SwimSwam would like to welcome Hannah Saiz to our team, with her first post below. Hannah is a former Division III All-American at Kenyon and, frankly, one of the best Division III swimmers in history. Her times in the 200 fly would’ve scored at any college meet in the country, and she is a candidate for HardCore Swim of the Year when she won the National Championship in the 200 fly while swimming the last 25 yards or so unconsciously. Literally. She had to be drug from the water. And she won. In the 200 fly.
This is what makes us proud to announce Hannah as the lead on our Division III channel, where we will hope to bring unprecedented depth, knowledge, and coverage to the only level of NCAA swimming where everyone is racing for free. To see more NCAA Division III coverage, click here. You can always get back there using our menus at the top.
Ladies and Gents – it’s that time again! As a former collegiate swimming friend of mine once said, we all know in our bones when swim season is about to begin. It’s time for the 2013-14 NCAA season to get underway.
The top ten teams on the men’s and women’s sides at Nationals have lost some key players from last year – over forty seniors have graduated, leaving the way open for the new upperclassmen and the up-and-coming, fresh-faced youngsters for whom this is the first year of collegiate competition.
Here’s the top ten teams from nationals last year, with a list of seniors who placed top sixteen that graduated, followed by returning athletes to watch for in the coming season. Individual national champions are in bold.
Men’s Meet
1) Kenyon (499.5)
Jimmy Chapman, Nick Charriez, Curtis Ramsey, Ian Stewart-Bates, John Rooker, Ian Richardson.
Returning junior Austin Caldwell won the 200 free at last year’s NCAAs and was top eight in the 100 free and 200 IM, as well as being an integral part of the Lords’ relay squads. Senior Andrew Chevalier comes back to lead the Lords in the distance events – the 400 IM, 500 free and the mile.
2) Denison (428)
Quinn Bartlet, Gabe Dixon.
Returning senior Al Weik won the 500 free and mile last year and has the national record in the mile from his sophomore year. Keep an eye out for Ben Lewis too – the sophomore diver who won the men’s 1 meter as a freshman.
3) MIT (334)
Brendan Deveney, Wyatt Ubellacker.
Returning senior Remy Mock was second in the 200 freestyle at nationals last year, and swims butterfly as well. Luke Schlueter, a sophomore, owns the MIT record in the 200 butterfly and finished eighth at the NCAA meet last year.
4) Johns Hopkins (316)
Dylan Coggin, Nicholas Schmidt, Tyler Woods.
Junior Dylan Davis, the national champ in the 100 back last year, returns to lead the Blue Jays for another year. Senior Anthony Lordi is the school record holder in the 200 IM and was top sixteen at last year’s nationals.
5) Emory (280)
Justin Beegle, Stephen Czaja, James Douglas, Miller Douglas, Peter O’Brien.
Sophomore Andrew Wilson and senior Ryan Bass hold the school records for the Eagles in the 100 and 200 back, and 50 free, respectively, as well as owning top eight finishes at nationals.
6) Stevens (185)
Alexander Benham, John Hu.
Senior Simas Jarasunas returns to Stevens after having won the 100 breast last year.
7) Amherst (172)
Sophomore Jeff Anderson was top sixteen in the 400 IM last year, and his class mate Samuel Stewart took fifth in the 100 fly at the championships.
8) Williams (130)
Paul Dyrkacz, David Taylor.
Returning to the Ephs junior Timothy Lattimer (4ooIM, 200 breast) and sophomore JAcob Tamposi (100 breast).
9) Redlands (129.5)
Christopher Depew.
Junior Jeffrey Depew returns as the defending national champion in the 200 IM from last year’s NCAA meet.
10) Claremont MS (117)
Blake Weber.
Junior Marc Blumberg placed top 16 in the 200 fly at nationals last year, and this summer won the 1.5 mile open water Alcatraz Sharkfest swim. Look for him in the distance races next year!
Women’s Meet:
1) Emory (619)
Anna Dobben, Leslie Hackler, Taryn Lushinsky, Mia Michalak, Renee Rosenkranz.
Junior Nancy Larson and senior Sadie Nennig return for the Eagles. Both placed top eight at the NCAA meet last year, Larson in sprint freestyle and Nennig in both backstroke events and the 200 IM.
2) Kenyon (483)
Kiersten Bell, Anna Connolly, Kate Haller, Hannah Saiz.
The Ladies to watch this year are national record holder in the 100 back Celia Oberholzer (100 back, 200 back, 50 free) and national 3m diving champion, sophomore Maria Zarka.
3) Denison (363)
Madeline Armitage, Sarah DiNardo, Alyssa Swanson, Lindsay Zeberlin.
Returning for Big Red are junior Michelle Howell (400 IM, 200 fly, 200 breast) and sophomore sprinter Ashley Yearwood.
4) Williams (304)
Katherine O’Leary, Caroline Wilson.
Sarah Thompson won the mile last year, and the women’s 200 free. Keep an eye for her to repeat this year.
5) Johns Hopkins (290)
Keep a sharp watch on these two World Champ competitors: junior Ana Bogdanovski and incoming freshman Pilar Shimizu both raced in Barcelona in sprint freestyle and breaststroke, respectively.
6) Amherst (240)
Nicole Heise, Kathryn Vincett.
Sophomore Emily Hyde was fourth in the 400 IM at the national meet last year, but with the top two spots having graduated a scant second between her and third-place Howell, the race could get interesting.
7) Stevens (167)
Brittany Geyer, a junior for Stevens, returns after having been top eight in the 200 IM at nationals. She also swims breaststroke. Sophomore Elizabeth Heinbach comes back after being top sixteen in the 400 IM last year.
8) MIT (125)
Anna Kokensparger.
Sophomore Lena Yang returns for the Engineers swimming sprint free and fly. NEWMAC record holder in the 100 fly Katie Siegel, a sophomore as well, is also returning.
9) Grove City (116)
Angela Palumbo, Kaitlin Riesmeyer.
Junior Tori Baker and sophomore Megan Bilko return to help guide the Wolverines this coming year on relays yet again.
10) Wheaton & Gustavus (tied at 98)
It’s no secret here – for Wheaton, keep your eye on the name Kirstin Nitz! This up and coming sophomore has national record written all over her.
National Names:
These folks aren’t part of any top ten teams, but still managed to come away with individual national titles at last year’s NCAA meet, and so bear keeping an eye out for.
- Hugh Anderson will be a junior at Mary Washington. He broke the national record in the 400 IM and was second in the 200 fly.
- Grinnell senior Michael Brus reset the national record in the 200 back.
- A junior at Redlands, Chandra Lukes won the women’s 100 free.
- Junior Amy Spaay from UW-Whitewater broke the NCAA meet record in the 100 breast and won the 200 breast.
mariah williamson for kenyon.
I believe Simas Jarasunas was only at Stevens for the spring semester last year.
Hannah is hard at work and figuring out all of this Wisconsin stuff! What a pleasure to have such a focused athlete in the mix at the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center. Dave Anderson
Great stuff but how about some assessment of the incoming classes. I hear that both Kenyon and Denison have some Div 1 transfers coming in that will make an impact at Nationals. Looking forward to more coverage as the season starts.
Great job SwimSwam! Looking forward to the great coverage of DIII. Can’t wait to see your predictions by team and event this year! Go Eagles!
Very exciting to see this kind of coverage! I was excited last year just to see a few articles about some conference meets, so hopefully we will see some more of that this year, along with maybe some November/December invitationals? (D1 received extensive coverage for this last year). While we are not at the top of the stack in terms of times when viewed overall throughout the NCAA, there are still some special things going on, so all news is much appreciated!
Looks like it is going to be a good year! Can we get a review of DII as well?
Awesome, love that D3 will have some dedicated coverage. Thanks, Hannah! How about discussion on the NCAA cuts for this year. Hot topic!!! keep it up