU Natatorium, Indianapolis, IN (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champions: Emory (results)
• Psych Sheet
• Video
• Live Results
• Championship Central

TOP 10 TEAM SCORES

1. Denison – 596.5
2. Emory – 369.5
3. Kenyon – 322
4. Johns Hopkins – 287
5. MIT – 252.5
6. NYU – 245
7. Tufts – 198
8. Pomona-Pitzer – 192
9. Wash U. – 187
10. Williams – 149

MEN’S 100 YARD FREESTYLE

• NCAA Record: 42.98 3/24/2018 Oliver Smith, Kenyon

1. Oliver Smith – 43.32
2. Roger Gu – 43.44
3. Isaac Casey – 44.08
4. Connor Mergler/Matthias Kolleck – 44.11
5. –
6. Joshua Tomazin – 44.30
7. Jacob Davis – 44.38
8. Zachary Wagner – 45.26

Oliver Smith lead from the start, breaking out roughly half a body length ahead, and his lead actually diminshed a little by the end of the race. He was a little ways off his NCAA Division 3 record of 42.98 from this morning, but he still went one of his fastest times ever and one of the fastest times in D3 history. Roger Gu, a Tufts sophomore, came in 2nd, blasting a lifetime best 43.44 to nearly catch Smith. Gu seems to have just announced himself as the next dominant force in D3 sprinting, after Smith graduates this year.

MEN’S 200 YARD BACKSTROKE

• NCAA Record: 1:43.49 3/21/2015 Harrison Curley, Kenyon

1. Robert Wang – 1:45.37
2. Peyton Wilson – 1:45.64
3. Bowen Kingsley – 1:46.36
4. Michael Bartholomew  – 1:46.86
5. Jason Wesseling – 1:48.03
6. Matthew Rogers – 1:48.90
7. Emile Kuyl – 1:49.96
8. Sage Ono – 1:50.81

Robert Wang ran down Peyton Wilson on the last 50 to get his hand on the wall first. Wang threw down a 26.81 on the final split, which was the fastest in the field by over half a second. Wang was also 4th at the 100 mark, showing excellent pacing on his part. Only 5th place finisher Jason Wesseling is graduating this year, marking many A final returners for next year. They’re still 2 seconds off the NCAA Division 3 record, but Wang and Wilson are sophomores, giving them enough time to get down there.

MEN’S 200 YARD BREASTSTROKE

• NCAA Record: 1:50.80 3/18/2017 Andrew Wilson, Emory

1. Samuel McManus – 1:58.57
2. Jacob Ball – 1:58.68
3. Giorgio Delgrosso – 1:59.18
4. Lance Culjat – 2:00.06
5. Timothy Kou – 2:00.08
6. Brandon McKenzie – 2:00.65
7. Bradley Stevenson – 2:01.65
8. Eric Fuhs – 2:02.34

Samuel McManus ran down Ball and Delgrosso on the final 50 to narrowly out-touch Ball. McManus was also 6th at the 100 mark, splitting his 100s only 2.5 seconds apart, which is crazy for a 200 breast.

MEN’S 1650 YARD FREESTYLE

• NCAA Record: 14:56.44 12/1/2016 Arthur Conover, Kenyon
• Meet Record: 14:59.56 3/18/2017 Arthur Conover, Kenyon

1. Thomas Gordon – 15:15.60
2. Matthew Hedman – 15:17.29
3. James Baker – 15:31.35
4. James Lovette – 15:32.96
5. Joshua Graves – 15:35.71
6. Jackson Karofsky – 15:38.16
7. Andrew Trunsky – 15:39.68
8. John Tepper – 15:40.29

Juniors Thomas Gordon and Matthew Hedman battled it out in the mile, with Gordon expanding his lead a little going into the finish to give himself a relatively comfortable lead of 1.69 seconds. The 2 had a very substantial lead over the rest of the field, finishing a 25 ahead of the 3rd place finisher, James Baker. Gordon and Hedman split the race very similarly, going mostly 55-point 100 splits, with a few 56s sprinkled in. Since they are juniors, we can expect to see a similarly exciting 1650 next year at this meet.

MEN’S 400 YARD FREESTYLE RELAY

• NCAA Record: 2:53.59 3/24/2012 , Kenyon (Somers, Turk, Ramsey, Richardson)

1. Emory – 2:56.72
2. Johns Hopkins – 2:59.07
3. Denison/Pomona-Pitzer – 2:59.08

The Emory squad of Sage Ono, Mathias Kolleck, Aaron Schwartz, and Oliver Smith ran away with the race, with Oliver Smith capping off his collegiate career with a 43.39 anchor split. Ono lead off with a 44.93, followed by Kolleck at 43.54, and Schwartz at 44.86. In a crazy race for 2nd, Johns Hopkins edged out Denison and Pomona-Pitzer by .01 seconds, holding off a charging Zach Wagner and Mark Hallman, who split 43.78 and 44.28 on the Denison and Pomona-Pitzer anchors respectively.