2024 NCAA Division III Championships: Day 4 Finals

2024 NCAA DIII Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships

Team Scores Thru Day 3 (Top 10)

Men

  1. Emory – 327
  2. Kenyon – 272
  3. Chicago – 264
  4. Williams – 217.5
  5. NYU – 208
  6. Calvin – 143
  7. Carnegie Mellon – 131
  8. Denison – 130
  9. Tufts – 111.5
  10. CMS – 107

Women

  1. Kenyon – 315
  2. Denison – 312
  3. NYU – 299
  4. Williams – 277
  5. MIT – 243
  6. Emory – 204
  7. Pomona-Pitzer – 175
  8. Chicago – 133
  9. Swarthmore – 95
  10. Tufts – 84.5

It’s the last night of competition in Greensboro.

To kick things off, the Johns Hopkins distance duo of Kellen Roddy and Kristin Cornish will feature in fastest heats of the 1650 freestyle. They are the defending champions in the men’s and women’s events respectively.

In the men’s 100 free, 50 free champion Tobe Obochi became the 2nd fastest performer in D3 history this morning. He has a shot at winning his second title in this event and completing the sprint sweep at these championships, but he won’t be without a challenge as a pair of Owls will look to take him down. Djordje Dragojlovic is the defending champion in this event and is seeded 3rd, right behind his teammate Aleksa Dobric.

The women’s 200 back is projected to be between Kate Augustyn, the 100 back champion, and Sophia Verkleeren, the defending champion. Augustyn is the newly-minted national record-holder in the 100 back, but Verkleeren was first through the heats.

In the men’s 200 breast, Jake Meyer and Derek Maas will meet once again. Maas won the 100 breast last night, but Meyer is the top seed heading into tonight’s final.

The final team finish could come down to the 400 free relay, as there are a number of close point totals after yesterday’s competition. The Kenyon women will grab a ton of points tonight based on their prelims performance, but Denison has two divers in the championship final.

On the men’s side Emory appears to be a lock to grab their third-straight title, but there will be a lot of jostling to stay in the top 10 as the points spread is quite close.

Let’s hope women’s D1 doesn’t crash the site too many times, as this looks to be an exciting session with a lot of close races. Here we go!

Men’s 1650 Yard Freestyle – Timed Finals

Top 8:

  1. Lucas Lang (CMS) – 15:17.48
  2. Connor Vincent (NYU) – 15:17.55
  3. Lucas Conrads (Denison) – 15:22.12
  4. Luke Landis (Denison) – 15:23.17
  5. Samuel Dienstag (Brandeis) – 15:28.56
  6. Carter Anderson (Williams) – 15:31.42
  7. Kellen Roddy (Johns Hopkins) – 15:32.85
  8. Cole Weiderman (Cal Lutheran) – 15:33.79

It was an exciting race to kick things off tonight. NYU’s Connor Vincent jumped out to an early lead and had a multiple body length lead by the 250. Cole Weiderman, Lucas Lang, and Kellen Roddy all looked dead-even in the fight for the runner-up finish.

Then Lucas Lang started to make his move, and by the 1200 he was going stroke-for-stroke with Vincent. He was slightly ahead going into the final turn. Vincent turned on the jets, splitting 24.99 to Lang’s 26.22, but it wasn’t enough to catch him at the touch. The finish was separated by just seven-hundredths of a second.

Lucas Conrads and Carter Anderson touched 3rd and 4th in the heat.

Luke Landis and Samuel Dienstag leap-frogged Anderson, Roddy, and Weiderman to finish 4th and 5th overall, moving up from their 2023 placings.

Women’s 1650 Yard Freestyle – Timed Finals

  • Division III Record: 16:21.44, Sarah Thompson, 2015
  • 2023 Champion: 16:29.78, Kristin Cornish (Johns Hopkins)

Top 8:

  1. Bengisu Caymaz (Kenyon) – 16:34.67
  2. Lily Codd (Williams) – 16:41.51
  3. Caitlin Marshall (NYU) – 16:41.99
  4. Kristin Cornish (Johns Hopkins) – 16:45.15
  5. Tara Witkowski (Denison) – 16:46.62
  6. Molly Haag (Kenyon) – 16:47.24
  7. Jada Chatoor (Emory) – 16:52.28
  8. Quinn Brown (Denison) – 16:53.96

In only her third time swimming the short course mile, Bengisu Caymaz is an NCAA champion. While she was off her NCAC title-winning time of 16:34.52, she still touched nearly seven seconds ahead of runner-up Lily Codd.

Caitlin Marshall moves into 3rd with her morning heat performance, moving up from her 5th place finish from last year. Defending champion Kristin Cornish settled for 4th, almost 15 seconds back of her title-worthy time last year.

Men’s 100 Yard Freestyle – Finals

  • Division III Record: 42.98, Oliver Smith (Emory), 2018
  • 2023 Champion: 43.32, Djordje Dragojlovic (Kenyon)

Top 8:

  1. Djordje Dragojlovic (Kenyon) – 43.26
  2. James McChesney (TCNJ) – 43.36
  3. Tobe Obochi (MIT) – 43.38
  4. Nicholas Goudie (Emory) – 43.67
  5. Nathaniel Taft (Hamilton) – 43.73
  6. Aleksa Dobric (Kenyon) – 43.84
  7. James Collishaw (Ithaca) – 43.87
  8. Sebastien Vernhes (Chicago) – 44.43

Wow. That was a fast heat.

Ithaca College’s James Collishaw was out fast from lane one, but defending champ Djordje Dragojlovic flipped first at the 50 (20.59).

It turned into a race between Dragojlovic, James McChesney, and Tobe Obochi in the back-half. Obochi had the fastest split of the trio, but Dragojlovic got his hand on the wall first (43.26), followed by McChesney (43.36), while Obochi settled for 3rd.

Nearly the entire heat was under 44, compared to last year when only the top three swam under. That podium included Dragojlovic and McChesney in the same positions as tonight.

Marko Krtinic of Kenyon won the B-final, finishing in 44.32.

Women’s 100 Yard Freestyle – Finals

  • Division III Record: 48.98, Kendra Stern (Amherst), 2010
  • 2023 Champion: 49.28, Lily Klinginsmith (Tufts)

Top 8:

  1. Kaley McIntyre (NYU) – 48.79 (NCAA Record)
  2. Alex Turvey (Pomona-Pitzer) – 49.56
  3. Jillian Cudney (Tufts) – 50.09
  4. Ella Roberson (MIT)/Valerie Mello (Pomona-Pitzer) – 50.35
  5. Hannah Fathman (Albion) – 50.43
  6. Lisa Torrecllias-Jouault (Kenyon) – 50.53
  7. Amy Benson (Trinity U.) – 51.33

That’s another record for Kaley McIntyre, as she goes three-for-three in her individual events at this meet. She flipped in 23.47, already separated from the field, and came home in 25.32 to knock nearly two-tenths from Kendra Stern’s 2010 record.

Split Comparison:

Kaley McIntyre, 2024 NCAA DIII Championships Kendra Stern, 2010 NCAA DIII Championships
23.47 23.46
25.32 25.52
48.79 48.98

Alex Turvey recorded her third runner-up finish of these championships, lowering her best time to 49.56. Jillian Cudney rounded out the podium, moving up from her 10th place finish last year.

Mia Yancey of Gettysburg got her hand to the wall first in the B-final, lowering her time from prelims to 50.75.

Men’s 200 Yard Backstroke – Finals

  • Division III Record: 1:41.17 Tanner Filion (Whitman), 2023
  • 2023 Champion: 1:41.17 Tanner Filion (Whitman)

Top 8:

  1. Alex McCormick (WashU) – 1:43.40
  2. Yurii Kosian (Kenyon) – 1:43.92
  3. Kyle Wolford (WashU) – 1:45.35
  4. David Bajwa (Calvin) – 1:45.62
  5. Ryan Higgins (TCNJ) – 1:46.00
  6. Eric Lundgren (Tufts) – 1:46.63
  7. Brayden Morford (CMU) – 1:48.05
  8. Ryan Soh (Emory) – 1:49.25

It was clear the race would be between Yurii Kosian and Alex McCormick from the 50, as they were the only to turn under 24 seconds. The pair separated themselves from the fielding, turning in 49.09 and 49.48 respectively. McCormick started to close, out-splitting Kosian on the back-half.

It was McCormick at the touch, as the Elite 90 recipient stopped the clock in 1:43.40. He tied for 2nd in this event last year. Kosian was right behind, improving on his 5th place finish from last year.

McCormick’s teammate Kyle Wolford rounded out the podium, lowering his personal best from prelims to 1:45.35.

Emory junior Alexander Pollack won the B-final, improving his prelims time to finish in 1:47.41.

Women’s 200 Yard Backstroke – Finals

  • Division III Record: 1:55.67, Crile Hart (Kenyon), 2018
  • 2023 Champion: 1:57.66, Sophia Verkleeren (Williams)

Top 8:

  1. Kate Augustyn (MIT) – 1:55.98
  2. Sophia Verkleeren (Williams) – 1:57.20
  3. Caleigh Wukitch (Kenyon) – 1:58.98
  4. Savannah Xu (CMU) – 2:00.33
  5. Izzy Huang (Emory) – 2:00.98
  6. Megan Jungers (Emory) – 2:01.60
  7. Sammi Thiele (Austin) – 2:02.55
  8. Madison Hagberg (Tufts) – 2:02.84

Kate Augustyn and Sophia Verkleeren were both out fast, turning in 56.10 and 56.57 respectively. Like the men’s race, it looked like it would be a two-horse race from the start.

Verkleeren started to close on Augustyn on the third 50, throwing down 29.39 to 29.97, and the two juniors were stroke-for-stroke into the 150.

But like she did in the 100, Augustyn seemed to find a second gear down the stretch, visibly pulling away to hit the wall in 1:55.98. That’s exactly one second faster than her entry time, and makes her the third women in D3 to break the 1:56 barrier.

Verkleeren also hit a best time for 2nd, cutting 0.46-seconds off her winning time from last year. Caleigh Wukitch rounded out the podium, just off her time from this morning.

Elizabeth Pennington won the B-final with a time of 2:01.11.

Men’s 200 Yard Breaststroke – Finals

  • Division III Record: 1:50.80, Andrew Wilson (Emory), 2017
  • 2023 Champion: 1:53.77, Jason Hamilton (Emory)

Top 8:

  1. Derek Maas (NYU) – 1:54.26
  2. Jake Meyer (Emory) – 1:56.01
  3. Anthony Fitzgerald (Wheaton) – 1:56.83
  4. Jacob Grover (Williams) – 1:58.23
  5. Larry Yu (Pomona-Pitzer) – 1:58.56
  6. Patrick Daly (Denison) – 1:59.27
  7. Ryan Vandeveen (TCNJ) – 1:59.78
  8. Liyang Sun (Emory) – 1:59.81

Like we’ve seen in the last two races, there were two clear front-runners at the start of this race. Jake Meyer and Derek Maas traded the lead back and forth from the 50, 100, and 150 mark, but as Meyer started to fade Maas held steady.

The NYU fifth-year stopped the clock in 1:54.26, becoming the #3 performer in D3 history. Meyer was just about a second off his time from mid-seasons, but still claimed his second-straight runner-up title in this event (1:56.01).

Anthony Fitzgerald hit another best time to finish 3rd. The Wheaton senior dipped under 1:57 for the first time (1:56.83).

Emory sophomore Henri Bonnault won the B-final, shaving a few hundredths off his previous best (1:59.01).

Women’s 200 Yard Breaststroke – Finals

  • Division III Record: 2:10.06, Jordyn Wentzel (St. Kate’s), 2022
  • 2023 Champion: 2:11.22, Jennah Fadely (Kenyon)

Top 8:

  1. Gabriella Wei (Kenyon) – 2:11.70
  2. Jennah Fadely (Kenyon) – 2:12.71
  3. Charlotte Wishnack (Williams) – 2:13.15
  4. Drue Thielking (Denison) – 2:13.45
  5. Neely Burns (Trinity U.) – 2:15.28
  6. Taylor Rohovit (Johns Hopkins) – 2:16.70
  7. Evangeline Soerens (Messiah) – 2:17.31
  8. Fiona Arwood (Emory) – 2:18.75

Gabriella Wei lead a 1-2 finish for Kenyon, a huge boost for the Owls if they want to stay ahead of Denison in the team standings.

Wei was out first at the 100, turning in 1:02.94. She stopped the clock in 2:11.70, her first best time in this event since 2021 and shaving 1.57-seconds from that mark.

Her teammate Jennah Fadely was neck-and-neck with Charlotte Wishnack, but managed to pull past her for 2nd.

MIT’s Edenna Chen won the B-final for the second year in a row (2:16.85).

Women’s 3-meter Diving – Finals

  • Division III Record: 517.10, Haley Emerick (Trinity U.), 2010
  • 2023 Champion: 486.45, Ava Lowell (Ithaca)

Top 8:

  1. Kailee Payne (Ithaca) – 509.50
  2. Veronica Fong (Chicago) – 487.70
  3. Tess Klugherz (Emory) – 476.65
  4. Kerstyn Johnson (Denison) – 475.30
  5. Lilia Atanda (Chicago) – 474.20
  6. Abigail Wilkov (Case Western) – 469.70
  7. Fiora Beratahani (MIT) – 463.05
  8. Alexis Radhakrishnan (Denison) – 452.85

Kailee Payne has swept the boards at these championships, scoring 509.50 to take home the 3-meter crown.

Veronica Fong grabbed her second runner-up finish, collecting 487.70 points. Emory’s Tess Klugherz rounded out the podium.

Men’s 400 Yard Freestyle Relay – Finals

  • Division III Record: 2:53.59, Kenyon (D. Somers, Z. Turk, C. Ramsey, I. Richardson) 2012
  • 2023 Champion: 2:54.34, Kenyon

Top 8:

  1. Kenyon (Dragojlovic, Krtinic, Brooks, Dobric) – 2:54.52
  2. Chicago (Clasen, Garcia, Ssengonzi, Vernhes) – 2:55.22
  3. NYU (Downs, Watanakun, Wehbe, Maas) – 2:56.55
  4. Calvin (Bajwa, Peterson, Molin, Platt) – 2:57.47
  5. Emory (Goudie, Pire, Bjornstad, Thorsen) – 2:57.97
  6. MIT (Obochi, Luo, Su, Jiang) – 2:58.07
  7. Tufts (LaBarge, Euvrard, Stearns, Sikka) – 2:58.45
  8. Williams (Randall, Schalet, Heritage, Nichol) – 2:59.75

Kenyon defended their title in this event with 100 free champion Djordje Dragojlovic (43.56), Marko Krtinic (44.06), Daniel Brooks (43.90), and Aleksa Dobric (43.00).

The Owls were six-tenths clear of Chicago, who used Garrett Clasen (44.36), Kyle Garcia (44.12), Jesse Ssengonzi (43.33), and Sebastien Vernhes (43.41).

NYU’s team of Pierce Downs (44.47), Ajay Watanakun (43.74), Greg Wehbe (44.66), and Derek Maas (43.68) rounded out the podium.

With that, those three teams solidify their 2-3-4 place finishes in the team race. Though Emory finished back in 4th, the Eagles will take home their third-straight team title.

Women’s 400 Yard Freestyle Relay – Finals

  • Division III Record: 3:18.46, Emory (F. Muir, C. Cheng, Ming-fen Ong, M. Taylor), 2018
  • 2023 Champion: 3:21.66, Tufts

Top 8:

  1. Pomona-Pitzer (Wang, Turvey, Gould, Mello) – 3:20.59
  2. NYU (McIntyre, Oldham, Marshall, Ranile) – 3:21.04
  3. MIT (Roberson, Smith, Sun, Augustyn) – 3:22.95
  4. Kenyon (Haag, Eisenbeis, Torrecillas-Jouault, Geboy) – 3:23.38
  5. Denison (Gable, Farrell, Merkel, Sonday) – 3:24.11
  6. Calvin (Gable, Farrell, Merkel, Sonday) – 3:24.55
  7. Swarthmore (Collins, Tambling, Weygandt, Anthony) – 3:25.89
  8. Williams (Dimter, Verkleeren, Schulman, Kilcoyne) – 3:26.40

NYU got out to a blazing start thanks to Kaley McIntyre, who swam under the old national record for the second time tonight (48.94). She was followed by Isabel Oldham (50.83), Caitlin Marshall (51.11), and Nicole Ranile (50.16).

But the Sage Hens tracked them down, as Sabrina Wang (51.13), Alex Turvey (49.51), Katherine Gould (50.88), and Valerie Mello (49.07) took home Pomona-Pitzer’s second relay title of the meet.

MIT touched 3rd, with the team of Ella Roberson (50.61), Sydney Smith (50.21), Helen Sun (51.95), and Kate Augustyn (50.18).

Final Team Scores

Men

  1. Emory – 434
  2. Kenyon – 391
  3. Chicago – 309
  4. NYU – 282
  5. Williams – 269.5
  6. Denison – 200
  7. Calvin – 188
  8. Carnegie Mellon – 161
  9. Tufts – 159.5
  10. TCNJ – 158
  11. WashU – 155
  12. MIT – 148
  13. CMS – 141
  14. Johns Hopkins – 90
  15. Pomona-Pitzer – 83
  16. Geneseo – 71
  17. Connecticut College – 55
  18. Birmingham Southern – 49
  19. Hamilton/Coast Guard – 44
  20. RIT – 37
  21. Washington & Lee – 36
  22. Hope College – 34
  23. Brandeis – 31
  24. Alfred State – 30
  25. Bowdoin – 28
  26. St. Mary’s – 26
  27. Wheaton IL/Centre/Rhodes – 25
  28. Colby – 21
  29. Trinity U. – 18
  30. Case Western – 17
  31. Bates – 15
  32. Ithaca – 12
  33. Cal Lutheran – 11
  34. Amherst/Chapman/USMAA – 8
  35. Whitworth – 5
  36. Franklin & Marshall – 4
  37. Anderson – 2
  38. Rowan/Rose-Hulman – 1

Women

  1. Kenyon – 448
  2. Denison – 430
  3. NYU – 374
  4. Williams – 360
  5. MIT – 344.5
  6. Emory – 308
  7. Pomona-Pitzer – 257.5
  8. Chicago – 179
  9. Swarthmore – 126
  10. Tufts – 115.5
  11. Johns Hopkins – 90
  12. Trinity U. – 88
  13. Case Western – 70
  14. Calvin – 68
  15. Hope College – 61
  16. Amherst – 59
  17. Ithaca – 54
  18. Bates – 47
  19. WashU – 46
  20. Austin – 43
  21. Albion – 41
  22. Gettysburg/Carnegie Mellon – 29
  23. Geneseo – 27.5
  24. CMS – 26
  25. Middlebury – 21
  26. Mary Washington – 20
  27. Nazareth/Rhodes – 16
  28. Messiah/Bowdoin – 12
  29. Wellesley/RIT – 11
  30. Springfield – 10
  31. Rowan – 9
  32. Luther – 5
  33. Lynchburg – 4
  34. Chapman/Colby – 3
  35. Hamilton – 1

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Chicago Fan
8 months ago

How did Derek Maas win 3 events and not win swimmer of the year???

rigged
Reply to  Chicago Fan
8 months ago

Rigged

Swammer
Reply to  Chicago Fan
8 months ago

How did Derek Maas win 3 events and NYU only finishes 4th as a team???

SwimMaxxing
Reply to  Swammer
8 months ago

What does that have to do with this award? By your argument, how did Justin win 2 events and Conn only finished 17th?

Thirteenthwind
Reply to  Chicago Fan
8 months ago

Bias in the voting?

Snark
Reply to  Chicago Fan
8 months ago

While everyone said the right things about embracing competition it is possible some voters were not excited about his presence.

D3 Fan
8 months ago

Congratulations to Jake Meyer on a great NCAA career.

Anon
8 months ago

Seems that NYU and Williams are locked in the teams race and it will come down to the last relay! Always fun to see it come down to the wire

Dressel_42.8
8 months ago

Maas with no respect for D3 or his competitors clearly. Despite the fact he went slower than last years winner, had no problem acting like everyone is beneath him.

PFA
Reply to  Dressel_42.8
8 months ago

Not that I understand but is there an issue with clapping your feet?

eagle
Reply to  Dressel_42.8
8 months ago

chill bro that’s just the spread ‘em helicopter foot swim celly 2.0

Anon
Reply to  Dressel_42.8
8 months ago

While I have no issue with Maas swimming D3 or winning I didn’t like that celebration even if it was just for fun. I hope it was not intentional but the optics were not great.

Let him celebrate
Reply to  Anon
8 months ago

You two must be fun at parties

Dressel_42.8
Reply to  Let him celebrate
8 months ago

Ratio + I am fun I bring the milk

Let him celebrate
Reply to  Dressel_42.8
8 months ago

How about you ratio dn

Bob
Reply to  Anon
8 months ago

Get over yourself

Bob
Reply to  Dressel_42.8
8 months ago

Womp womp

SwimMaxxing
Reply to  Dressel_42.8
8 months ago

As someone who was on deck at the meet, you’re full of crap. It’s the old Joao de Lucca celebration that has been around for years. Derek was extremely nice and personable with everyone there. Don’t get your undies twisted over him having fun.

Swammer
Reply to  Dressel_42.8
8 months ago

With all of the “we’ve got Derek” chants & hype, it actually drew a lot of attention to the lack of depth on NYU’s men’s team. Subtract his points, and their finish is not that impressive.

eagle
Reply to  Swammer
8 months ago

and yet i’m certain Trevor will use this placing as a selling point for recruiting when they aren’t coming anywhere close to this finish without Maas

ACC
8 months ago

Wow, didn’t expect to see a Kendra Stern record go down. Congrats to McIntyre!

PFA
8 months ago

Kinda an upset there in the men’s 100 but Djordjie wins for the 2nd year in a row in a PB. Women’s 100 free record finally goes down

Barbotus
8 months ago

Fun men’s mile. Was rooting for the NYU kid to pull off the early break. As the Dad of a “builder” it was always fun to watch distance races develop.

applesandoranges
Reply to  Barbotus
8 months ago

Second place circle swam the mile. There was nobody around him for 10-15 yards for much of the race so he should’ve swam straight. Great race otherwise.

Supafly23
8 months ago

Last edited 8 months ago by Supafly23