Highlights From Night One Of The 2026 NCAA DIII Conference Championships

With the major Division I Power-5 conference meets set to begin next week, Division III is already in the midst of unfolding with 16 conference meets underway. To see a comprehensive list of all the meets and their related links, click here.

See some of the highlights from some of the meets from night one, courtesy of Parker Fleischman-Ament.

North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) – Men and Women

• Dates: Wednesday, February 11–Saturday, February 14
• Location: Trumbull Aquatics Center, Granville, OH
• Defending Champions: Kenyon women (2x), Denison men (1x)
• Live Results
• Live Video
• Schedule of Events (PDF)
• Championship Central
• Teams: Denison, DePauw, John Carroll*, Kenyon, Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan, Wabash (men), Wittenberg, Wooster

Highlights:

• Denison Men eked out the win over Kenyon in the men’s 200 medley relay in 1:26.65, a new NCAC meet, conference, and school record highlighted by Sam Hibbert’s 20.46 fly split, which is the 2nd fastest split in D3 history, and Nick Hensel‘s 19.32 field-leading split. That time also ranks as the 6th fastest relay in D3 history.
• Kenyon finished 2nd with a time of 1:27.33, highlighted by Tumbasz’s 24.31 breast split, Savage’s 20.77 fly split, and Dragojlovic’s 19.33 free split.
• Kenyon Women took the women’s 200 medley relay in a very fast 1:40.29 with very balanced splits of 25.40 back from Gwen Eisenbeis, 27.39 breast from Kelsey Van Eldik, 24.86 fly from Nora Kortuem, and a 22.64 free split by Kate Bogan. Denison finished just behind in a time of 1:40.72.
• Denison junior Jack Hill led off the men’s 800 free relay in 1:36.10, a bit slower than his best time from December. Handing off to sophomore Nick Hensel, he split another 1:36.10 for Denison, Swiggett split a 1:37.42, and Devin Testin split a 1:37.54 to go a 6:27.14, the 3rd fastest time in D3 history and sits only .16 off the record that was tied by UChicago last year at DIII Nationals.
• Denison Women took the women’s 800 free relay title in 7:19.14, highlighted by Emily Harris‘ 1:48.47 leadoff, which is .2 off her best time.

University Athletic Association (UAA) – Men and Women

• Dates: Wednesday, February 11–Saturday, February 14
• Location: Ratner Athletic Center, Chicago, IL
• Defending Champions: Emory women (26x); Emory men (26x)
• Live Results:
  • Swimming
  • Diving
• Live Video: FloCollege ($)
• Championship Central
• Teams: Brandeis, Carnegie Mellon, Case Western Reserve, Chicago, Emory, NYU, Rochester, WashU-St. Louis

Highlights:

• NYU Women missed their year-old NCAA mark in the women’s 800 free relay by .04 of a second. The highlight of the relay was Kaley McIntyre‘s anchor split of 1:44.83. Later in the meet, she will be eyeing history, as she could attempt to break Kendra Stern’s NCAA Division III record of 1:44.82 in the 200 freestyle.
• The UChicago men swam the 2nd fastest time of the night in the men’s 800 free relay, going 6:28.04. Schwartz led off in 1:38.06. Handing off to freshman Kojanov in 1:38.64, diving in 3rd was 100 fly D3 record holder Cooper Costello who split a blazing 1:36.20. Anchoring for Chicago was sophomore John Butler who scorched a 1:35.14 split. That time is now the 4th fastest swim in D3 history and the 2nd fastest time in the country, just behind Denison’s time from earlier in the night.
• NYU finished 2nd in the men’s 800 free relay in 6:30.79, highlighted by the first 2 legs. Connor Dean led off in a school record 1:37.44 and Pierce Downs‘ fast 2nd split of 1:36.25.