2022 NCAA Division III Championships – Women’s Fan Guide

2022 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships

The 2022 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships will take place beginning Wednesday, March 16 in Indianapolis, Indiana. It will be the first national championship in Division III since 2019, as both the 2020 and 2021 meets were canceled due to the pandemic.

The 2022 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships will kick off on Wednesday, March 16 at the IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI in Downtown Indianapolis. Hosted by Indiana Sports Corp and Franklin College, the Division III Championships will feature 290 swimmers and 29 divers.

Ten-time defending champions, Emory, come into the meet seeded second, 22 points behind Kenyon. Williams and Denison are hovering around the top, too. Denison and Emory each qualified 18 swimmers; Chicago and NYU, 16; Kenyon and Johns Hopkins, 15.

Diving points are not yet included in the projections and can make a big difference. Ithaca (5), Chicago (3), Emory (2), and Amherst (2) all qualified multiple divers who could significantly change the pre-championship score projections if their divers advance in the preliminary rounds.

Stars

Freestyle

In the 50 free, Taylor Robey of Nazareth is top seed this year with 22.79, which is only .04 off the winning time from the 2019 NCAA Division III Championships, where she placed 35th in 2019 with 23.84. Robey ranks seventh in the 100 free (50.54), as well. Emory’s Taylor Leone also comes into the meet with a sub-23 (22.97) 50 free.

A number of sprinters are seeded in the top-8 of both the 50 and the 100 free, including Bowdoin’s Ella Riccio (23.04/50.61), Kenyon’s Emmerson Mirus (23.10/50.29), Caroline Maki of Emory (23.10/50.35), and Jillian Cudney from Tufts (23.11/50.52).

Alexandra Turvey of Pomona-Pitzer ranks #1 in the 100 free (49.96), the only sub-50 on the psych sheet. Her teammate Avery Turney is fifth in the 100 (50.49) and seventh in the 200 (1:50.03). Ellen Hofstede of Gustavus is the number 2 seed in the 100 free (50.10)

Tufts brings the only sub-1:49s in the 200 free, and they’ve got two of them: Mary Hufziger has the fastest entry time (1:48.26), half a second ahead of her teammate Claire Brennan (1:48.73).

Denison’s Taryn Wisner is seeded third in the 200 free (1:49.36), is tied for first in the 500 free (4:51.21), and ranks third in the 1650 free (16:48.85). Margaret Menso from St. Kate’s, who is also entered with a 4:51.21 in the 500, leads the field of qualifiers in the 1650 (16:43.43) and is seeded eighth in the 200 free (1:50.17). In 2019, she placed third in the mile and fifth in the 500.

Tara Witkowski from Denison is only .18 behind Wisner and Menso in the 500 free (4:51.39) and she ranks fourth in the 1650 (16:48.89). Her teammate Alix O’Brien is seeded second in the 1650 (16:47.31) and fifth in the 500 free (4:53.13). Johns Hopkins’ Kristin Cornish will also be among the favorites in the distance free events, coming in with the fourth 500 time (4:52.36) and the fifth mile time (16:48.94).

Backstroke

There will be a new 100 back champion crowned this year. Crile Hart of Kenyon, who swept both backstroke distances in 2019, has renounced the 100 back for the 100 fly. She is, however, top seed in the 200 back with 1:57.62, just a second off her winning time from 2019. Instead, the number one seed in the 100 back is NYU’s Jessica Flynn (53.95). Her entry time is only about half a second off the NCAA Division III record.

Emory’s Megan Jungers is seeded second in both events (54.10/1:57.66). Sophie Cassily from Bates ranks third in the 200 (1:57.98) and seventh in the 100 (55.23). Kenyon’s Olivia Smith (54.71) and Williams’ Sophia Verkleeren (54.89) come in with sub-55 100 backs, at third and fourth, respectively.

Breaststroke

MIT’s Edenna Chen tops the entrants in the 100 breast with 1:00.43. Jordyn Wentzel of St. Kate’s ranks second in the 100 breast (1:01.15) and first in the 200 (2:10.66), where Chen is fourth (2:15.33). Jennah Fadely of Kenyon is a potential spoiler in the 100 breast (1:01.37).

Amanda Wager from Williams (1:01.68/2:12.98) is seeded fourth and second in the 100 breast and 200 breast. Her teammate Charlotte Wishnack (1:02.44/2:16.18) is sixth in both events. Gabrielle Wei of Kenyon (1:02.83/2:13.27) and Kinsey Brooks of Mary Washington (1:01.91/2:16.24) also rank among the top-8 in both distances.

Butterfly

Kenyon’s Crile Hart leads the qualifiers in the 100 fly by more than six-tenths and her 53.40 entry time is 1.1 seconds faster than the winning time in 2019. Samantha Kilcoyne of Williams (54.04), Taylor Leone from Emory (54.20), and Denison’s Emma Pritchett (54.57) are also faster than what it took to win in 2019.

Marie Fagan of Amherst (2:00.58) and NYU’s Caitlin Marshall (2:00.88) rank first and second in the 200 fly. Kilcoyne of Williams is seeded third (2:01.16), while Emory’s Clio Hancock is fourth (2:01.23), 2.5 seconds faster than what she swam to finish 11th in 2019.

Individual Medley

Kenyon’s Hart is the number one seed in yet another event, the 200 IM (1:59.30). Wentzel from St. Kate’s ranks second (1:59.47). The pair, who came in third and fourth, respectively, in 2019, are two full seconds faster than #3 seed, Brooks of Mary Washington (2:01.49).

Augusta Lewis of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps ranks first in the 400 IM by 3.3 seconds with 4:18.66.

Molly Craig from Williams is the number four seed in the 200 IM (2:01.60) and number three in the 400 IM (4:22.18). She was runner-up in the 400 and placed fifth in the 200 IM in 2019. Emory’s Hancock, who was third in the 400 IM and ninth in the 200 in 2019, comes in this year with the #8 200 time (2:02.44) and the #2 400 time (4:21.99). MIT’s Kate Augustyn ranks fifth in the 200 (2:01.96) and sixth in the 400 (4:23.55).

Denison (with Alix O’Brien and Esme Wright at fourth and fifth) and Kenyon (with Gabrielle Wey and Sydney McCallie at seventh and eighth) each have two top-8 qualifiers in the 400 IM.

Women’s Team Race

The scoring teams from the women’s psych sheet, including distance events and relays but excluding diving, are as follows:

Team Individual Points Relay Points Total
Kenyon 224 180 404
Emory 218 164 382
Williams 208 146 354
Denison 202 144 346
Tufts 147 128 275
Pomona-Pitzer 98 112 210
MIT 76 104 180
St. Kate’s 110 40 150
Johns Hopkins 86 60 146
Bates 62 66 128
Bowdoin 39 72 111
Claremont MS 72 34 106
Chicago 46 60 106
NYU 57 36 93
Wash U. MO 34 42 76
Connecticut 32 38 70
Amherst 39 22 61
Hope College 31 26 57
Gustavus 23 32 55
Mary Washington 42 0 42
Nazareth 32 0 32
Albion 20 12 32
Trinity U. 3 22 25
Wheaton MA 22 0 22
CMU 20 0 20
Southwestern 5 6 11
TCNJ 11 0 11
UW-Stevens Point 11 0 11
Colby 7 0 7
Wellesley 6 0 6
St. Olaf 6 0 6
Swarthmore 4 2 6
Hamilton 5 0 5
Calvin 4 0 4
IWU 4 0 4
Middlebury 3 0 3
Pacific Lutheran 3 0 3
Whitworth 2 0 2
W&L 0 2 2
Smith 1 0 1

4-Day Schedule – Finals

Wednesday, March 16

  • 500-yard freestyle
  • 200-yard individual medley
  • 50-yard freestyle
  • 3-meter diving (M)
  • 200-yard medley relay

Thursday, March 17

  • 200-yard freestyle relay
  • 400-yard individual medley
  • 100-yard butterfly
  • 200-yard freestyle
  • 1-meter diving (W)
  • 400-yard medley relay

Friday, March 18

  • 200-yard butterfly
  • 100-yard backstroke
  • 100-yard breaststroke
  • 1-meter diving (M)
  • 800-yard freestyle relay

Saturday, March 19

  • 1650-yard freestyle
  • 100-yard freestyle
  • 200-yard backstroke
  • 200-yard breaststroke
  • 3-meter diving (W)
  • 400-yard freestyle relay

 

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joanietheswimmer
2 years ago

Where are the heat sheets?

Chirp Chirp
2 years ago

Pomona Pitzer women are on the rise, lots of freshmen and sophomores. So glad this meet is back!

ACC
2 years ago

Looks like men’s events go before the women’s this year. I like that DIII alternates like that.

John Hueth
2 years ago

Good luck, ladies!

THEO
2 years ago

Emory has more upside in the psych sheets. A lot of Kenyon’s points are first place seeds with nowhere to go but down. With the extra 2 divers I think Emory are favorites. But it should be a great meet!

if Cornish hits PRs in all events and 8free relay she will shake up the distance events and could single-handedly push JHU up a few places.

About Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant is the mother of four daughters, all of whom swam in college. With an undergraduate degree from Princeton (where she was an all-Ivy tennis player) and an MBA from INSEAD, she worked for many years in the financial industry, both in France and the U.S. Anne is currently …

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