Video courtesy Andrew Greenhalgh.
The men of Johns Hopkins University are getting hyped for the 2016 NCAA Division III Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina from March 16-19.
The team is fresh off a fourth-place finish at the 2016 Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championship. The biggest swim of the meet for the Blue Jays came from Andrew Greenhalgh, who won the title in the 1650 free, Johns Hopkins’s first individual BMC title since 2013. He won the event by five and a half seconds with 15:22.68.
Greenhalgh goes into nationals as the top seed, NCAA Division III record-holder, and defending champion in the 500 free and the third seed in the 1650 free. His 500 seed time is 4:23.00, and his record time stands at 4:20.60 from last year.
Evan Holder is another top seed swimmer for the Blue Jays; he goes into the 200 IM seeded first with 1:46.82, the 200 breast seeded first with 1:58.59, and the 200 free seeded first with 1:37.10.
This year’s national championship meet is particularly significant for the Blue Jays because it will serve as head coach George Kennedy‘s final meet in his 31-year career with the team. Kennedy, a seven-time NCAA Division III Coach of the Year, is retiring at the end of the season.
Other Johns Hopkins men competing in individual events at NCAAs include:
- Griffith Otazu (500 free: 8th)
- Mark Wilson (100 fly: 15th, 200 fly: 11th)
- Emile Kuyl (100 back: 4th)
You can look at the full NCAA Division III Men’s Championships psych sheet here, and our SwimSwam analysis here.
DIII Swimming & Diving Championships! One of my favorite times of the year! Ever since my first and last DIII championships back in 1990 & 1991, I’ve always been so impressed with the level of athlete DIII has produced. Go Wheaton, IL!!!!
As a D3 fan I am super excited to watch this team race. A bunch of swimmers primed for huge swims. Holder and Greenhalgh are almost certainly about to rack up several titles and records. It’ll be great to watch Greenhlagh and Arthur Conover (Kenyon) duke it out again, though it wouldn’t surprise me if Christian Baker (Emory) also threatened them for the 500 title.
As for Holder, I’d be surprised if he didn’t break the 2IM record and win that event. For the 2free, that record has stood WAY too long, and I think he could crush that one too. 2Breast doesn’t seem to have a lot of competition this year, so unless somebody has a big swim,… Read more »
The team race between Kenyon and Denison men should be a nail biter! I think Kenyon will have significant swimming point edge (a bunch of their swimmers will place well above their seeds). But they might not have enough to counter Denison’s diving– could come down to final relay again!