Day Three in D-Three - The Born Legacy

The final morning of swimming at the NCAA Division III swimming championships is now history, and so is the oldest championship record. Caleb Courage, a senior at Grove City, finally erased James Born of Kenyon from the record books. Born's record of 43.65 had stood since 1985 until Courage knocked it down with a 43.60. Courage took off swimming for Grove City last year to train with David Marsh at Mecklenberg Aquatic Club, and that decision seems to have paid off. John Thomas of Johns Hopkins also broke a national record in the men's 200 backstroke with a time of 1:47.07. The record is his second of the meet after breaking the record in the 100 back in yesterday's prelims.
 
This morning's racing got underway with the women's 100 free. Kristen Hohl of Denison qualified first in 49.83 followed by Kendra Stern at 50.05. Stern won this event last year and was the champion in Thursday's 200 free. She tends to swim faster at night so expect her to come out firing. She will be the favorite. Emory's Ruth Westby qualified third in 50.36. She will contend as she tries to cap an excellent week of swimming with her first individual title. And don't count out Carthage sophomore Amanda Croix who qualified fourth at 50.74. It would take an outstanding swim for her to challenge for the title, but she is as competitive as they come.
    The men's 100 free saw Courage take down the oldest national record on the books. He did so by jumping out to a lighting fast split at the 50 of 20.61. If he is able to repeat that tonight, he will be very tough to beat. However, John Geissinger of Denison and Zach Turk of Kenyon are always formidable opponents. Turk won the 50 earlier this week, so you know he has the speed, not to mention the mental toughness to not let a guy like Courage rattle his nerves. Then you have Geissinger. He was the top seed in all three of the shorter distance freestyles heading into the meet. So far, the week has not gone as planned. After a great split on Denison's record breaking 800 free relay, we know he has the ability to get it done. He will look for redemption tonight. 

The women's 200 back saw three seniors separate themselves from the field; Tess Pasternak of Emory, Brie McDowell of St. Mary's, and Carolyn Barer of Kenyon. Pasternak dropped a heavy chunk off her seeded time to lead qualifying in 1:59.54 swimming out lane one. McDowell and Barer followed with times of 2:00.32 and 2:00.47 respectively.

The men's 200 back saw the other national record of the morning. John Thomas of Johns Hopkins leads qualify with his new record time of 1:47.07. Thomas is the heavy favorite but will be pushed by Robert Barry of Denison (1:48.17), Michael Mpitsos of Kenyon (1:48.33), and Hal Graft of Transylvania (1:48.37). They finished in that order this morning; the same order they finished in last night's 100 back final. 

The women's 200 breast is led by Annie Perizzolo of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in 2:16.55. Perizzolo had a disappointing swim in the 100 breast last night and hopes to walk away with her first national title tonight. The 100 breast champion Tracy Menzel of Kenyon qualified second in 2:18.56. Third and fourth qualifiers Alisa Vereshchagin of Kenyon and Moira Price of Springfield qualified with times of 2:19.33 and 2:19.56 respectively. Both were seeded with times of 2:16 this morning and will need such a swim to be in contention for the win tonight.

The men's 200 breast final is loaded. Alex Beyer of Washington University qualified first in 1:59.78. Beyer was the champion earlier this week in the 400 IM, setting a national record in the process. Nelson Westby of St. Olaf was second in 2:00.68. He swam a 1:58.98 back in December, narrowly missing the national record of 1:58.90. He was second in the 100 breast last night and won the 200 IM earlier this week. Stephen Schranck of Carthage was the third qualifier in 2:00.90. He will be swimming in his first final of the meet. Fresh legs may be an advantage for him. The final will also feature Pavel Buyanov, last year's champion in this event. He won the 100 breast last night in record fashion. He will be faster than his 2:02.26 from this morning. David Gatz of Ohio Wesleyan will also be among the contenders in the final.

The women's 400 free relay was led by Denison follwed closely by Emory with times of 3:24.53 and 3:24.71. They are followed by Kenyon who swam to a time of 3:25.31. Expect the national record of 3:23.64 to fall. With Denison and Emory separated by half a point for second place heading into tonight, the final team standing could come down to the relay.

In the men's relay, Kenyon led qualifying with a 2:58.57. Grove City is second with a time of 2:59.17 carried by a 43.11 split from Courage. Emory sits third at 2:59.88 with Washington fourth at 3:00.18. The national record of 2:57.98 was set back in 1998. It should no longer be in existence after tonight. Denison barely sneaked into the final in eighth, but will be much stronger tonight with the addition of Geissinger.

The early heats of the women's and men's 1650 swam this morning, with the final heat to be swum at the start of finals. Two freshmen will occupy the middle lanes for the women. Margaret Rippe of New York University occupies the top seed followed by Hilary Callen of Denison. Callen had a strong swim in the 500 at the beginning of the week, but do not be surprised if this race is dominated by Emory's Liz Horvat. The sophomore standout has already broken national records this week in the 500 free and 400 IM, as well as being the anchor of Emory's record-breaking 800 free relay. The women's 1650 record may also be in jeopardy. The men's race has freshmen Ryan Lichtenfels of Amherst as the top seed. He will be challenged by Nathan Smith of Kenyon and Bruce Milburn of Emory. Defending champ Kegan Borland of Kenyon will also be part of the field tonight.

In the team race, both the Kenyon men and women have distanced themselves from the other teams and have set themselves up this morning to take home the titles tonight. For the women, Denison leads Emory by half a point for second. Emory had a phenomenal morning of swimming and has three more swims than Denison tonight, one in the championship heat, and two in the consolation heat. Denison will need to have exceptional swims tonight if they hope to hold off Emory. For the men, Emory sits in a solid second while Denison looks strong to hold their third place standing over St. Olaf who will not have a relay tonight. 

Swim Count:
Women: Kenyon: 7 up, 3 down. Denison: 5 up, 0 down. Emory: 6 up, 2 down. Wlliams: 2 up, 3 down.

Men: Kenyon: 6 up, 1 down. Emory: 2 up, 2 down. Denison: 3 up, 3 down. St. Olaf: 2 up, 1 down.