2026 NCAA Division III Championships: Day 1 Ups/Downs – NYU Women, Emory Men Start Strong

2026 NCAA DIII Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships

  • Dates: March 18-21, 2026
  • Location: IU Natatorium, Indianapolis, IN
  • Times: Prelims 10:00 AM / Finals 6:00 PM (ET)
  • Defending Champs: MIT women (1x) & Denison men (1x)
  • Psych Sheet
  • Live Video
  • Live Results
  • Recaps

Day 1

For those unfamiliar with swimming terminology, the concept of “Ups” and “Downs” is a good way to track which teams performed best in heats. During prelims, swimmers qualify for one of two finals: the top 8 finishers make the A final, while places 9 through 16 the B final. In finals, swimmers are locked into their respective final, meaning a swimmer in the B heat (spots 9-16) can only place as high as 9th or as low as 16th, even if they put up the fastest or slowest time of any heat in the final.

With that in mind, we’ll be tracking “Ups” and “Downs” after each prelims session. “Up” refers to swimmers and divers in the A finals, “Down” to B finalists.

WEDNESDAY MORNING RESULTS

Women’s Meet

NYU had a huge first morning in Indianapolis, outscoring the psych sheet by 36 points by landing 6 swimmers in ‘A’ finals and 2 in ‘B’ finals. This gives the Violets a big advantage over Emory, who came into the meet with a 47-point lead, pre-diving.

Kenyon gained 22 points over their seedings. The Owls put at least 1 swimmer in every ‘A’ final, with a total of 5 “up” and 2 “down.”

Emory finished about as expected, earning 4 ‘A’ and 2 ‘B’ final slots. Denison, the 4th team with a shot at the national title, had 3 ‘A’ and 2 ‘B’ finalists.

Other “overperformers” included Kean (+21), Carnegie Mellon (+17), Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (+13), Johns Hopkins (+10), and Swarthmore (+10).

MIT (-32) and Hope (-23) had a few misses vis-à-vis their seedings.

Day 1 Ups/Downs – Women

Team All 500 Free 200 IM 50 Free 400 Medley Relay
NYU 6/2 3/1 0/0 2/1 1/0
Kenyon 5/2 2/0 1/1 1/1 1/0
Emory 4/2 0/1 2/1 1/0 1/0
Denison 3/2 2/1 0/0 0/1 1/0
Pomona-Pitzer 2/1 0/0 1/0 1/0 0/1
Swarthmore 2/1 0/0 0/1 1/0 1/0
Williams 2/1 0/0 1/1 0/0 1/0
Kean 2/0 0/0 1/0 1/0 0/0
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 1/2 0/0 0/1 0/1 1/0
Hope 1/2 0/0 1/0 0/1 0/1
Carnegie Mellon 1/1 0/0 1/0 0/0 0/1
Tufts 1/1 1/0 0/0 0/0 0/1
Colby 1/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 1/0
Middlebury 1/0 0/0 0/0 1/0 0/0
MIT 0/4 0/1 0/1 0/1 0/1
Chicago 0/2 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/1
Amherst 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/0
DePauw 0/1 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0
Johns Hopkins 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1
Luther 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/0
Salisbury 0/1 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0
Trinity (TX) 0/1 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0
Ursinus 0/1 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0
WashU 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1
Wheaton (IL) 0/1 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0

Projected Day 1 Scores – Women

Team Scored Psych Sheet Day 1 Prelims 500 Free 200 IM 50 Free 400 Medley Relay
NYU 81 117 46 0 39 32
Kenyon 85 107 32 22 13 40
Emory 88 90.5 5 36 15.5 34
Denison 74 67 36 0 1 30
Swarthmore 41 51 0 7 20 24
Williams 56 44 0 18 0 26
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 28 41 0 5 8 28
Pomona-Pitzer 50 36 0 14 12 10
Tufts 23 31 13 0 0 18
Hope 50 27 0 20 5 2
Kean 3 24 0 11 13 0
Colby 14 22 0 0 0 22
Carnegie Mellon 4 21 0 13 0 8
MIT 52 20 6 4 6 4
Chicago 31 18 4 0 0 14
Middlebury 16 15.5 0 0 15.5 0
Johns Hopkins 0 12 0 0 0 12
DePauw 0 9 9 0 0 0
WashU 6 6 0 0 0 6
Amherst 14 4 0 0 4 0
Luther 0 3 0 0 3 0
Ursinus 0 3 3 0 0 0
Wheaton (IL) 4 3 0 3 0 0
Trinity (TX) 3 2 0 2 0 0
Salisbury 13 1 1 0 0 0

Men’s Meet

Denison and Emory started the meet with big performances on Day 1, earning 6 ‘A’ final spots apiece. Chicago and Kenyon will have 4 ‘A’ and 2 ‘B’ finalists, putting pressure on the Big Red and the Eagles. Emory (+39), Denison (+18), and Kenyon (+16) all overperformed relative to their psych sheet seedings. Rhodes picked up 20 extra points in prelims of the relay, while UC Santa Cruz improved their seedings by 10.5 points.

Williams (-34.5), Carnegie Mellon (-27), NYU (-13.5), and Connecticut (-13.5) had a few missed opportunities.

Day 2 Ups/Downs – Men

Team All 500 Free 200 IM 50 Free 3m Diving 400 Medley Relay
Denison 6/2 1/0 2/2 1/0 1/0 1/0
Emory 6/1 1/1 2/0 1/0 1/0 1/0
Chicago 4/2 1/1 1/0 1/0 0/1 1/0
Kenyon 4/2 1/1 0/0 1/1 1/0 1/0
TCNJ 3/0 1/0 0/0 1/0 0/0 1/0
NYU 2/4 0/0 1/2 0/2 0/0 1/0
Centre 2/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 2/1 0/0
Bates 2/0 0/0 0/0 1/0 0/0 1/0
WashU 2/0 1/0 1/0 0/0 0/0 0/0
Carnegie Mellon 1/1 0/0 1/0 0/0 0/0 0/1
MIT 1/1 1/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1
UC Santa Cruz 1/1 0/0 0/0 1/1 0/0 0/0
Alfred 1/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 1/0 0/0
Rhodes 1/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 1/0
St Vincent 1/0 0/0 0/0 1/0 0/0 0/0
SUNY Geneseo 1/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 1/0 0/0
Trinity (TX) 1/0 1/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0
Hobart & Wm Smith 1/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 1/0 0/0
Williams 0/5 0/2 0/0 0/1 0/1 0/1
Case Western 0/2 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/0
Pomona-Pitzer 0/2 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/1
Bridgewater 0/1 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0
Calvin 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 0/1 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0
Connecticut 0/1 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0
Grove City 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1
Hamilton 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0
Hope 0/1 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0
Johns Hopkins 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1
RIT 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/0
Salisbury 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1
Swarthmore 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0
Tufts 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/0
USCGA 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0
USMMA 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/0
Washington & Lee 0/1 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0
Whittier 0/1 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0

Projected Day 2 Scores – Men

Team Scored Psych Sheet Day 1 Prelims 500 Free 200 IM 50 Free 3m Diving 400 Medley Relay
Denison 103 121 20 42 14 20 25
Emory 60 99 17 23 11 16 32
Chicago 95 89 19 15 17 4 34
Kenyon 67 83 20 0 21 17 25
NYU 77 63.5 0 20.5 15 0 28
Bates 60 56 0 0 16 0 40
TCNJ 47 55 13 0 12 0 30
WashU 34 36 16 20 0 0 0
Centre 32 32 0 0 0 32 0
MIT 25 32 14 0 0 0 18
Carnegie Mellon 54 27 0 17 0 0 10
Williams 58 23.5 9 0 3.5 7 4
Rhodes 2 22 0 0 0 0 22
UC Santa Cruz 6 16.5 0 0 16.5 0 0
Alfred 15 15 0 0 0 15 0
St Vincent 15 15 0 0 15 0 0
Trinity (TX) 9 15 15 0 0 0 0
Hobart & Wm Smith 14 14 0 0 0 14 0
Johns Hopkins 11 14 0 0 0 0 14
SUNY Geneseo 15 13 0 0 0 13 0
Salisbury 14 12 0 0 0 0 12
Case Western 9 11 9 0 0 2 0
Pomona-Pitzer 9 11 0 0 0 5 6
Hope 0 9 0 9 0 0 0
Calvin 10 8 0 0 0 0 8
Hamilton 11 7 0 0 7 0 0
RIT 6 6 0 0 0 6 0
Swarthmore 1 5 0 0 5 0 0
Washington & Lee 7 4 0 4 0 0 0
Bridgewater 9 3 0 3 0 0 0
USMMA 3 3 0 0 0 3 0
USCGA 6 2 0 0 2 0 0
Grove City 0 2 0 0 0 0 2
Whittier 0 2 2 0 0 0 0
Connecticut 15 1.5 0 1.5 0 0 0
Tufts 6 1 0 0 0 1 0
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 2 1 1 0 0 0 0

 

 

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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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