Swift Morning Puts Divison III in Full Swing.

If any indication was needed that the 2009 NCAA Division III swimming championships were going to be fast, 4 meet and 3 NCAA records should be sufficient. After the times that were put up in the heats this morning, these championships look to be the fastest in history. The men and women of Kenyon College established their dominance this morning and showed the rest of the country that they are poised to once again defend their titles. However, other top schools looked strong and appear ready to post a challenge to the defending champions.

The morning got off to a quick start with the 500 yard freestyle for the women. The race was highlighted by a new NCAA record from Liz Horvat of Emory in a time of 4:49.24. Horvat looked strong from start to finish. The race tonight looks as if it will be for second. Swim count: Kenyon: 1 up, 0 down. Denison: 2 up, 0 down. Emory: 2 up, 1 down. Amherst: 1 up, 2 down. Williams: 1 up, 1 down.

The men's 500 displayed nothing spectacular but should be a good race tonight. Several Emory swimmers cut large amounts of time from their seeds in the early heats to make it back for another swim tonight. Alex Beyer of Washington University also cut a good amount of time from his seed to lead qualifying in 4:24.35. Beyer was out fast and held it together nicely. He should be challeneged tonight for that elusive national title. Swim count: Kenyon: 1 up, 3 down. Denison: 2 up, 0 down. Emory: 1 up, 2 down. Amherst: 2 up, 0 down. 0 up, 1 down.

After a slow start in the 500, the women of Kenyon dominated the 200 IM.  Kate Rich of Amherst led qualifying in 2:03.63. She is followed closely by Lauren Brady of Kenyon (2:03.70) and Logan Todhunter of Williams (2:03.77). The race for the title should be intense. Swim count: Kenyon: 4 up, 3 down. Denison: 1 up, 0 down. Emory: 0 up, 2 down. Williams: 3 up, 0 down.

The 200 IM on the men's side looks to provide a potential 1-2 finish for St. Olaf. Jacob Koch from Olaf led qualifying in 1:49.86. His teammate Nelson Westby qualified third in 1:50.32 but clearly eased up the last 75 yards. Harrison Brown of Emory was second in 1:50.22 ater a 4 second drop. He'll look to drop some more time tonight to spoil the party for Olaf. Swim count: Kenyon: 1 up, 3 down. Denison: 0 up, 1 down. Emory: 3 up, 2 down. St. Olaf: 2 up, 0 down.

The women's 50 free saw lighting hit the water. Elizabeth Carlton of Kenyon broke an NCAA and meet record with a blazing fast time of 22.71 in the last of 8 heats. The meet record had originally been broken in heat 6 by Kristen Hohl of Denison in 22.94. A third swimmer, Ruth Westby of Emory, also went under the previous meet record swimming out of heat 8 in a time of 22.91. The final tonight looks to be a thriller. Swim count: Kenyon: 1 up, 1 down. Denison: 1 up, 2 down. Emory: 2 up, 1 down. 

The men's 50 had a few surprises of its own. The top seed tonight will Kenyon freshmen Zachary Turk. Turk laid down a 19.86 to come within 0.01 of the national record swimming out of lane 1. Caleb Courage a senior from Grove City qualified third in 20.05 after being called back on the start. He looked tentative on the start the second time around and was rather long on the finish. He should be in contention for the title tonight and don't be surprised if the national record bears his name at the race's end. Unfortunately, top seed John Geissinger of Denison will not be in contention for the title tonight after qualifying ninth this morning. Swim count: Kenyon: 3 up, 2 down. Denison: 0 up, 1 down.

Qualifying for the women's 200 medley relay was led by Kenyon in a meet record of 1:42.82. However the NCAA record was set last month by 5th qualifying Denison. They should be very tough tonight. Other teams that look to contend for the top spots include Emory, Williams, and Johns Hopkins. Claremont, Middlebury, and UW La Crosse round out the top eight. 

The men's 200 medley relay saw Kenyon take down the NCAA record by 0.01 with a time of 1:28.74. The rest of the top eight were separated by only 0.82 which should make for an exciting race. Those teams are Emory, St. Olaf, Puget Sound, Johns Hopkins, M.I.T., UW Stevens Point, and Denison.