Kenyon Heads to NCAA Division III Championships as Men’s, Women’s Favorite
After two years of cancellations, the NCAA Division III Championships return March 16-19 in Indianapolis.
The Denison men won back-to-back national championships in 2018-19, but their streak was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with no NCAA Championships in 2020 and 2021.
Since 1980, only Kenyon, Emory and Denison have claimed NCAA men’s titles. Kenyon won every year from 1980 to 2010 before Denison broke the streak with back-to-back titles. Kenyon returned to win three in a row from 2013-15 before Emory broke up the two-way party with a win in 2017, ahead of Denison’s most recent two titles.
The men’s title this season will likely go through one of those three schools, led by No. 1 Kenyon, though Johns Hopkins and the University of Chicago have been putting together some extremely fast times. MIT and Washington University lead the next group, which could see some fast individual performance from schools like Claremont Mudd-Scripps, Carnegie Mellon, Williams, Tufts, Calvin and Hope, among others.
Emory has title contenders like Nicholas Goudie in the sprint freestyle events, Patrick Pema in the 500, Crow Thorsen in the 400 IM and Jason Hamilton in the 200 breaststroke.
Kenyon has title contenders in Yurii Kosian and David Fitch in the backstroke,
Meanwhile, on the women’s side, it will likely be the same trio ahead of the pack, led by Kenyon, with the NCAA title going to one of the three powerhouses every year since 1984 (Williams won the first two women’s DIII titles in 1982-83). Emory won 10 titles in a row from 2010-2019 before the pandemic canceled the last two years.
Kenyon has been ranked No. 1, ahead of Emory, Denison and Johns Hopkins, but all four teams are extremely close.
Tufts, NYU, Pomona-Pizer, MIT, Chicago, Hope, Bates, Wheaton and Swarthmore will also look to crash the Kenyon party with some big individual performances, though they will likely not have enough to challenge for a team title.
Emory has title contenders in Taylor Leone and Caroline Maki in the sprint freestyle events, Megan Jungers in the backstroke and Allison MacMillan in the 200 butterfly.
Kenyon has title contenders in Emmie Mirus (sprint freestyle), Crile Hart in the 200 backstroke, 200 IM and 100 butterfly and Gabby Wei in the 200 breaststroke.
Denison has a title contender in 200 freestyler Tara Culibrk and Taryn Wisen and Alex O’Brien in the 500 free and the 1,650.
While there are several individual title contenders from the three powerhouses, led by Kenyon, the NCAA title for both the men and women could come down to relay performances, while diving could also play a factor.
It has been three years since the trio of national powers clashed with a title on the line, and the wait has led to this moment with the power struggle starting a new era in NCAA Division III.
