Courtesy: Kenyon Athletics
GAMBIER, Ohio — With four more event wins Saturday and an enormous total of 2,803.5 points, the Kenyon College women’s swimming and diving team capped off a dominant performance at home and won the three-day, seven-team Total Performance Swim Camps Invitational.
The next-closest team to Kenyon was NCAA Division II West Chester University, which scored 1,548 points. The rest of the final standings had Carnegie Mellon University in third place (1,465), Hope College in fourth (1,055), SUNY Geneso in fifth (663.5), Milligan University in sixth place (490) and John Carroll University in seventh (343).
Although the Owls didn’t get a win in Saturday evening’s opening event, the 1,650-yard freestyle, they did see Molly Haag (17:13.50), Sarah Hoffman (17:20.14) and Kira Bowling (17:28.45) place third, fourth, and fifth, respectively. Both Haag’s and Hoffman’s times fell under the NCAA ‘B’ cut.
Kenyon’s first win of the evening occurred in the second event, the 200-yard backstroke. Senior Olivia Smith was victorious in that race, as she posted a time of 1:59.87, edging Carnegie Mellon’s Savannah Xu, who previously held the top time (2:00.73) in Division III this season. Kenyon first-year Emma Kelley and junior Caleigh Wukitch joined Smith in posting ‘B’ cut times. Kelley finished fourth in the event with a time of 2:02.38, while Wukitch placed fifth in 2:02.88.
Next up for the Owls was senior Alexandra White, who sprinted to a win in the 100-yard freestyle. After posting an NCAA Division III best time of 50.18 in the morning prelims, White won the finals with a time of 50.37, which was still well below the ‘B’ cut. In the same event, Kenyon first-year Lisa Torrecillas-Jouault took third place in 50.83, also a ‘B’ cut time.
With the results of the 100-yard freestyle in the books, Kenyon’s lead over West Chester cleared 1,000 points, but the Owls weren’t done, yet. They got a one-two finish from Gabrielle Wei and Jennah Fadely in the 200-yard breaststroke. Wei checked in with a 2:13.82, a Division III best this season, while Fadely stopped the clock at 2:15.32. Both those times easily cleared the NCAA ‘B’ cut.
In the final individual event of the evening, Kenyon received a runner-up finish in the 200-yard butterfly from Ania Axas, who completed the race in 2:02.07 for another top Division III time and NCAA ‘B’ cut.
Before Saturday’s swim finals took place, Kenyon first-year Bryn Tiernan claimed a second-place finish in the three-meter diving competition, in which she posted a final score of 330.67.
The Invitational concluded with the 400-yard freestyle relay and another event win for Kenyon. The triumphant quartet, which clocked in at 3:22.94, included Smith, Torrecillas-Jouault, Ella Campbell and White. Again, that was another ‘B’ cut and another top Division III time for the Owls.
