Emory, Kenyon Both Crush D3 800 Free Relay Record, Emory Wins by .10

Division III Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships

Women’s 800-yard Freestyle Relay – Fastest Heat

  • NCAA DIII Record: 7:18.15 3/23/2012, Williams (Thompson, Todhunter, Geller, Wilson)
  1. Emory 7:14.98
  2. Kenyon 7:15.08
  3. Wash U 7:21.92
  4. Chicago 7:22.15
  5. Williams 7:22.47
  6. Calvin 7:28.72
  7. MIT 7:29.95
  8. NYU 7:30.28

Emory and Kenyon gave the crowd a thrilling end to Day Three of competition at the NCAA Division III Championships. Their women’s 800 relays battled down the stretch, trading stroke for stroke, both well under the pace to break the national record.

Emory had gotten off to a quick start with sophomore Fiona Muir (1:47.84) and junior Julia Wawer (1:50.15), but Kenyon saved their firepower for the back half. Freshman Julia Green (1:50.30) and sophomore Delaney Ambrosen (1:49.45) first two legs had kept the Ladies within 1.8 seconds of the Eagles, then sophomore Hannah Orbach-Mandel made up the gap by swimming a 1:47.79 third leg, giving Kenyon a half body-length lead heading into the anchor leg. Senior Marissa Bergh’s 1:50.04 kept Emory within reach, so that junior Cindy Cheng, the individual 200 free champion, could unleash a 1:46.95 anchor. Kenyon sophomore Abby Wilsons anchor of 1:47.54 was 1.35 seconds faster than her performance in the 200 free final, and nearly enough to keep Cheng at bay. The two reached to touch the wall at the same time and looked up to see the scoreboard. Emory had edged Kenyon by 10/100 and etched their name in the record book.

It was excellent racing all around, though. The comparative splits, next to the old record, are as follows:

Emory NCAAs, 3/17/17 Kenyon NCAAs, 3/17/17 Williams NCAAs, 3/23/12
Fiona Muir, SO 1:47.84 Julia Green, FR 1:50.30 Sarah Thompson 1:50.30
Julia Wawer, JR 1:50.15 Delaney Ambrosen, SO 1:49.45 Logan Todhunter 1:49.62
Marissa Bergh, SR 1:50.04 Hannah Orbach-Mandel, SO 1:47.79 Carolyn Geller 1:50.53
Cindy Cheng, JR 1:46.95 Abby Wilson, SO 1:47.54 Caroline Wilson 1:47.70
  7:14.98   7:15.08   7:18.15

 

In This Story

0
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

0 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

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 …

Read More »