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
Bowdoin freshman Natalie Garre has done it again, winning her second NCAA Division III National title of the week. This time, she did so in record fashion, demolishing Sarah Thompson’s 1650 D3 record of 16:21.44 from 2015 by posting a time of 16:17.84.
Garre led the race from start to finish. She held 29-highs for most of the swim, only slipping above the 30-second mark eight times. Defending champion Bengisu Caymaz, who represents Kenyon, hung at Garre’s hip through the first 300, but was quickly dropped as the race wore on.
Garre’s first 600 yards were the biggest difference-maker in terms of breaking the record, as she outpaced Thompson’s pace by a significant margin on each of those 100-yard segments. Things started to even out after that, with Garre falling behind pace on some of the 100-yard splits and exceeding pace on others. In the end, she smashed the long-standing record by 3.60 seconds. See a full comparison of the two record swims below.
Splits Comparison:
| Thompson’s Previous NCAA Record | Garre’s New NCAA Record | |
| 2015 NCAA Division III Championships |
2025 NCAA Division III Championships
|
|
| 100y | 56.20 | 54.97 |
| 200y | 59.76 | 58.81 |
| 300y | 59.70 | 59.02 |
| 400y | 1:00.03 | 59.43 |
| 500y | 59.96 | 59.06 |
| 600y | 1:00.17 | 59.33 |
| 700y | 59.72 | 59.97 |
| 800y | 59.97 | 59.53 |
| 900y | 1:00.06 | 59.61 |
| 1000y | 1:00.02 | 1:00.08 |
| 1100y | 59.88 | 59.69 |
| 1200y | 59.91 | 59.97 |
| 1300y | 59.94 | 1:00.05 |
| 1400y | 1:00.08 | 1:00.62 |
| 1500y | 59.27 | 1:00.07 |
| 1600y | 58.63 | 59.26 |
| Final 50 | 28.14 | 28.37 |
| Total Time | 16:21.44 | 16:17.84 |
The most intriguing thing about Garre’s record is that this is only her first time swimming the event. The freshman had never contested the event before college and swam it only two other times throughout the year:
- Maine Collegiate Invitational, December 2024 — 16:31.90 (1st place)
- NESCAC Championship, February 2025 — 16:35.58 (1st place)
With her 1st-place finish in tonight’s race, she remains undefeated in the event, having won her races at the other two competitions.
Earlier in these 2025 NCAA Championships, Garre won the 500 free with a massive personal best of 4:44.90, surpassing her previous career best of 4:47.63 by 2.73 seconds. She also claimed runner-up status in the 400 IM, finishing with a time of 4:16.59, cutting 4.44 seconds off her pre-NCAA lifetime best.
Women’s 1650 Freestyle Final Results:
- Natalie Garre (Bowdoin) – 16:17.84 Division III Record
- Bengisu Caymaz (Kenyon) – 16:28.38
- Molly Haag (Kenyon) – 16:38.62
- Caitlin Marshall (NYU) – 16:47.12
- Quinn Brown (Denison) – 16:49.57
- Madeline Dunn (Tufts) – 16:50.82
- Lily Codd (Williams) – 16:53.04
- Jada Chatoor (Emory) – 16:54.55
All those Ivy’s that turned her down as not being fast enough are now coming scrambling. I believe she is transferring for next year.
If Bowdoin helped Natalie develop into the athlete she is today, she should seriously consider staying there and continuing to thrive in the environment that allowed her to reach this level. Transferring brings its own challenges—new training, coaching, culture, teammates, and academic adjustments—which could impact both her experience and performance.
If her goal is simply to attend an Ivy League school, it’s worth noting that the Ivies that typically accept transfers (Dartmouth, Brown, perhaps Cornell) are not the most competitive athletically. Even Harvard and Princeton, while impressive in their own right, only had a handful of NCAA qualifiers this year. If her primary focus is an Ivy experience… sure, but if it is swimming and she wants to train and… Read more »
In their defense – she got DRAMATICALLY faster this year
Such an unbelievable drop for her
Diener is that you ?