Denison University’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams held an intra-squad meet on Saturday, wrapping up a season that was prematurely ended after the NCAA cancelled all winter and spring championships.
Among the events was the women’s 200 medley relay, in which Angela Le, KT Kustritz, Maddie Hopkins, and Gabriella Nutter combined to swim 1:39.37, the fastest-ever time in Division III history. Although an unofficial record from the NCAA’s standpoint, it will go into the Denison program and Trumbull Aquatics Center pool record books.
Front Row (L-R) KT Kustritz, Angela Le; Back Row (L-R) Gabriella Nutter, Maddie Hopkins. Photo courtesy of Linda Striggo
Denison holds the official NCAA Division III and Championship Meet Record in the 200 medley relay, having set both marks, with the same foursome, at last year’s Championships with 1:40.11. Here are the side-by-side splits:
2019 | 2020 | ||
Back | Angela Le | 25.98 | 25.97 |
Breast | KT Kustritz | 27.19 | 26.71 |
Fly | Maddie Hopkins | 23.97 | 24.17 |
Free | Gabriella Nutter | 22.97 | 22.52 |
1:40.11 | 1:39.37 |
You can watch the relay here:
Women shatter pool, varsity, and post the fastest ever 200 Medley Relay in @NCAADIII history ~ 1:39.37!
Le – 25.97
Kustritz – 26.71
Hopkins – 24.17
Nutter – 22.52#BAWB #FFTB @swimswamnews @SwimmingWorld @DenisonU @DenisonSports pic.twitter.com/Od4bBCe1kn— Denison Swim & Dive (@DenisonSwimDive) March 14, 2020
The meet results can be found here.
Socially irresponsible to be holding this competition. Everyone is disappointed with what’s happened. No team is more special than anyone else.
Please. The school hadn’t quite closed yet. The meet was held with 30 or so swimmers who have been in close contact for the last week training and hoping that their national meet wouldn’t be canceled. Which happened Thursday evening. So on Saturday morning they swam a time trial before going home. Attended by 30 or so parents there to move out and bring home their incredibly disappointed kids. Every person in the country who went to a restaurant yesterday was more “socially irresponsible” than these kids.
Or equally as irresponsible. Things are cancelled for a reason. The entitlement culture is what is wrong with this country. But whatever makes you feel justified.
Its not entitlement? Denison is in small town Ohio and everyone who was at the meet had already all been in contact and this meet took place before the university was closed. Other teams did it too before their respective universities closed. Its a send off not an entitlement??
You may have open water- take it from me- going that fast is hard when you don’t have competitors pushing you. It counts where it matters most- the hearts of Seniors at Denison who wanted to finish their careers with their teammates lining the pool. Proud of you coach and proud to be one of your swammers.
This is wrong. Open water, not a real competition. I know I will get thumbs down, great for these swimmers but if my record was broken this way not the same. *record if you ask me
The record they broke was their own. (As in set by the exact same four women in the exact same order at last years NCAA meet.)
So by your logic if YOU went faster than your own best time in a time trial you’d say “eh doesn’t count cuz I didn’t have people to race”?
How is this legal? The season is officially over. While it totally sucks that any swimmer that qualified for NCAA Championships doesn’t get to compete – hosting an inter squad meet or running practice Is illegal.
The raw emotion. The joy. The excitement. The pain of competing against an empty pool when they should by all rights be facing off against the best the division has to offer and you’re b*tching about whether they’re allowed to *practice*???
How about this. It’s an Olympic year. The NCAA issued blanket waiver times for Division 3 athletes to keep training with their coaches up until June 19th. Betcha these teams training and competing have hit the required standards. Now back off and let athletes who worked their tails off all flipping season have SOMEthing to shine about.
Geez, chill out.
They’re built different. Show some respect.
Glad to see Denison doing this, too. Splits on meet mobile show: 25.97 – 26.71 – 24.17 – 22.52 = 1:39.37 (this adds up, too)
Either way, a great swim. Congrats!
Those splits don’t add up
2020 time adds to 1:40.37