2025 NCAA Division III Championships: Day 4 Prelims Live Recap

2025 NCAA DIII Swimming and Diving Championships

• March 19-22, 2025
• Location: Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, NC
• Times: Prelims 10:00 AM / Finals 6:00 PM (ET)
• Defending Champs: Kenyon women (1x) & Emory men (3x)
• Psych Sheet
• Live Streaming on NCAA.com
• Live Results
• “NCAA DIII Championships” on Meet Mobile
• Recaps
  • Prelims: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

Welcome to the final prelims session of the 2025 NCAA Division III Championships. The team race is really heating up on the women’s side. NYU leads MIT by just 20 points, so placements will be key in this prelims session. As a reminder, here’s where the team scores stand as of last night:

Women (Top 5)

1. NYU – 368
2. MIT – 348
3. Kenyon – 315
4. Denison – 278
5. Emory – 267

Men (Top 5)

1. Denison – 298
2. Emory – 250.5
3. Chicago – 211
4. NYU – 190.5
5. Kenyon – 183

It will be a relatively short session this morning, and we’ll get started with the shortest event of this morning. Kaley McIntyre (NYU) will look to complete the sprint free sweep in the 100 free. She already lowered her own national record at her conference championship meet, so expect another dominant performance from her. The men’s 100 also looks to be exciting. The 50 free saw 10 men break 20 seconds in prelims, so if the speed carries over we could see a tight cutoff to make the A final.

We’ll then move into the 200 back, where Kate Augustyn (MIT) and Sophia Verkleeren (Williams) will clash for the final time in their collegiate career. Augustyn beat Verkleeren for the first time in the final last year, and has already won the 100 back at these championships. Verkleeren has swept the IMs at these championships, including setting a national record in the 400 IM. The men’s 200 back has a trio of athletes with 1:44 entry times, led by Tufts’ Eric Lundgren.

Jennah Fadely (Kenyon) has the top time in the 200 breast, though it’s her senior teammate Gabriella Wei who won the event last year. This event will be key for Kenyon if they want to keep themselves in the conversation for the team title. The men’s event is narrowly led by Liyang Sun (Emory), just ahead of Denison’s Elijah Venos.

This morning will also feature the prelims of the 400 free relay, women’s 3-meter diving, and the early heats of the 1650.

Women’s 100 Yard Freestyle – Prelims

• Division III Record: 48.58 Kaley McIntyre (NYU), 2025
• 2024 Champion: 48.79, Kaley McIntyre (NYU)

Finals Qualifiers:

1. Kaley McIntyre (NYU) – 49.06
2. Valerie Mello (Pomona-Pitzer) – 49.86
3. Alex Turvey (MIT) – 49.97
4. Annika Naveen (MIT) – 50.12
5. Sydney Smith (MIT) – 50.23
6. Nina Aballea (Pomona-Pitzer) – 50.38
7. Avery Vogen (Denison) – 50.38
8. Grace Kadlecik (Denison) – 50.41
9. Nicole Ranile (NYU) – 50.43
10. Caitlin Crysel (Emory) – 50.45
11. Laurel Wasiniak (Hope) – 50.48
12. Ella Roberson (MIT) – 50.49
13. Francesca Coppo (Pomona-Pitzer) – 50.50
14. Emily Xu (Chicago) – 50.53
15. Greta Gidley (Hoep) – 50.57
16. Penelope Helm (Emory) – 50.64

Kaley McIntyre (NYU) paced the field in the women’s 100 freestyle, clocking a smooth 49.06 to win the final heat. All three sub-50 swims came from that heat, as Pomona-Pitzer’s Valerie Mello (49.86) and Sagehen-turned-Engineer Alex Turvey (49.97) also came in under the barrier.

MIT needs a big morning to catch up to NYU in the team standings, and while McIntyre’s form this week suggests she’s a lock to complete the sprint sweep, the Engineers put two other swimmers in the A final with Annika Naveen (50.12) and Sydney Smith (50.23). Both athletes were seeded outside of the top 16. Ella Roberson (#2 seed) wasn’t quite on her entry time, but still earns a second swim tonight in the B final (50.49).

Pomona-Pitzer will also be represented multiple times in the top heat (Nina Aballea, 50.38), while Denison rounds out the top eight with another pair: Avery Vogen (50.38) and Grace Kadlecik (50.41).

Nicole Ranile (NYU) leads a narrow field in the B final, as the qualifiers are separated by just 0.21 seconds.

Men’s 100 Yard Freestyle – Prelims

• Division III Record: 42.98, Oliver Smith (Emory), 2018
• 2024 Champion: 43.26, Djordje Dragojlovic (Kenyon)

Finals Qualifiers:

1. Max Cory (Bates) – 43.05
2. David Bajwa (Calvin) – 43.62
3. Matthew Peitler (CMU) – 43.76
4. Nathaniel Taft (Hamilton) – 43.80
5. Jack Hill (Denison) – 43.83
6. Djordje Dragojlovic (Kenyon) – 43.89
7. Colin Twiss (Coast Guard) – 43.96
8. Sebastien Vernhes (Chicago) – 44.01
9. Luke Schwenk (St. Mary’s) – 44.07
10. Oliver Schalet (Williams)/Nick Hensel (Denison) – 44.28
11. —
12. Charles Platt (Calvin) – 44.34
13. Daniel Brooks (Chicago) – 44.42
14. Ethan Bonow (Asbury) – 44.43
15. Jacob Dzurica (St. Vincent) – 44.48
16. Casey Jacobs (Pomona-Pitzer) – 44.55

Max Cory led the prelims of the men’s 100 freestyle, becoming the #2 all-time performer in Division III in the process. The junior from Bates opened in 20.38 and was back in 22.67, for a final time of 43.05. That is within striking distance of the national record.

Cory was followed by a flurry of 43-point swims, led by David Bajwa (Calvin) in 43.62. First-year Matthew Peitler dropped just over a tenth from his entry time to slot in at 3rd (43.76). Hamilton’s Nathaniel Taft, who placed 5th overall last year, qualified 4th ahead of Jack Hill (43.83) and defending champion Djordje Dragojlovic (43.89).

200 free champion Colin Twiss broke 44 seconds for the first time to make the top heat, qualifying 7th (43.96). We also saw seven 43-point swims in prelims last year; Sebastien Vernhes (Chicago) rounds out the top 8 in 44.01.

Women’s 200 Yard Backstroke – Prelims

• Division III Record: 1:55.67, Crile Hart (Kenyon), 2018
• 2024 Champion: 1:55.98, Kate Augustyn (MIT)

Finals Qualifiers:

1. Sophia Verkleeren (Williams) – 1:57.44
2. Kate Augustyn (MIT) – 1:57.83
3. Elizabeth Pennington (Rowan) – 1:58.59
4. Elisabella Forest (Chicago) – 1:58.62
5. Isabelle Yoon (Pomona-Pitzer) – 1:59.78
6. Sara Kraus (Hope) – 2:00.20
7. Savannah Xu (CMU) – 2:00.56
8. Kennedy Lee (JHU) – 2:00.68
9. Calista Lynch (NYU) – 2:00.74
10. Isabella Barrientos (WashU) – 2:01.01
11. Anna Durak (Loras) – 2:01.26
12. Megan Jungers (Emory) – 2:01.35
13. Gwenyth Eisenbeis (Kenyon) – 2:01.40
14. Irene Yang (Williams) – 2:01.44
15. Caroline Ramirez (Denison) – 2:01.63
16. Noa Chambers (Tufts) – 2:01.76

For the fourth year in a row, Sophia Verkleeren (Williams) is the top prelims qualifier in the women’s 200 backstroke. The senior ended up finishing 2nd in 2022, 1st in 2023, and 2nd in 2024 to Kate Augustyn, who qualified 2nd. Both seniors, the race will certainly be between them for the crown tonight. They were the only two swimmers to swim under 1:58 this morning. Verkleeren’s best time sits at 1:57.20, while Augustyn went 1:55.98 en route to the title last year.

In 3rd and 4th are a pair of 1:58s. Rowan’s Elizabeth Pennington exactly matched her entry time (1:58.59) while Chicago’s Elisabella Forest cut over a second from her best time (1:58.62). The final sub-2:00 effort from this morning came from Isabelle Yoon (Pomona-Pitzer), who exactly tied her personal best from 2023 (1:59.78).

The rest of the heat has the potential to get faster as well: Sara Kraus (Hope), Savannah Xu (CMU), and Kennedy Lee (JHU) all added from their entry times to sit 6th, 7th, and 8th.

Men’s 200 Yard Backstroke – Prelims

• Division III Record: 1:41.17 Tanner Filion (Whitman), 2023
• 2024 Champion: 1:43.40, Alex McCormick (WashU)

Finals Qualifiers:

1. Avery Clapp (JHU) – 1:45.29
2. Ryan Higgins (TCNJ) – 1:45.69
3. Eric Lundgren (Tufts) – 1:46.20
4. Kyle Wolford (WashU) – 1:46.20
5. Devin Testin (Denison) – 1:46.45
6. Graham Zucker (Emory) – 1:46.46
7. Charlie Green (Kenyon) – 1:46.51
8. Bryce Lloyd (JHU) – 1:46.57
9. Matvey Malinovski (CMU) – 1:46.89
10. Ethan Manske (Kenyon) – 1:47.09
11. Zachary Spicer (Emory) – 1:47.32
12. Nolan Lahmann (Emory) – 1:47.39
13. Tim Johnson (Bates) – 1:47.40
14. Matthew Morris (Connecticut College) – 1:47.43
15. Nathan Kim (MIT) – 1:47.57
16. Luke Swiggett (Denison) – 1:47.59

Avery Clapp led the field of the men’s 200 back, clocking 1:45.29 to claim the middle lane for tonight. The junior from Johns Hopkins opened his race in 24.88. He was 26.52/26.61 on the middle 100, before slipping slightly off the pace as he closed in 27.28. The next closest qualifier is Ryan Higgins (TCNJ), who finished four tenths back (1:45.69). Higgins swam a slightly more controlled race, staying even in his last 100 (27.07/27.05).

In contrast, top seed Eric Lundgren of Tufts blasted out to an early lead (50.70) before settling into his pace (27.74/27.76). Lundgren has been as fast as 1:44.10 this season, so look for him to be out fast in tonight’s final.

Kyle Wolford (TCNJ) qualified 4th, swimming to 1:46.28. The fifth-year had a huge final 50 to put himself into A final position; he was only 1:20.10 at the 150, the slowest opening split of all 16 finalists.

Devin Testin (Denison) and Graham Zucker (Emory) were separated by just one-hundredth of a second. Charlie Green (Kenyon) was just five-hundredths back of Zucker, and JHU will have two finalists in the final as Bryce Lloyd qualified 8th.

Women’s 200 Yard Breaststroke – Prelims

• Division III Record: 2:10.06, Jordyn Wentzel (St. Kate’s), 2022
• 2024 Champion: 2:11.70, Gabriella Wei (Kenyon)

Finals Qualifiers:

1. Gabriella Wei (Kenyon) – 2:12.47
2. Charlotte Wishnack (Williams) – 2:14.05
3. Jennah Fadely (Kenyon) – 2:14.08
4. Drue Thielking (Denison) – 2:14.68
5. Kelsey Van Eldik (Kenyon) – 2:14.99
6. Katie Cohen (Emory) – 2:15.31
7. Taylor Rohovit (JHU) – 2:15.32
8. Sarah Bernard (MIT) – 2:15.34
9. Sarah Palmer (Bates) – 2:16.44
10. Neely Burns (Trinity U) – 2:17.00
11. Madison Lu (Emory) – 2:17.07
12. Carter Roebuck (Williams) – 2:17.22
13. Sophia Joos (Emory) – 2:17.58
14. Ali Lacroix (Amherst) – 2:17.62
15. Alicia Soosai (Chicago) – 2:18.02
16. Emmie Appl (Pomona-Pitzer) – 2:18.81

Defending champion Gabriella Wei (Kenyon) was just off of her seed time to top the preliminaries of the women’s 200 breaststroke. The senior cleared the field by over a second, posting 2:12.47. She’ll be joined by Owl teammates Jennah Fadely (2:14.08), last night’s 100 champion, and Kelsey Van Eldik (2:14.99) who made it through in 2nd and 4th. Breaking up the Kenyon party is Charlotte Wishnack (2:14.05) and Drue Thielking (2:14.68).

Katie Cohen (Emory) and Taylor Rohovit (JHU) both dropped from their entry times to make it into the final. MIT’s Sarah Bernard (2:15.34) added over a second from her entry time to grab the final lane in tonight’s final.

Men’s 200 Yard Breaststroke – Prelims

• Division III Record: 1:50.80, Andrew Wilson (Emory), 2017
• 2024 Champion: 1:54.26, Derek Maas (NYU)

Finals Qualifiers:

1. Patrick Daly (Denison) – 1:57.62
2. Gavin Jones (Denison) – 1:57.93
3. Ryan Vandeveen (TCNJ) – 1:58.20
4. Max Nechydyuk (NYU) – 1:58.26
5. Christian Lanuza (CMU) – 1:58.34
6. Liyang Sun (Emory) – 1:58.45
7. Victor Derani (NYU) – 1:58.53
8. Elijah Venos (Denison) – 1:58.56
9. Liam Nelson (Denison) – 1:58.86
10. Lincoln Hall (Cal Lutheran) – 1:59.24
11. Evan Deedy (CMS) – 1:59.44
12. Zachary Erb (Bridgewater) – 1:59.54
13. Kirill Sidorko (Kenyon) – 1:59.58
14. Ben Scott (WashU) – 2:00.14
15. Joseph Castagno (JHU) – 2:00.25
16. Noel Tumbasz (Kenyon) – 2:00.87

The Big Red grabbed the top two spots in the men’s 200 breaststroke for tonight, led by Patrick Daly (1:57.62). The senior was 6th in this event last year in what was then a PB of 1:59.27. His classmate Gavin Jones, 11th last year, will swim right next to him in lane 5 (1:57.93). This will be a big event for Denison, as they also have the 8th (Elijah Venos) and 9th (Liam Nelson) qualifiers. That should help lock up the team title.

Ryan Vandeveen (TCNJ) qualified in 3rd (1:58.20), just ahead of top seed Max Nechydyuk (1:58.26).

Christian Lanuza had a huge swim for CMU out of heat 1, posting 1:58.34 to break 2:00 for the first time and qualify 5th. The last three A final qualifiers sit just 0.11 seconds apart, led by 2024 finalist Liyang Sun (Emory).

Women’s 400 Yard Freestyle Relay – Prelims

• Division III Record: 3:18.46, Emory (F. Muir, C. Cheng, M. Ong, M. Taylor), 2018
• 2024 Champion: 3:20.59, Pomona-Pitzer (S. Wang, A. Turvey, K. Gould, V. Mello)

Finals Qualifiers:

1. MIT (Turvey, Smith, Augustyn, Roberson) – 3:21.08
2. NYU (Ranile, Motekaitis, Oldham, McIntyre) – 3:22.01
3. Denison (Harris, Kadlecik, Ferguson, Vogen) – 3:22.07
4. Pomona-Pitzer (Coppo, Aballea, Dixon, Mello) – 3:22.61
5. Emory (Kennedy, Crysel, Wendt, Helm) – 3:23.02
6. Tufts (Chambers, Wheeler, Stasz, Cudney) – 3:23.28
7. Kenyon (Haag, Ford, Torrecillas-Jouault, Geboy) – 3:23.30
8. Hope (Gidley, Ryle, Turner, Wasiniak) – 3:23.38
9. Calvin (Farrell, Bengelink, Merkel, Sonday) – 3:25.60
10. Swarthmore (Anthony, Collins, Rohde, Weygandt) – 3:25.71
11. Amherst (Smith, Lee, Koo, Arnold) – 3:26.13
12. Williams (Yang, Verkleeren, Roebuck, Dimter) – 3:26.30
13. Johns Hopkins (Er, Veerapaneni, Cohen, Liu) – 3:26.75
14. CWRU (Chambers, Paull, Menzer, Kozma) – 3:26.90
15. RPI (Pargett, Whittaker, Rose, Brown) – 3:26.91
16. Gettysburg (Collin, Lawton, Morreale, Yancey) – 3:27.05

MIT used three of their 100 free finalists to dominate the 400 free relay by nearly a second. Alex Turvey (50.60), Sydney Smith (50.28), Kate Augustyn (50.73), and Ella Roberson (49.47) combined to post 3:21.08. Turvey was slightly off the 49.97 she posted in the individual event, so this quartet still has room to improve for finals. Turvey was a national champion in this event last year for Pomona-Pitzer.

The Engineers have their work cut out for them, as they find themselves in a close race with NYU for the team title. The Violets qualified 2nd with Nicole Ranile (51.16), Elle Motekaitis (50.90), Isabel Oldham (50.80), and Kaley McIntyre (49.15). The meet could be decided in this final relay, depending on how everything shakes out tonight.

Denison qualified just six-hundredths back of NYU, and could play spoiler. The Big Red didn’t have a standout leg this morning, but were consistent 50-points across the board (3:22.07). Behind them is defending champions Pomona-Pitzer., highlighted by a field-leading split from Valerie Mello (49.43).

Men’s 400 Yard Freestyle Relay – Prelims

• Division III Record: 2:53.59, Kenyon (D. Somers, Z. Turk, C. Ramsey, I. Richardson) 2012
• 2024 Champion: 2:54.52, Kenyon (D. Dragojlovic, M. Krtinic, D. Brooks, A. Dobric)

Finals Qualifiers:

1. Chicago (Costello, Benderskii, Kruep, Butler) – 2:56.76
2. Denison (Hill, Hensel, Beduschi, Testin) – 2:57.56
3. CMU (Morford, Malinovski, Peitler, Jones) – 2:57.71
4. Calvin (Bajwa, Molin, Seidelman, Platt) – 2:57.92
5. Kenyon (Abrahamson, Dragojlovic, Jaworski, Sidorko) – 2:58.25
6. WashU (Sibley, Bick, Wolford, Rockaway) – 2:58.46
7. MIT (Kim, Jiang, Arrese-Igor, Roberts) – 2:58.54
8. NYU (Downs, Nechydyuk, Watanakun, Wehbe) – 2:58.72
9. Tufts (Adams, Euvrard, Sikka, Lundgren) – 2:58.78
10. W&L (Chapman, Jobe, Byars, Nagel) – 2:58.85
11. Emory (Tupper, Bjornstad, Thorsen, Zexter) – 2:59.04
12. Coast Guard (Reice, Buniowski, McGowen, Twiss) – 2:59.14
13. Williams (Schalet, Nunez, Heritage, Randall) – 2:59.32
14. Swarthmore (Castle, Wilson, Tipton, Griscavage) – 2:59.45
15. Grinnell (Adl, Donovan, Feilmeyer, Fitzgerald) – 2:59.49
16. UC Santa Cruz (Reitan, Koika, Schmid, Reyna) – 3:00.36

Fresh off trying the national record in the 800 free last night, the Chicago men posted the top time in the 400 free relay. The quartet of Cooper Costello (43.98), Igor Benderskii (44.49), Rylan Kruep (44.48), and John Butler (43.81) combined to grab the middle lane by exactly eight tenths of a second. Notably, Costello’s time would have made the A final of the 100 free, contested earlier this morning.

Denison qualified 2nd with Jack Hill (43.80), Nick Hensel (44.42), Andre Beduschi (44.60), and Devin Testin (44.74). Carnegie Mellon (3rd) got a field-best flying split from Matt Peitler, who swam the third leg for the Tartans in 43.27.

Defending champions Kenyon qualified down in 5th, with only Djordje Dragojlovic returning from the 2024 squad.

Women’s 1650 Yard Freestyle – Early Heats

• Division III Record: 16:21.44, Sarah Thompson, 2015
• 2024 Champion: 16:34.67, Bengisu Caymaz (Kenyon)

Top 8 (Early Heats):

1. Caitlin Marshall (NYU) – 16:47.12
2. Aanya Wala (NYU) – 16:56.52
3. Nora Lee Brown (Kenyon) – 17:03.10
4. Meredith Liu (Emory) – 17:06.83
5. Lauren Adler (MIT) – 17:09.17
6. Morgan Main (Emory) – 17:10.33
7. Taryn Wisner (Denison) – 17:12.32
8. Zoe Poe (Calvin) – 17:12.57

NYU will pick up some crucial points thanks to Caitlin Marshall and Aanya Wala, who had huge drops from seed to post the top two times in the early heats. Their times would have been 3rd and 9th on the psych sheet, a jump from their 9th and 12th place seeding. MIT will also grab a handful of points in the team race from Lauren Adler, but as far as the team race is concerned, this event will be a swing for the Violets.

Men’s 1650 Yard Freestyle – Early Heats

• Division III Record: 14:56.44, Arthur Conover (Kenyon), 2016
• 2024 Champion: 15:17.48, Lucas Lang (CMS)

Top 8 (Early Heats):

1. Thomas Langlois (Whittier) – 15:29.21
2. Peter Meng (CWRU) – 15:40.90
3. Evan Jue (NYU) – 15:43.22
4. Jack Cornish (JHU) – 15:44.31
5. Luke Fender (Trinity U)-  15:45.17
6. Rafae Shafi (Tufts) – 15:46.34
7. Brayden Slavik (St. John’s) – 15:46.84
8. Ryan Hillery (WashU) – 15:49.85

Thomas Langlois (Whittier) dropped about four seconds from his entry time to top the early heats of the men’s mile. There’s a wide gap between him and Peter Meng (CWRU), who was right on his entry time of 15:40.04. No one else dropped from their seed time.

Women’s 3-meter Diving – Prelims

• Division III Record: 517.10, Haley Emerick (Trinity U.), 2010
• 2024 Champion: 509.50, Kailee Payne (Ithaca)

Finals Qualifiers:

1. Kailee Payne (Ithaca) – 530.95 Division III Record
2. Abigail Wilkov (CWRU) – 497.45
3. Nina Schwab (Carleton) – 480.50
4. Fiora Beratahani (MIT) – 475.50
5. Sadie Smith (Bowdoin) – 464.40
6. Veronica Fong (Chicago) – 456.80
7. Sydney Bluestein (Amherst) – 452.05
8. Madilyn Williams (RIT) – 450.45
9. Angela Burke (Ithaca) – 443.75
10. Lilia Atanda (Chicago) – 441.20
11. Rachel Loh (MIT) – 436.35
12. Issara Schmidt (NYU) – 434.30
13. Wenxuan Tang (Chicago) – 433.25
14. Ren Watt (Emory) – 430.50
15. Sumiye Allen (Chicago) – 426.70
16. Maya Williams (NYU) – 422.50

Kailee Payne set herself up for another sweep of the boards in the 3-meter preliminaries with a new national record. She’s followed once again by Abigail Wilkov (CWRU), the 1-meter runner-up, and Nina Schwab, who was 3rd.

Looking towards the team race, both MIT and NYU have two divers competing in finals. However, MIT has an A finalist in Fiora Beratahani, who placed 7th on this board last year.