Kenyon’s Crile Hart Lowers Own Division III Record in 200 IM to 1:57.76

2022 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships

• Wednesday, March 16 – Saturday, March 19, 2022
• IUPUI IU Natatorium, Indianapolis, IN
• Defending Champs: Emory women (10x) & Denison men (2x) – (2019 Results)
• Live Stream
• Live Results
• Official Psych Sheet

Women’s 200 IM – Final

• Division III Record: 1:58.04 – Crile Hart, Kenyon (2020)
• Division III Meet Record: 1:58.18 – Honore Collins, NYU (2019)
• 2019 Champion: Honore Collins, NYU – 1:58.18

Kenyon senior Crile Hart smashed the NCAA Division III Record in the 200 IM on Wednesday night en route to winning her second NCAA national title in the event. It was her first time under the 1:58 barrier as she took .28 off her own NCAA Division III mark to settle the record at 1:57.76.

Hart had been seeded first with 1:59.30, just .17 ahead of St. Kate’s senior Jordyn Wentzel. The two posted the fastest times in prelims to land in lanes 4 and 5 for the final. Hart, who excels at the front half, and Wentzel, a back-half specialist, raced a thrilling 200 yards which, when the waves died down at the finish, saw them both beat the previous Division III and meet records.

Hart first won this event as a freshman with 1:58.86 at the 2018 NCAA Division III Championships. In 2019, she placed third in the NCAA final that Honore Collins of NYU won with her record-breaking time of 1:58.18. The next year, Hart broke the Division III record in February at the NCAC Championships with 1:58.04. She did not have the opportunity to race at NCAAs that year, as the national meet was canceled because of COVID.

In this first NCAA meet in two years, Hart and Wentzel both hit lifetime bests in the final. Hart was .28 faster than her previous PB, while Wentzel lowered her lifetime best by 1.6 seconds. Looking at the side-by-side split comparisons, it is interesting to note (1) how fast Wentzel is over the back half and (2) how much Hart has improved on the front half.

In two years, Hart has managed to take .53 off her leadoff butterfly split and .51 off her backstroke. In tonight’s final, her 25.5/29.11 front half put her in the lead by 2.7 seconds at the halfway mark. Her breast and free were each just over three-tenths slower than in 2020, but she had built up such a considerable lead that she was just able to hold off Wentzel for the win.

As reported by Reid Carlson:

Top 8 finishers:

1. Crile Hart (KEN), 1:57.76*
2. Jordyn Wentzel (SCU), 1:57.82*
3. Augusta Lewis (CMS), 2:01.21
4. Sophia Verkleeren (WILL), 2:01.29
5. Molly Craig (WILL), 2:01.44
6. Clio Hancock (EMORY), 2:02.47
7. Kinsey Brooks (UMW), 2:02.71
8. Kate Augustyn (MIT), 2:03.44

MIT’s Edenna Chen took the ‘B’ final of the women’s 200 IM in 2:03.38, just a hair faster than her morning swim. While Chen won the heat, the most interesting race in the consolation final goes to Denison Sophomore Esme Wright who finished 4th in the heat in 2:03.81 but split 27.17 on the fly (6th), 33.51 on the back (8th), turning in 1:00.68 at the 100, the only swimmer not under 1 minute, but then produced a monster 34.49 breaststroke split, the fastest in the field, and a 28.64 freestyle split, also the fastest in the field, to have a 1:03.13 over the final 100–of course, the fastest in the field–making up huge deficits created by Chen, Jamee Mitchum, and Abby Claus to storm home and make for an exciting finish to the ‘B’ final.

The ‘A’ final of the women’s 200 IM did not disappoint. Kenyon’s Crile Hart lowered her own NCAA Record with a 1:57.76, claiming the national title in the process. The race was close with Jordyn Wentzel from St. Kate’s who also swam faster than Hart’s former record time, touching in a 1:57.82 for 2nd. Overall, Hart and Wentzel were the only women in the field under 2 minutes in the race. Hart took the race out in a break-neck 54.26 at the half-way point, producing a 25.15 fly split and a 29.11 backstroke split. Wentzel got to work on the breaststroke, clocking a 33.28 to Hart’s 35.07, touch Hart still held a 0.88 lead at 150. Wentzel nearly reeled her in with a monster 27.61 freestyle split to Hart’s 28.43, though it wasn’t quite enough to capture gold. Still, perhaps the most exciting race of day 1 of the DIII NCAA Championships.