Sam Senczyszyn Becomes 2nd D3 Woman to Split Sub-1:00 Breast on Relay

Edit: Senczyszyn is the second woman. We were focused on NCAA Championship results, but Amy Spaay split faster than 1:00 at the 2013 WIAC Championships. That’s the same conference that Senczyszyn currently swims in.

What a time to be a breaststroker in NCAA’s Division III. While Emory’s Andrew Wilson is proving he could win a Division I national title in the 100 breast with his insane swimming this weekend at the Miami Invitational in Ohio, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire sophomore Sam Senczyszyn has broken a considerable barrier on the women’s end. At the Rochester Invite last night in Minnesota, the defending Division III national champion in the 100 breast blasted what looks to be the second-fastest medley relay split ever in the 100 yard breaststroke (59.93), along with the second split under 1:00 in women’s Division III history.

Splits

• Collegiate best time from 2016 (flat start)
  • 28.51 – 32.58 (1:01.09)
• Lifetime best time from 2013 (flat start)
  • 28.49 –  32.27 (1:00.76)
• Friday relay split from last night (flying start)
  • 28.07 – 31.86 (59.93)

Senczyszyn was quicker on both splits than her lifetime and collegiate bests, and displayed impressive endurance with a significantly stronger second 50. She won the 100 breast D3 national title last season as a freshman, touching in 1:01.09, but has yet to beat her lifetime best of 1:00.76 from back in 2013. Her back-half yesterday was impressive, and looks to be her fastest back-half ever. Her 59.93 was way ahead of any other swimmer at the Rochester Invite, faster even than the butterflier on her own relay.

We sifted through every D3 National Championship results file since 2006, when Williams’ Lindsay Payne brought the 100 breast national record under 1:01 for the first time ever, and no swimmer broke 1:00 on medley relays. We did find a quick split from Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Amy Spaay, 2013 individual champion in the 100 breast– she split a 1:00.15 on UW-Whitewater’s medley relay.

Payne, meanwhile, holds the D3 record at 1:00.54, which Senczyszyn will be gunning for this season. Note that Senczyszyn, a top high school recruit a couple of years ago, initially sent a verbal commitment to the Arizona Wildcats only to end up staying close to home in Wisconsin. Funnily enough, Wisconsin native Amy Spaay actually began her career at Arizona, but transferred to UW-Whitewater in order to stay involved with theater simultaneously with swimming, which she said she could not do at Arizona.