2018 NCAA Division III Women’s Championships – Day 1 Prelims Live Recap

2018 NCAA Division III Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships

• Dates: Wednesday, March 21 – Saturday, March 24
• Swimming: prelims 10am, finals 6pm
• Location: IU Natatorium, Indianapolis, Indiana (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champions: Emory (x8) (results)
• Psych Sheet
• Video
• Live Results
• Championship Central

Day 1

Women’s 500 Yard Freestyle – Prelims

• NCAA Record: 4:43.37 3/23/2011 Kendra Stern, Amherst

Qualifiers:

1. Laura Westphal, FR Williams 4:50.10
2. Rebecca Upton, SR Emory 4:52.39
3. Kendall Vanderhoof, SO Kenyon 4:53.52
4. Courtney Cowan, SR Johns Hopkins 4:53.81
5. Maria Turcanu, SO Emory 4:55.31
6. Hannah Orbach-Mandel, JR Kenyon 4:55.46
7. Emma McElrath, FR Johns Hopkins 4:56.65
8. Alison McNamara, JR Williams 4:56.72
9. Gail Anderson, SO Kenyon 4:57.26
10. Gwyneth Maloy, FR Williams 4:57.27
11. Aine Scholand, SO Simmons 4:57.45
12. Delaney Ambrosen, JR Kenyon 4:57.47
13. Jaime Robinson, SO NYU 4:57.98
14. Nicole Zanolli, SR Wash U. 4:58.59
15. Scout Wilkins, SO Kenyon 4:59.02
16. Grace Wakabayashi, JR NYU 4:59.08

Chicago junior Simone Stover kicked off the women’s 500s with a narrow win over Calvin junior Anna Serino, 5:04.08 to 5:04.75. In the next heat Williams freshman Gwyneth Maloy just out-touched NYU sophomore Jaime Robinson, 4:57.27 to 4:57.98, with Amherst sophomore Natalie Rumpelt (5:01.70) touching third. Maloy dropped over 4 seconds from her seed time, while Robinson improved by 2.2.

Williams freshman Laura Westphal took her heat by 1/3 of a pool length, winning in 4:50.10 and bettering her seed time by 2 seconds. Behind her were Kenyon teammates Hannah Orbach-Mandel (4:55.46) and Gail Anderson (4:57.26).

Emory sophomore Maria Turcanu (4:55.31) won heat 4 by a comfortable margin over Williams junior Alison McNamara (4:56.72) and Simmons sophomore Aine Scholand (4:57.45) who just out-touched Delaney Ambrosen of Kenyon (4:57.47).

Emory senior Rebecca Upton was out front, alone, for most of the race, and touched in 4:52.39. She was challenged over the second half of the race by Kenyon sophomore Kendall Vanderhoof (4:53.52) and over the final 50 yards by Johns Hopkins senior Courtney Cowan (4:53.81).

Women’s 200 Yard Individual Medley – Prelims

• NCAA Record: 1:58.81 3/20/2013 Caroline Wilson, Williams

Qualifiers:

1. Crile Hart, FR Kenyon 1:58.29
2. KT Kustritz, SO Denison 2:01.72
3. Molly Craig, FR Williams 2:02.47
4. Ming-fen Ong, SR Emory 2:02.57
5. Niamh O’Grady, SR Wash U. 2:02.70
6. Honore Collins, SO NYU 2:02.80
7. Caroline White, SO Williams 2:03.07
8. Julia Wilson, SR Kenyon 2:03.09
9. Julia Durmer, JR Emory 2:03.95
10. Ashley Daniels, JR Emory 2:04.26
11. Natalie Zaravella, SO Denison 2:04.46
12. Michelle Wang, SO Johns Hopkins 2:04.50
13. Emma Nicklas-Morris, SO Carnegie Mellon 2:04.52
14. Kayla Holman, SO MIT 2:04.71
15. Madeline Downs, SR Williams 2:04.80
16. Kaitlin Jones, SR Johns Hopkins 2:05.14

The first two heats were marked by two Cinderella Story performances that led to second swims for their swimmers. First, Williams senior Madeline Downs took 10.2 seconds off her seed time to go 2:04.80 in heat 1, beating Chicago freshman Nadia Redza (2:06.36, -6.3 seconds) and Connecticut junior Maeve Wilbur (2:07.84, -5.5 seconds), who also had big drops. Then, Williams sophomore Caroline White improved her entry time by 7.6 to win her heat in 2:03.07 over Bowdoin’s Marshall Lowery (2:07.74) and John Carroll freshman Gwyneth Ledrick (2:08.54).

MIT sophomore Kayla Holman (2:04.71) earned her heat win with a 3.6-second drop. In heat 4, Emma Nicklas-Morris of Carnegie Mellon caught up to Kaitlin Jones of Johns Hopkins over the second half of the race and won 2:04.52 to 2:05.14. Heat 5 featured another neck-to-neck race with Emory senior Ming-fen Ong (2:02.80), 10th in 2017, just touching out defending champion Honore Collins of NYU (2:02.80). Hopkins sophomore Michelle Wang was third in the heat with 2:04.50.

Denison sophomore KT Kustritz won the penultimate heat by a couple of body lengths with 2:01.72, but there was an exciting battle for second between Kenyon’s Julia Wilson (2:03.09) and Emory junior Julia Durmer (2:03.95).

Kenyon freshman Crile Hart took 1.4 seconds off her seed time to demolish the final heat and take down the NCAA Division III record with 1:58.29. Hart was already up by nearly 2 body lengths at the halfway mark and continued to increase her lead, winning by 4.2 second ahead of Williams freshman Molly Craig (2:02.47) and Wash U. senior Niamh O’Grady (2:02.70).

Women’s 50 Yard Freestyle – Prelims

• NCAA Record: 22.69 3/15/2017 Emma Waddell, Williams

Qualifiers:

1. Fiona Muir, JR Emory 22.48
2. Emma Waddell, SR Williams 22.73
3. Kristen Petersen, SO Johns Hopkins 22.99
4. Megan Taylor, JR Emory 23.09
5. Madison Kauahi, JR Pomona-Pitzer 23.11
6. Emmerson Mirus, FR Kenyon 23.13
7. Julia Wawer, SR Emory 23.17
8. Lindsay Hagmann, SR Trinity (TX)
9. Alison Shapira, SO Johns Hopkins 23.31
10. Frances Vandermeer, SO Middlebury 23.41 / Abby VanHarn, SR Calvin 23.41
11. –
12. Margaret Webster, JR Gustavus 23.43
13. Grace Sanchez, JR Cal Lutheran 23.44
14. Lisa Cheng, JR IWU 23.53
15. Jocelyn Crawford, SO, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 23.55
16. Priscilla Wu, SO MIT 23.58

Swimming in the first heat, Maya Gomez of Middlebury dropped 1.2 seconds to land a 24.02. Denison’s Angela Le won her heat with 23.76, dropping .24 to crack the 24-second barrier. She beat Ursinus junior Clara Baker (23.86), who also dropped time to dip below 24. Emory freshman Lucena Daro (23.61) improved her seed time by .31 to edge Kenyon junior Abigail Wilson (23.76) and Rhodes sophomore Madi Griffin (23.87).

Emory senior Julia Wawer, who finished 13th in this event last year, cracked a 23.17 to win heat 5, improving her seed time by over half a second. MIT sophomore Priscilla Wu was second with 23.58. Megan Taylor of Emory won heat 6 with 23.09 ahead of Hopkins sophomore Alison Shapiro (23.31) and Gustavus junior Margaret Webster (23.43).

Emory junior Fiona Muir, last year’s runner-up to Emma Waddell’s record-breaking performance, took a big .21 chunk out of the NCAA Record and Championship Record with 22.48 in the penultimate heat. Behind her, Hopkins sophomore Kristen Petersen broke 23 to take .52 off her seed time (22.99) and Pomona-Pitzer junior Madison Kauahi improved her seed time by 2/10 to finish third in 23.11.

Williams senior Waddell got a crack at taking back her record in the following heat, which she won in 22.73 ahead of Trinity senior Lindsay Hagmann (23.23) and Middlebury’s Frances Vandermeer and Calvin senior Abby VanHarn who tied with 23.41.

In the swim-off for 16th place, Priscilla Wu of MIT edged Lily Gribbel of Connecticut, 23.39 to 23.43, to earn a berth in tonight’s consolation final. Both had swum 23.58 in prelims.

Women’s 200 Yard Medley Relay – Prelims

• NCAA Record: 1:40.58 3/18/2015 Kenyon (Oberholzer, Duncan, Cooper, McLeod)

Qualifiers:

1. Emory 1:41.40
2. Denison 1:41.50
3. Johns Hopkins 1:42.24
4. Pomona-Pitzer 1:42.46
5. Williams 1:42.54
6. Wash U. 1:43.22
7. MIT 1:43.41
8. Kenyon 1:43.44
9. Conn College 1:43.72
10. Bates 1:44.18
11. Wesleyan 1:44.36
12. Chicago 1:44.59
13. W&L 1:44.78
14. CWRU 1:44.79
15. Ursinus 1:44.98
16. Amherst 1:45.06

Johns Hopkins (1:42.24) edged Pomona-Pitzer (1:42.46) to win the first heat of women’s medley relays. Denison (1:41.50) prevailed over Wash U. (1:43.22) and MIT (1:43.41) in heat 2. Emory (1:41.40) beat Stevens Point, Tufts, and Kenyon in the final heat; Stevens Point and Tufts were later DQd.