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INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, March 22. WHILE the Emory women continued to widen the gap heading into the final night of the NCAA Division III Championships, the Kenyon and Denison men certainly will have a close battle this evening after this morning’s outing.
Men’s 100 free
Trinity’s Stephen Culberson led the way in prelims with a top time of 44.29 to kick off the final day of qualifying at the championship meet. TCNJ’s Stephen Tarnowski qualified second overall in 44.66 with CMS’s Alex Poltash and Johns Hopkins’ Anthony Lordi tying for third with 44.79s.
Coast Guard’s Christian Brindamour (44.81), Kenyon’s Austin Caldwell (44.84), Gettysburg’s Jason Potter (44.88) and Denison’s Ryan Fleming (44.91) also made the championship finale.
Denison and Kenyon had an even event with Denison going one up, one down with Fleming and Conrad Wuorinen (45.06, 12th), while Kenyon did the same with Caldwell and Joseph Duronio (45.16, 15th).
Women’s 100 free
Springfield’s Kellie Pennington cleared 50 seconds for the top seed this morning with a 49.86, putting her less than a second back of Kendra Stern’s NCAA D3 record of 48.98 from 2010. But, Pennington will have to hold off Anastasia Bogdanovski of Johns Hopkins, who hasn’t lost a race all week as she is five-for-five in title winning opportunities and qualified second this morning in 50.08.
Emory’s Nancy Larson helped her team continue to pile on points towards a likely team title with a third-place 50.41, while Kenyon’s Jourdan Cline (50.87) and Hillary Yarosh (50.90) will help their squad in terms of the race for second behind Emory.
Johns Hopkins’ Kylie Ternes (50.96), Denison’s Carolyn Kane (51.03) and Connecticut’s Julia Pielock (51.04) also earned the right to swim in the finale.
Men’s 200 back
USMMA’s Kevin Lindgren (1:46.03) and Kenyon’s Harrison Curley (1:46.08) qualified 1-2 in the distance dorsal, setting up an epic finale that could push the pace and challenge Michael Brus’ NCAA D3 record of 1:44.81 during finals.
Williams’ Ben Lin (1:47.07) and Albright’s Ralph Porrazzo (1:47.10) took third and fourth with Johns Hopkins’ Dylan Davis (1:47.17) and Emory’s Ross Spock (1:47.34) finishing fifth and sixth out of prelims as well.
Connecticut’s Loring Bowen qualified seventh in 1:47.37, while Denison’s Jack Humphrey will hope to keep pace with Curley in terms of team scoring after taking eighth in 1:47.39 to make the finale.
Denison and Kenyon were evenly matched in this event as well with each going one up and one down. Denison had Humphrey and Jack Lindell (1:48.62, 13th), while Kenyon has Curley and Oscar Anderson (pending a swimoff for 16th).
Women’s 200 back
Luther’s Clare Slagel raced her way to the top seed in the finale with a 1:58.74, and could take a run at Brittany Sasser’s 2008 NCAA D3 mark of 1:56.23 this evening when pushed under the bright lights of a championship heat.
Johns Hopkins’ Taylor Kitayama qualified second in 1:59.15 with Williams’ Katherine Bennett placing third in 1:59.46. Emory’s Sadie Nennig also cleared 2:00 with a fourth-seeded 1:59.90.
Gustavus Adolphus’ Alissa Tinklenburg (2:00.16), Kenyon’s Celia Oberholzer (2:00.96), Chicago’s Alison Wall (2:00.98) and Rose-Hulman’s Eleanor Hong (2:01.05) also made their way into the A final.
Men’s 200 breast
UW Eau Claire’s Alex Card (1:59.37) and Occidental’s Steven Van Deventer (1:59.93) both cleared 2:00 to earn the top two seeds in the event.
Emory’s Andrew Wilson (2:00.45), Calvin’s Johnson Cochran (2:00.68), Williams’ Tim Lattimer (2:00.74) and MIT’s Michael Liao (2:01.21) also grabbed spots in the championship field.
Kenyon, meanwhile, had a big event that could be key in the team title race. Trevor Manz (2:00.23) and Alex Beckwith (2:00.73) qualified third and sixth to make the championship heat, while Ian Reardon (2:02.00) made the consolation final.
Denison wound up with three swimmers in the consolation heat as Addison Evans (2:02.57), Damon Rosenburg (2:03.26) and Bart Brunk (2:03.60) qualified 13th, 15th and 16th.
Women’s 200 breast
Emory put an exclamation point on the team title race with four swimmers making the finale. Megan Beach (2:16.58) and Elizabeth Aronoff (2:16.69) qualified 1-2, while Kylie McKenzie (2:18.44) and Annelise Kowalsky (2:18.52) snared seventh and eighth in the championship heat.
Kenyon’s Katie Kaestner (2:16.96), UW Whitewater’s Amy Spaay (2:17.53), Denison’s Natalie Lugg (2:17.67) and Amherst’s Emily Hyde (2:17.98) rounded out the finale and will be looking to steal a bit of the limelight from Emory if they can.
Men’s 400 free relay
TCNJ’s Stephen Tarnowski (44.56), Brett Pedersen (44.57), Joseph Dunn (44.61) and Stephen Gibson (44.86) turned in the top time of the morning with a 2:58.60, but will need to cut plenty of time to beat the NCAA D3 record of 2:53.59 set by Kenyon in 2012.
Denison (2:59.26) topped Kenyon (2:59.68) in what could become the deciding swim for the team championship.
Gettysburg (3:00.38), Chicago (3:00.88), MIT (3:01.12), DePauw (3:01.18) and CMS (3:01.49) also made the championship finale in what should be an exciting finish to an exciting meet.
Women’s 400 free relay
Johns Hopkins’ Kylie Ternes (51.23), Ellen Marcus (52.29), Anastasia Bogdanoski (49.16) and Samantha Fox (51.74) picked up the top time in prelims, just ahead of Kenyon’s Jenner McLeod (51.87), Haley Townsend (51.49), Hillary Yarosh (50.19) and Jourdan Cline (51.00), who took second in 3:24.55.
Denison’s Ashley Yearwood (51.88), Carolyn Kane (51.01), Mary Van Leuven (50.82) and Morgan Nuess (50.95) weren’t far behind with a third-seeded time of 3:24.66.
Emory (3:25.56), CMS (3:27.09), Gustavus Adolphus (3:27.21), MIT (3:27.42) and Chicago (3:27.47) rounded out the championship finale field.
Miles, diving to come
