By Garth IorgAfter a morning that held great promise, the first night of the NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships proved, well, almost pedestrian. As expected the Emory women rolled out to a substantial and perhaps insurmountable lead. For the men, Kenyon established a slim lead in their effort to recapture a NCAA title. The Lords capitalized on sixty-one points in the 50 Freestyle to lead Denison 129-118 after the first night.
Denison’s Al Weik was the only record-breaker on the evening. Weik broke Alex Fraser’s NCAA Division III record in the 500 Free. The Sophomore put three seconds on the field by the 200 and spent much of the rest of the race swimming in the opposite direction as the rest of the field. His 4:21.79 was not only a meet record, but over a half-pool length over the rest of the field. In doing so he denied last year’s champion James Lichtenfels a repeat title.
Williams was denied a second repeat championship in the 200 IM. Redlands’ Freshman Jeffrey Depew jumped out to an early lead on defending champion Paul Dyrkacz. Depew was out a bit slower than his preliminary swim and that enabled the Freshman to take the win in 1:47.60 – just 0.63 off of Gary Simon’s record from 1998.
The Ephs added a pair of wins on the women’s side however. Caroline Wilson claimed her sixth NCAA individual title and second 500 free title when she teamed Sarah Thompson for a 1-2 finish in the night’s first event for the women (and second overall).
Williams added a win in the 200 IM when Logan Todhunter made a run at, but finished short of Kaitlyn Orstein’s record. Todhunter was visibly disappointed by the finish but she was well ahead of runner-up Sadie Nenning of Emory.
"Logan's [Todhunter] swim was great tonight,” said Williams head coach Steve Kuster. “First she had a best time in the morning by over three seconds and then she knocked off another second at night to break her own school record. Her second 100 at night was really strong. This may have been her most impressive night swim at the NCAAs.”
That’s saying quite a bit considering it was the third straight 200 IM title for the senior and marked the ninth straight NCAA individual title that Todhunter has won. With two events remaining Todhunter has the opportunity to accumulate eleven individual titles.
After a morning when he scorched the NCAA record in the 50 Freestyle with a blistering 19.38, Kenyon senior Zachary Turk sprinted to his third title in the 50-yard freestyle with a relatively pedestrian 19.52. Turk was followed by classmate David Somers who was trying to defend his title in the event, but settled for the runner-up spot with a time of 19.79. The pair, along with Ian Richardson (4th place) gave the Lords the lead, a lead that could have been strengthened had Curtis Ramsey managed to beat UW-SP’s Joey Clapp in a swim-off. He didn’t however, so Ramsey’s 20.28 was relegated to ninth place and nine points.
After several near-misses, the planets were aligning for Claire Pavlak to capture the women’s 50 Freestyle. The Emory Senior has been one of the most consistent performers over the years and posted the morning’s top time with a 22.86. That time stood as the fastest of the meet, however it wasn’t enough to overcome Springield’s Kellie Pennington. Pennington edged Christie Raleigh for the title relegating Pavlik to third for the second-straight year.
In an eerie repeat of last year, Denison picked up thirty points in the diving before the teams headed into the final relay. The only thing matching the Big Red’s diving depth was their depth in backstroke. As it happed three backstrokers swam the medley relay for Denison. Heading into the final leg Denison was just 0.02 seconds behind Kenyon and just 0.05 ahead of Emory. Unfortunately, placing a backstroker up against Zach Turk at the end of a 200 Medley Relay proved as effective as Sean Connery’s proverbial knife in a gun fight. Turk outsplit the entire field by more than a full second and finished off what Jimmy Chapman, Lars Matkin and David Somers couldn’t.
If the defeat left Pavlik down it didn’t last long as the Senior anchored a come-from-behind victory for Emory in the 200 Medley Relay. From the start it was Kenyon College taking an early and commanding lead. With field-leading splits in the backstroke and breaststroke, the Ladies gave Kenyon alums something they hadn’t enjoyed in recent years – a leading women’s relay. Williams’ Logan Todhunter, looking more like a Bountyhunter hit the water to Bring the Ephs back from the brink. Ultimately it was Pavlak who ruled the night. Hitting the water in third, the Senior anchored Emory with a 22.33 split to pass both teams in Purple and give Emory a victory to cap the night.
Women Top Ten Emory 180 Williams 100 Denison 82 Kenyon 75 Stevens 51 C-M-S 41 MIT 33 Johns Hopkins 28 TCNJ 25 Springfield 20 Men's Top Ten Kenyon 129 Denison 118 Emory 78 Amherst 65 Redlands 63 MIT 60 Johns Hopkins 45 Williams 42 UW-Stevens Point 41 TCNJ 26