The Division III leaderboards were rewritten this weekend as swimmers at the Emory Fall Invite, Kenyon vs. Denison dual meet, and the D3 Shootout produced division-leading times. Many of those times came from Chicago’s D3 Shootout, which saw 11 DIII leading times swum during the two-day affair between some of the top nationally-ranked DIII teams in the country.
Men’s Recap
The Chicago men, the hosts of the meet, showed out, winning the meet for the fourth straight season and producing five DIII leading times. Sophomore Cooper Costello was huge for the Maroons, winning the 100 and 200 butterfly in meet record and DIII leading times. Cooper swam a 47.50 in the 100 butterfly, coming within three-tenths of the lifetime best 47.20 he swam at 2024 NCAAs to snag second seed heading into finals, where he was disqualified.
Back up in the 200 fly, Costello—the 2024 NCAA fifth-place finisher—logged a 1:47.36, over a second faster than he was at this meet as a freshman. The time edged him ahead of Jeff Nichols on the DIII leaderboard as the Emory swimmer had clocked 1:47.75 further south in the U.S.
Costello was on the meet-record setting 400 medley and 800 freestyle relays as well, the latter of which swam the fastest time in DIII this season. The 800 freestyle relay hasn’t been raced a lot this season—and wasn’t on the schedule at the Emory Fall Invite—but Maroons Alex Schwartz (1:41.99), Costello (1:39.92), Christopher Mo (1:41.60), and John Butler (1:38.60) set the bar at a 6:42.11.
Butler, a freshman, also made his mark in the individual 200 freestyle, swimming a 1:38.75. He now leads DIII men in the event with a season-best that would’ve taken 17th at 2024 NCAAs, just missing a second swim. Butler was just off his lifetime best 1:38.48 with the time and it would be a big boost for the Maroons if he could grab a lane at NCAA finals as the team did not have a swimmer make it back last year.
Pomona-Pitzer sophomore Casey Jacobs turned heads at the meet as well, swimming lifetime bests in the 50/100 freestyle (20.28/45.89). His 50 freestyle time takes over as the fastest in DIII this season, undercutting Tobe Obochi’s 20.30 by two-hundredths. Casey didn’t race at 2024 NCAAs as a freshman, but like Butler, this time would’ve put him just outside of finals.
He’s been making strides in the event all season, first equalling his best at the first meet of the season, then dropping his best to 20.48 on October 26. So far this season, he’s shaved .26 seconds off his best.
Wash U’s Marco Minai and Chicago’s Sebastien Vernhes and swam meet’s other two DIII leading times. Minai had a strong meet, swimming personal bests in the 100 back (51.50), 100 fly (49.53), 200 fly (1:48.81), 200 IM (1:50.49), and 400 IM (3:57.15). It’s his 200 IM that puts him at the top of the division, just .05 seconds ahead of the 1:50.54 that Liyang Sun swam at the Emory Invite. With Costello sitting third in the division after a 1:50.73, this could prove to be one of the closest races at the UAA and NCAA Championships.
Vernhes swam 44.57 in the 100 freestyle to top the division leaderboard. He owns a personal best of 44.21 from the prelims of 2024 NCAAs, where he eventually finished 8th in 44.43. This swim is just .14 seconds off his finals time.
Team Scores
- University of Chicago — 689 points
- Washington University in St. Louis — 597.5
- Pomona-Pitzer — 571
- Trinity University (Texas) — 476
- Suny Geneseo — 473
- Rochester Institute of Technology — 471
- Washington and Lee University — 465
- Hope College — 463
- Swarthmore College — 437.5
- University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire — 432
Women’s Recap
There were fewer top times swum on the women’s side, but the University of Chicago still led the way as their swimmers established three of the four new top marks and won the meet. Senior Karen Zhao contributed both in the individual 200 freestyle and the 800 freestyle relay. Zhao finished fourth in the event at the 2023 DIII NCAA Championships after swimming a lifetime best 1:49.54 in prelims.
At the D3 Shooutout, she became the first swimmer in the division to break 1:51 this season, clocking a 1:50.34 season best. That separates her from the rest of the swimmers in the division by over a second, as Emory teammates Penelope Helm and Elodie Mitchell swam 1:51.37 and 1:51.38 at the Emory Fall Invite.
Zhao also anchored Chicago’s now division-leading 800 freestyle relay, which wasn’t raced at Emory’s meet. She combined with Sophia Lee (1:55.06), Emily Xu (1:52.99), and Karina Hartounian (1:55.48) and anchored in 1:51.36 to give the squad a final time of 7:34.89.
Her fellow senior Elisabella Forest also soared to the top of the Division III leaderboard, clocking a season-best 2:00.46 in the 200 backstroke. Forest has been under the 2:00 mark once before at the 2023 DIII NCAA Championships. She’s put herself in a position to chase getting back under that barrier during the second half of the season by putting up this swim in November. Neither Zhao nor Forest raced individually at last year’s NCAAs so it’s an encouraging sign for Chicago to see them hitting these times early in the season.
Though she didn’t top the Division III leaderboard, Alicia Soosai won the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.94, establishing a new University of Chicago school record. She owned the previous mark of 1:03.14.
Swarthmore’s Quinn Weygandt added her name to the division leaderboard in the 400 IM. Weygandt is the two-time Centennial Conference champion in the event and has made steady improvements on the national scene, moving from 13th at 2023 NCAAs to fifth in 2024.
At the D3 Shootout, she came .52 seconds from her lifetime best of 4:22.09 by swimming 4:22.61. Her time puts her 2.60 seconds ahead of the rest of the division; Neely Burns is closest as she took second to Weygandt in 4:25.21 at the meet.
Team Scores
- University of Chicago — 672
- Pomona-Pitzer — 599
- Washington University in St. Louis — 552
- Hope College — 545
- Swarthmore College — 532
- Trinity University (Texas) — 507
- Suny Geneseo — 445
- University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire — 440
- Rochester Institute of Technology — 403
- Washington and Lee University — 381
