This weekend is the final big dual meet weekend of the 2018-2019 NCAA Division III season. A few teams will have one final dual next weekend, but most are off and resting, or taking their non-conference squad to an Invite. Next weekend Johns Hopkins will race at the Nike Cup, the year-end meet for the Conference-less team.
This weekend Kenyon will have its regular season finale against Ohio Wesleyan on Friday before Denison races Ohio Wesleyan on Saturday. Emory will take on the best team in the state- the University of Georgia. Washington and Lee races St. Mary’s College of Maryland in their final weekend pre-ODACs.
Pomona-Pitzer will dive in against CalTech while CMS will race Cal Lutheran and LaVerne. MIT faces another of Division III’s top teams this weekend, racing against Amherst on Saturday. Amherst has a tough weekend, racing twice, as the Mammoths will swim Springfield on Sunday.
Pomona-Pitzer vs. CalTech
The Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens had last weekend off from racing. Now they’re back to race the California Institute of Technology.
The Pomona-Pitzer women bring Angela Ling and Lavinya Yap to play in the backstrokes. Breaststroke freshmen Alexandra Gill and Alexandra Werner were keys to the team’s solid start in the fall. Madison Kauahi and Hannah Zurmuhl are a sprint free force. The team’s weakest point is in the distance freestyles, a less important piece of a dual meet lineup, where the team currently holds the 12th ranking in the most recent CSCAA poll.
The Beavers have a solid backstroke duo of their own in Isabel Swafford and Danica Adams. Swafford is also a key freestyle talent for the team.
The Sagehens’ men are simply loaded, currently ranked 10th with Lukas Menkhoff taking control of the sprint freestyles and breaststroke and Paddy Baylis an emerging distance threat on the National level. Jason Lu and Liam O’Shea are also an impressive backstroke and IM pair.
Henry Steiner is the high point for CalTech, with a 52.66 100 butterfly season best time. Steiner joins Alex Janosi and Timothy Yao as one of the team’s strongest freestylers.
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