DIII Schools From Across the Country Meet in Chicago for DIII Shootout

2021 DIII Shootout

• November 6th and 7th, 2021
• Myers-McClorain Pool
• Short Course Yards (SCY)
• Results on MeetMobile: “2021 D3 Shootout”
• Full Web Results (PDF)

Over the weekend the University of Chicago played host to seven other Division III colleges from across the country. The Myers-McClorain pool welcomed teams from California, Pennsylvania, Texas, Missouri, Indiana, Michigan, and Minnesota to compete in what may be the most widespread, DIII only, invitational. Each team was only able to bring 8 swimmers and 1 diver per side.

Mirroring the format of the SMU invite in Division I, the meet allows each of 6 teams to enter 2 swimmers per event – in an A flight and a B flight, plus a diver. That means teams not only needed good swimmers, but versatile swimmers to compete.

The meet included several of the best teams in Division III swimming, including University of Chicago (#5 Men/#5 Women), and other top 25 programs from Pomona-Pitzer, Hope College, Saint Kate’s, Swarthmore, and Washington University in St. Louis; with Wabash and Trinity (Texas) rounding out the field.

Women’s Meet Recap

Kicking off the meet on Friday night was Pomona-Pitzer in the 200 medley relay. Emily Brooks, Alexandra Gill, Alex Turvey, and Avery Turney combined for the winning time, stopping the clock in 1:44.08. The school also closed out the meet by winning the 200 free relay in 1:34.42.

Heading into the individual events, Saint Catherine’s Hannah Svendsen snagged the win in the 400 IM. Sitting in third behind Pamona-Pitzer’s Emmie Appl heading into the final 100, Svendson split 1:00 on the freestyle leg to claim the win in 4:28.97, while Appl faded to third behind Samantha Bertschi. Svendsen finished 22nd in the event at the 2019 DIII NCAA Championship.

In the first of her two individual wins of the weekend, Karen Zhao, a freshman at Chicago, took home the win in the 200 free. Zhao won the race by a second and a half to finish in 1:50.79. Later in the meet, she snagged the win in the 100 freestyle as well, finishing in 51.03.

After swimming the fly leg of Pomona-Pitzer’s 200 medley relay earlier in the session, Alex Turvey grabbed the win in the 50 free.

Cynthia Tang was dominant on the boards for Chicago, taking the win on both the 1-meter and 3-meter. On the 1-meter, she finished with 259.2, while she finished with a score 255.90.

Claiming three event wins across the weekend for Washington University was Sandra Meszaros. Meszaros swept the fly events on the weekend, winning both the 100 and 200. In the 200 fly, she ran down Chicago’s Alesha Kelly over the last 50, coming away with the win in 2:02.24. The 1oo fly featured a tight race between Meszaros, Turvey, and Kelly, with Meszaros again claiming first in 55.41.

Joining Meszaros in sweeping a stroke, Elisabella Forest grabbed the win in both backstroke events for Chicago. After starting her meet with a 9th place finish in the 50 free, she took first in the 100 back (55.82) and 200 back (2:00.75). Her time in the 200 now ranks her as the fastest performer in DIII this season.

Like Meszaros and Forest, Jordyn Wentzel also swept a stroke, as well as picking up a third win in the 200 IM. Posting DIII leading times in all three races, she took the 100 breast in 1:01.90, the 200 breast in 2:14.63, and the 200 IM in 2:02.81. A sophomore at Saint Catherine, Wentzel took 28th in the 100 breast at Wave I of Olympic Trials over the summer.

The University of Chicago grabbed the win in the 800 free relay behind a huge anchor leg from Julia Polsky. Entering the water over a second behind, Polsky split a 1:54.01 to help her team to a final time of 7:34.58. Chicago also took first in the 400 medley relay (3:49.38).

Maggie Menso took first in the 500 in a time of 4:59.05. The 5th place finisher in the event at the 2019 NCAA Championships, Menso was the only swimmer to dip below 5:00 in the event over the weekend.

Final Scores

1. Chicago – 422
2. Pomona-Pitzer – 397
3. Washington University – 342.5
4. St. Catherine – 316
5. Trinity – 308
6. Hope – 289
7. Swarthmore – 276.5

Men’s Meet Recap

WashU kicked off the men’s meet by edging out Swarthmore for the win in the 1:32.13. The team of Alex McCormick, Kevin Hao, Barclay Dale, and Austin Bick combined for a final time of 1:32.13.

The school kept the momentum going into the individual events, with Nathan Katz claiming first in the 400 IM. Katz was the only athlete to dip below 4:00 in the event, finishing in 3:56.60. In 2019, Katz finished 17th in the event at the DIII NCAA Championships in a time of 3:59.76. His time from this weekend would have earned him a spot in finals at that meet.

Artur Kiselnikov took first in two events, the 200 and 100 free, as well as helping Chicago to victories in three relays. Individually, he won the 200 in 1:39.46 over Nathaniel Early (1:39.96) before again edging out Early in the 100 free with a time of 45.35. He also helped Chicago take first in the 800 free relay (6:45.36), 400 medley relay (3:19.88), and 200 free relay (1:22.89).

Also doubling up on individual events was WashU’s Barclay Dale, who won the 50 free and 100 fly. In the 50, he won a tight race over Chicago’s Jonathan Tang with a time of 20.71 to Tang’s 20.74. The fly was won by a much larger margin, with Dale winning in 48.77. He was the only swimmer to finish under 49.0 in the race.

Like his teammate on the woman’s side, Logan Sherwin claimed first on both diving boards. He finished with a score of 260.45 on the 1-meter and 281.85 on the 3-meter.

Jonathan Ma claimed the 200 fly for WashU, touching in 1:49.08.

Along with helping Chicago to wins in the 800 free relay and 400 medley relay, Lucius Gao picked up the individual win in the 100 back. Gao won the event by nearly two and a half seconds, finishing in 49.72.

Swarthmore picked up an individual win in the 100 breast, with Andrew Karpenko snagging the win in 55.91. Two years ago, Karpenko was two-event state champion in Minnesota, winning both the 100 breast and 200 IM.

Mason Kelber secured a win in the 500 free, touching 4:32.48. Kelber finished 3rd in the event at the 2020 University Athletic Association Championships, finishing in a time of 4:25.69.

Kevin Hao, who helped his school to a win in the 200 medley relay, picked up the individual win in the 200 breast. Hao has now swum the three fastest times of his career in the event this season. He also picked up a second win in the 200 IM, finishing in 1:52.41.

Like Hao, Alex McCormick also snagged an individual win after winning the 200 medley relay. McCormick won the 200 back in 1:48.92.

Final Scores

1. Chicago – 429
2. Washington University – 421
3. Pomona-Pitzer – 357
4. Swarthmore – 318
5. Trinity – 295
6. Hope – 286
7. Wabash – 253