With Caroline Wilson having successfully completed her individual event triple, including 9th, 10th, and 11th career individual victories, the attention in the women’s Division III met can turn straight on to the team battle, where the Kenyon women drew first blood in prelims. Senior Hannah Saiz swam a 1:55.98 for the top seed: a time that would have likely final’ed at the Division I NCAA Championships.
Emory’s Nina Zook has the 2nd seed, but that will be a battle for 2nd; Zook was a 2:02.01, and Denison’s Michelle HOwell was 3rd in 2:02.25. Saiz, meanwhile, will be chasing the 1:55.66 national record held by legendary D3 swimmer Logan Todhunter from Williams.
Emory will balance out Saiz’s scoring with three in the B-Final.
The Kenyon women took another top seed when a 54.00 from sophomore Celia Oberholzer led three swimmers under 55 seconds (Taylor Kitayama from Johns Hopkins and Margaret Rosenbaum from Hamilton).
Emory got one swimmer into the A-Final, but Kenyon had two: Rachel Flinn was 8th. Overall, both teams have three scorers in the evening.
In the 100 breaststroke, another big favorite comes from Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Amy Spaay, who was a 1:01.45 for the top seed this morning. Stevens’ Brittany Geyer was 2nd in 1:03.13, and was close enough on the front-half that she could give Spaay a little run in finals. Calvin’s Elizabeth Counsell is the 3rd seed in 1:03.52.
The Emory men are looking to have a good day as well, with a 1:46.94 in he 200 fly for the top seed. There’s a tightly bunched group behind him at 1:48’s, including Redlands senior Chris Depew. He’s already made a big leap to get into this A-Final, after being outside of the top 10 each of the last two seasons.
Denison is the team that is trying to come from behind on the men’s meet, and that will start in the 100 backstroke where Sean Chabot has the top seed in 48.54. That’s one of the least-secure seeds in this session, though, as three other swimmers are under 49 seconds. Denison should “win” the event points-wise over Kenyon tonight, but an A-finalist and two B-Finalists for the Lords should mitigate the damage.
St. Olaf’s Colby Kubat has another precarious position, with a 55.46 for the top seed. Stevens, who has a great co-ed breaststroke group, again will have the second seed with Simas Jarasunas in 55.55. 7 swimmers sit between 55.4 and 55.9, though, so there could again be a lot of shakeup. Denison has one in that mix with Damon Rosenburg 5th in 55.86, though as compared to seed, Kenyon getting Alexander Beckwith into the B-Final (9th seed – 56.16) is a positive for them.
The day’s only relay is the 800 free; the slower heats went this morning, but the faster ones of the timed-final event will come in the evening session. The men’s 800 should be intense in the final, as Denison and Kenyon is the 2nd seed. That’s a 12-point swing, or even more if Johns Hopkins pulls of an upset that they’re very capable of.
Quick Ups (swimmers in the A-Final) and Downs (swimmers in the B-Final) for the top teams:
Full Friday morning prelims results.
Men’s – Top 3
1. Kenyon 286
2. Denison 228
3. MIT 204
Kenyon 2 up/3 down; Denison 3 up/1 down; MIT 3 up/4 down
Women’s – Top 3
1. Emory 312.5
2. Kenyon 254
3. Denison 198
(Including diving) – Emory 3 up/7 down; Kenyon 4 up/2 down; Denison 2 up/3 down
Kenyon women are swimming fantastic. They have been 4th the past few years and haven’t won a relay in four or five years. Even if they don’t win (and they are making an actual push at it), coach Jessen Book should receive coach of the year honors.
Expect more fast swims tonight and at least one record (women’s 200 fly).
The men’s team race could get interesting tonight but Denison will have to swim lights out and win the relay to be in position to close the gap on Day 3 where they are, on paper at least, significantly stronger than Kenyon