2022 NCAA Division III 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
After a two year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA Division Men’s and Women’s III Championships return this week, with four full days of competition set to kick off on Wednesday morning at the iconic IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI in Indianapolis.
On the women’s side, Emory University has become a dynasty over the last decade, having won 10 consecutive national titles. On the men’s side, Denison University has won the last two NCAA championships, but Emory and Johns Hopkins lead the scored psych sheets. Denison’s in-state rival and historic powerhouse Kenyon College will also look to battle once again, after Denison topped Kenyon by just 5 points at last month’s North Coast Athletic Conference championships.
This morning’s session will include the 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free. Prelims begin at 10 AM EST.
Men’s 500 free
- Division III Record: Arthur Conover (Kenyon- 2016): 4:18.35
Top 8 finishers:
- Mason Kelber (WASHU): 4:24.31
- Graham Chatoor (NYU): 4:24.47
- Bryan Fitzgerald (KEN): 4:24.88
- Kellen Roddy (JHU): 4:25.29
- Pat Pema (EMOR): 4:25.86
- Jamie Lovette (WILL): 4:26.41
- Thomas Pritchard (NYU): 4:27.06
- Colin Twiss (CGA): 4:27.41
Washington University-St Louis junior Mason Kelber won the final heat in 4:24.31, dropping nearly 9 tenths from his seed to take the top spot into finals. Top seed Pat Pema of Emory was a second and a half behind him in that heat to qualify 5th in 4:25.86.
NYU will have a pair of swimmers in tonight’s A final, with senior Graham Chatoor qualifying second in 4:24.47 and junior Thomas Pritchard qualifying 7th in 4:27.06. Chatoor dropped slightly from his seed, while Pritchard, who came into the meet as the second seed, added over 2 seconds from his seed time.
Kenyon’s Bryan Fitzgerald moved up from his 8th seed to 3rd after the morning swims, dropped nearly 2 seconds. Johns Hopkins, who is also expected to compete for the team title, will also have one swimmer in the A final in sophomore Kellen Roddy, who qualified 4th.
Denison will have three swimmers compete in the B final tonight, while Emory will have 2 B finalists. Neither Kenyon nor Johns Hopkins had any B final qualifiers.
Women’s 500 free
- Division III Record: Kendra Stern (Amherst-2011): 4:43.37
Top 8 finishers:
- Taryn Wisner (DEN): 4:49.71
- Alix O’Brien (DEN): 4:52.43
- Tara Witkowski (DEN): 4:53.81
- Lydia Dacorte (WHE): 4:54.27
- Claire Brennan (TUFTS): 4:54.41
- Kristin Cornish (JHU): 4:54.63
- Jessica Gordon (AMHERST): 4:54.65
- Maggie Menso (SCU): 4:54.70
The Dension women put on a clinic in the 500 free this morning, taking the top three seeds heading into tonight’s final. Freshman Taryn Wisner, who came in as the top seed, took care of business this morning by dropping a second and a half from her seed to qualify first in 4:49.71, the only woman under the 4:50 barrier this morning.
She will be flanked by two teammates this evening. Her freshman classmate Alix O’Brien qualified second in 4:52.43, while Denison sophomore Tara Witkowski qualified third in 4:54.27.
The 4th-8th qualifiers were all within a half second of one another this morning, setting up for what should be a tight final this evening behind Wisner. Wheaton College 5th year Lydia Dacorte dropped 8 tenths from her seed time to move up to 4th this morning, while Tufts junior Claire Brennan dropped a full second to move up from her 11th seed to get into the A final.
Second seed Maggie Menso of St. Kate’s added 3 and a half seconds from her seed but was able to sneak into the A final in 8th with a 4:54.70.
Men’s 200 IM
- Division III Record: Andrew Wilson (Emory- 2017): 1:44.18
Top 8 finishers:
- Garrett Clasen (CHI): 1:47.48
- Max Chen (JHU): 1:48.01
- Kyle Wu (JHU): 1:48.10
- Jacob Grover (WILL): 1:48.14
- Michael Bylander (UWEC): 1:48.27
- Kevin Hao (WASHU): 1:48.29
- Noah Housekeeper (DEN): 1:48.61
- AJ Nybo (CLU): 1:48.71
Chicago’s Garrett Clasen took the top seed after this morning’s 200 IM heats, winning his heat in 1:47.48, over a half second clear of the field.
A pair of Johns Hopkins swimmers followed behind him, with senior Max Chen qualifying second in 1:48.01 and junior Kyle Wu qualifying 3rd in 1:48.10. The Blue Jays did not have a flawless IM, however, as third seed Steven Rua added nearly a second and a half form his seed to finish 19th, outside of scoring range entirely.
Williams sophomore Jacob Grocer dropped nearly a second and a half from his seed to qualify 4th in 1:48.14, moving up from his 16th seed entering the meet. Cal Lutheran’s AJ Nybo also had a big drop this morning, dropping 1.3 seconds to move up from the 23rd seed to finish 8th in 1:48.71.
Denison will have one swimmer in tonight’s A final, with senior Noah Housekeeper qualifying 7th in 1:48.61.
Notably, top seed Jordan Ren of MIT was DQ’d in the final heat.
Women’s 200 IM
- Division III Record: Crile Hart (Kenyon-2020): 1:58.04
Top 8 finishers:
- Crile Hart (KEN): 1:59.31
- Jordyn Wentzel (SCU): 2:00.31
- Sophia Verkleeren (WILL): 2:01.78
- Kinsey Brooks (UMW): 2:02.32
- Kate Augustyn (MIT): 2:02.38
- Clio Hancock (EMOR): 2:02.49
- Molly Craig (WILL): 202.80
- Augusta Lewis (CMS): 2:02.97
Kenyon senior Crile Hart, the current NCAA record holder, comes in as the top qualifier from the morning after posting a 1:59.31, a full second clear of the field. She will have the opportunity tonight to take down the NCAA meet record of 1:58.18, set by NYU’s Honore Collins in 2019.
St. Kate’s Jordyn Wentzel held her seed after qualifying second in 2:00.31, though she was nearly a full second off of her seed time. Third seed Kinsey Brooks of Mary Washington added 8 tenths from her seed to qualify fourth in 2:02.32.
Williams will have two swimmers in the A final this evening, with freshman Sophia Verkleeren qualifying 3rd in 2:01.78 and senior Molly Craig qualifying 7th in 2:02.80.
After missing out on the A final in the women’s 500 free, Emory will have their first A finalist of the meet in senior Clio Hancock, who qualified 6th in 2:02.49.
Men’s 50 free
- Division III Record: Oliver Smith (Emory- 2018): 19.37
Top 8 finishers:
- Kevin Gillooly (ROWAN): 19.58
- Nicholas Goudie (EMOR): 19.79
- Trey Ike (DEN): 19.94
- Julian Iturbe (CALV)/Chris Schiavone (F&M)/Kyri Chen (MIT): 19.99
- —-
- —-
- Nathan Berry (BATES): 20.02
- David Fitch (KEN): 20.05
Rowan fifth year Kevin Gillooly defended his top seed with a 19.58 this morning, two tenths clear of the field and making him the favorite heading into tonight’s final. Emory sophomore Nicholas Goudie is clearly in second with his 19.79, shaving .05 off of his seed.
Spots 3-8 were separated by just a tenth of a second, including a three way tie for 4th. Denison’s Trey Ike qualified third in 19.94, while Calvin College’s Julian Iturbe, Franklin and Marshall’s Chris Schiavone and MIT’s Kyrie Chen all tied for fourth in 19.99.
Bates junior qualified 7th in 20.02, while the Kenyon Lords will have David Fitch in the A final after qualifying 8th. Kenyon and Emory will also have one swimmer each in the B final this evening.
Women’s 50 free
- Division III Record: Kristen Nitz (Wheaton- 2013): 22.66
Top 8 finishers:
- Emmie Mirus (KEN): 22.67
- Taylor Leone (EMORY): 22.71
- Caroline Maki (EMORY): 22.93
- Taylor Robey (NAZ): 23.04
- Alex Turvey (PP): 23.05
- Avery Turney (PP): 23.09
- Ella Riccio (BOWD): 23.11
- Alexandra White (KEN): 23.15
After Denison impressed early in the session with a trio of A finalists in the 500, Emory and Kenyon both strike back here with a pair of A finalists in the 50 free.
Kenyon senior Emmie Mirus will head into the finals as the top seed after touching in 22.67, just .01 off of the NCAA record set in 2013. She will be joined by her junior teammate Alexandra White, who qualified 8th in 23.15.
Emory, meanwhile had a pair of sub 23 swimmers. Senior Taylor Leone qualified 2nd in 22.71 and her junior teammate Caroline Maki sits just behind her in third in 22.93.
Pamona-Pitzer also earned a pair of A finalists, with sophomore Alex Turvey and freshman Avery Turney both moving up from their seeds to qualify 5th and 6th, respectively. Heading into the meet, Turvey was seeded 9th while Turney was seeded 15th.
Top seed Taylor Robey of Nazareth qualified fourth in 23.04, a quarter of a second off of her seed, while Bowdoin freshman Ella Riccio qualified 7th in 23.11.
Men’s 200 Medley Relay
- NCAA Record: Emory (2017): 1:26.14
Top 8 finishers:
- Williams: 1:27.66
- Emory: 1:27.81
- Claremont MS: 1:28.16
- MIT: 1:28.18
- Chicago: 1:28.24
- Denison: 1:28.51
- John Carroll: 1:28.90
- Trinity: 1:28.91
Williams had the clear swim of the morning, chopping over a full second off of their seed to take the top spot heading into finals with a 1:27.66. Williams entered the meet at the 10th seed and were led by a swift 21.22 fly split from Ev Nichol.
Top seeded Emory qualified second in 1:27.81, over a full second off of their seed but just over a tenth off of the top spot.
Denison qualified in 6th securing a spot in the A final and giving them a massive advantage in the team race over Johns Hopkins and Kenyon. Hopkins, which came in as the fourth seed, added a full second from their seed to finish ninth. In a huge blow to their title hopes, the Kenyon Lords were disqualified this morning after coming in as the second seed.
Women’s 200 Medley Relay
- NCAA Record: Denison (2019): 1:40.11
Top 8 finishers:
In terms of men’s diving Kenyon went 1/1, Emory went 1/0, Williams went 1/0, and Denison went 1/0. So a bit of a wash for those 4 but helps separate from JHU and MIT.
Although rarely in the team title running, it’s too bad SCIAC never gets any coverage/respect from SwimSwam… other than the two women 50 freestylers from ‘Pomona-Pitzer’ and AJ Nybo of Cal Lu, Augusta Lewis of CMS and the CMS mens medley relay had nice prelims swim today and will compete in finals tonight.
As a CMS alum, I am biased, but I also would like more coverage (: CMS and PP are obviously the strongest teams but its more than just those.
Cal Tech’s rise has also been nothing short of meteoric. If you look at their program top times back in, let’s say 2014, and compare to now… it’s night and day. They have 7 swimmers at this meet and not long ago they had no men breaking 22 seconds in the 50 free or 1:05 in the 100 breast. I’d appreciate an interview with that coach about how they’ve been able to turn that program around.
Absolutely true – an amazing season/turnaround for Cal Tech! Coach Brabson deservedly named conference coach of the year.
If the SCIAC conference championship meet were covered this might have gotten some attention. Maybe the conference should submit a write-up to Swimswam!? Not sure how it works.
Id give Williams and Denison the “wins” this morning. Close 2nd to Emory. Tough with the DQ’s of MIT and Kenyon, but tonight will definitely be exciting.
well how about that
Inexplicable line up decision by JHU in the medley relay.
True mystery strategy
you could maybe make a case for using either (a) Wachenfeld instead of Rua, or (b) resting Chen and using Wu, but to do both?? oof. Thought tbh JHU’s time would have been SECOND out of prelims in 2019, and is a full 1.5s faster than the 8th place qualifying time in 2019. So I sort of forgive the coaches for feeling like they could pull this off… the 2medley is just a different beast than it used to be.
Jack Wadsworth, a freshman at Ithaca, had the fastest 50 back split of the morning (21.9).Talk about a massive pickup for that team. That’s half a second faster than at conference where he was 47.34 in the 100. I’m excited to see what he does in this meet. He’s attempting the rare/insane 400IM+100back double tomorrow, so we’ll see how that goes.
Transfer portal
is that a joke or is he actually transferring?
he’s transferring, going d1
100 Back is on Friday, so he will just have the 400 medley relay and the 400 IM
Women’s 2 IM record is going down. Hart looked like she shut it down last 50.
Some fast breaststroke splits on the medleys. Chen wasn’t on the hopkins relay though? From the looks of it Emory took their starts pretty conservatively.