Editorial coverage sponsored by SpeedoUSA
SHENANDOAH, Texas, March 23. THE NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships came to a close with the Kenyon men and Emory women clinching the team titles.
The Kenyon Lords won their 32nd NCAA D3 title, reclaiming the title the squad last won in 2010. Prior to a two-year drought, Kenyon had won 31 consecutive crowns at the men's NCAA D3 meet. The title is first-year head coach Jess Book's first, having replaced legendary head coach Jim Steen.
Meanwhile, the Emory University women clinched their fourth straight NCAA D3 title in convincing fashion, dominating the rest of the teams. That's six total titles in school history (2005, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013).
The men's 200-yard backstroke NCAA D3 record fell twice today. First, Denison's Quinn Bartlett downed Grinnell's Michael Brus, 1:45.65 to 1:46.04, in prelims. Those times both surpassed the 1:46.23 set by Robert Barry last year. Brus came back in finals with a winning time of 1:44.81 to take the mark down further. USMMA's Kevin Lindgren finished second in 1:45.72, while Bartlett wound up third in 1:46.08. Wheaton's Kirsten Nitz took home the women's 200-yard back crown in 1:57.30, while Kenyon's Celia Oberholzer claimed runner-up honors with a 1:57.89. Luther's Clare Slagel rounded out the top three in 1:59.40.
Redland's Chandra Lukes topped the women's 100-yard free with a time of 50.22, while Springfield's Kellie Pennington touched second in 50.35. Johns Hopkins' Anastasia Bogdanovski raced to third in 50.45. Meanwhile, Kenyon's Ian Stewart-Bates prevailed in the men's 100-yard free with a winning time of 43.77. That's just half-a-second off former teammate Zach Turk's NCAA D3 record of 43.16 from last year. MIT's Matt Ubellacker turned in a second-place time of 44.01, while Kenyon's Ian Richardson finished third in 44.25. Stewart-Bates (43.56) and Ubellacker (43.92) were both faster during prelims.
UW-Whitewater's Amy Spaay touched out Nazareth's Carissa Risucci, 2:14.71 to 2:14.90, for the women's 200-yard breaststroke title. Stevens' Brittany Geyer earned third-place honors in 2:15.09. Occidental's Steven Van Deventer clinched the men's 200-yard breast crown in 1:58.60. Williams' Paul Dyrkacz, who led prelims with a 1:58.83, took second in 1:59.28. Stevens' Simas Jarasunas claimed third in 1:59.86.
Kalamazoo's William Guedes won the men's three-meter diving title with 572.50 points. Denison's Gabe Dixon took second with 547.90 points, while Tufts' Johann Schmidt earned third with 539.30 points.
Emory's Renee Rosenkranz (50.54), Nancy Larson (49.68), Ann Wolber (51.38) and Anna Dobben (49.68) took down the second NCAA D3 record of the night with a 3:21.28 in the women's 400-yard free relay. That performance wiped out the 3:21.97 set by Denison in 2009. Johns Hopkins (3:22.69) and Kenyon (3:23.66) took second and third.
Kenyon's Ian Stewart-Bates, Austin Caldwell, Curtis Ramsey and Ian Richardson dominated the men's 400-yard free relay to close out the night with a 2:55.07. Johns Hopkins (2:58.65) and Denison (2:59.23) completed the podium in the final event of the meet.
Women's Top Five
Emory 619
Kenyon 483
Denison 363
Williams 304
Johns Hopkins 290
Men's Top Five
Kenyon 499.5
Denison 428
MIT 334
Johns Hopkins 316
Emory 280
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