Third morning at Division III sets up exciting night of finals.

Swimmers continued to bring the heat on the third morning of the NCAA Division III swimming championships. After another exciting night of finals the swimmers needed no time to cool off. Two more national records fell as the times required to make it back continued to be among the fastest in championship history. The Kenyon men have built up an almost insurmountable lead at this point and look strong heading into tonight. The Denison men broke into the top 3 last night and should distance themselves from St. Olaf tonight who currently sit ten points back in fourth. The Kenyon women have yet to distance themselves too far from the other top teams, but should do so tonight with their superior amount of swims in tonight's finals.

The meet started off with a bang as Logan Todhunter of Williams was back for thirds. After breaking the national record twice yesterday in the process of winning her first national title, Todhunter was at it again. Her time of 1:57.71 sliced two seconds off the national record she had set last month. She seems to be unbeatable in the final and all eyes will be on her tonight. The rest of the field that will compete in the final was tightly bunched this morning which should lead to an exciting race for the second spot on the podium.

Douglas Huguenard of Kenyon led qualifying in the men's 200 fly with a time of 1:47.45. He will be challenged by his Kenyon teammate, defending national champion, Matthew Harris who was timed in 1:48.13 swimming out of lane 8. Harris defended his national championship in the 100 fly last night, and he will look to do the same this evening. Other key contenders will be Joseph Pysnik, also of Kenyon, who finished in 1:48.02 to qualify second, and Harrison Brown of Emory who sits fourth with a 1:48.65. Brown qualified all the way out of heat 1. If he can hold it together in the last 50 of the fast heat tonight, he could grab the win.

Olivia Zaleski of Denison qualified first in the women's 100 back with her time of 55.59. She is followed by Jena Root of St. Thomas and Tess Pasternak of Emory who swam 55.89 and 56.04 respectively. Zaleski is usually out fast. If she builds a big enough lead after the first 50 tonight, the race will belong to her.

The men's version of the 100 back featured the second national record of the morning. John Thomas of Johns Hopkins University slipped in under the old record time of 48.60 with his swim of 48.52. After finishing second a year ago, he will be the favorite tonight. Qualifying second was Kenyon's Michael Mpitsos with his time of 49.19. Hal Graft of Transylvania was third in 49.45.

Tracy Menzel of Kenyon was the top qualifier in the women's 100 breast followed closely by Annie Perizzolo of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps with their times of 1:03.05 and 1:03.09. The top seed for the prelims, Emily Roberts of Calvin, qualified third in 1:03.34. The race will be a good one tonight. Menzel had a great split of 1:01.74 on Kenyon's medley relay last night. If she can duplicate that swim tonight she could walk away with the title.

The men's 100 breast tonight will be a story of revenge. Last year, Pavel Buyanov of Staten Island edged St. Olaf's Nelson Westby 54.49 to 54.50 for the win. Tonight, the two will face off again. Buyanov qualified first in 54.70. Westby was fifth in 55.18. Both men said that they had kept it nice and smooth this morning, so expect a record swim in the thriller tonight. The race should be bewteen Buyanov and Westby, but expect swimmers such as David Lazarus of Kenyon, Myles O'Connor of The College of New Jersey, and Ratislav Racz of M.I.T. to try and break through.

The first heats of the 800 free relay for men and women swam this morning with the final heat of each yet to swim tonight. Kenyon is the top seed for the women. They will be challenged by Emory who will be led by Ruth Westby and Liz Horvat. Amherst will also post a challenge as well led by the Stern sisters. Kenyon is the top seed for the men. Denison should pose a threat led by David Curtis, last night's champion in the 200.

Swim Count:
    Women: Kenyon: 6 up, 3 down. Denison: 4 up, 1 down. Emory: 2 up, 2 down. Williams: 3 up, 0 down.
    Men: Kenyon: 6 up, 1 down. Denison: 2 up, 6 down. Emory: 5 up, 3 down. St. Olaf: 2 up, 1 down.