NCAA Division III Championships, Day 2 Finals: Cooper Costello, Kaley McIntyre Add Second Wins as Three Records Fall
Thursday evening’s finals at the NCAA Division III Championships saw the top teams remain consistent as the Denison men and NYU women continue to pour it on. Denison’s strong night included a win and national record by Jack Hill in the 200 freestyle plus a runnerup finish in the 200 free relay while NYU star Kaley McIntyre won her second gold of the meet in the 200 free before leading her team to a national-record-setting performance in the 200 free relay.
The individual star of the night was Chicago’s Cooper Costello, the winner of the 100 fly as well as the leadoff swimmer on his team’s first-place performance in the 200 free relay. Thanks to those results, Chicago sits second on the men’s side halfway through the meet.
Men’s 200 Freestyle
Denison’s Jack Hill put on a show in the first final of the night as he walloped an NCAA Division III record by more than a second. Hill edged out Chicago’s John Butler in the early stages of the 200 free before pouring it on down the stretch. Coming home with a 24.18 closing split, Hill touched in 1:33.94, much quicker than the previous record of 1:34.74 set by James McChesney three years ago.
Butler placed second in 1:35.01, not far off the previous record, while Calvin’s Charles Platt finished well to take third in 1:36.00. But the team competition gave a huge edge to Denison, which also had 500 free winner George Goins, Nick Hensel and Harry Parsons racing in the championship heat
Women’s 200 Freestyle
For the second consecutive day, Kaley McIntyre has completed a four-peat. She dominated the 50 free Wednesday and did the same over 200 yards Thursday, winning the event by more than two seconds. McIntyre swam a time of 1:45.90, well short of the national record of 1:44.74 she set last month as well as her 2025 winning time of 1:44.88 but no matter with top honors secured.
NYU wracked up big points here as Llew Ladomirak placed second in 1:47.92 while Emery Muller grabbed fourth in 1:49.63, holding on to the position by two tenths despite fading down the stretch. Splitting the NYU swimmers was Kenyon’s Molly Haag, Wednesday’s winner of he 500 free, in 1:48.94.
Men’s 100 Butterfly
Cooper Costello is the first men’s double winner of the meet. Already the champion of the 200 IM from Wednesday’s racing, the Chicago junior came through to win the 100 fly by more than a second. He previously set a national record of 45.97 on his way to first place last season, and he broke the record again this year with a time of 45.85.
Carnegie Melon’s Brayden Morford placed second in 46.85, and Swarthmore’s Cami Wilson claimed third at 47.39, holding off surging Coast Guard swimmer Noah Reice (47.40) by one hundredth.
Women’s 100 Butterfly
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps got into the winners’ bracket for the first time this meet as Madeleine Kan pulled away on the back half for first place in the 100 fly. The margin over Saint Benedict’s Haley Zelen was less than a tenth at the 50-yard mark, but Kan covered her final two lengths in 28.81 to pull through.
Kan touched in 53.57, with Zelen second in 53.88 and Carnegie Melon’s Audrey Gil third in 54.39. Gil had just enough left to hold off fast-finishing Maggie Farley of Williams (54.42).
Men’s 400 IM
NYU picked up its first men’s win of the meet to follow up the heroics from Kaley McIntyre. Indeed, the Bobcats went 1-2 here as Maksym Nechydyuk and Conner Dean were the dominant performers from start to finish.
Dean led for almost the entire race, but Nechydyuk finished in 25.28 over the final two lengths of freestyle to get by his teammate by less than two tenths, 3:47.86 to 3:48.03. Wash U’s Marco Minai came through on freestyle to take third in 3:50.81, beating out Kenyon’s Ethan Manske (3:51.23) and Amherst’s Owen Vale (3:51.86).
Women’s 400 IM
The final of the women’s 400 IM came down to the wire after Denison’s Emily Jones led for the majority of the race, only for Kenyon’s Ashlyn Widmer and Swarthmore’s Quinn Weygandt to come from well behind and make it nearly a blanket finish. Jones, who swam a time of 4:20.16 in the morning, led by almost a second entering the final 50 before Widmer closed in 29.80.
Widmer got to the wall one hundredth ahead to claim the win, 4:20.61 to 4:20.62. Weygandt ended up third in 4:20.86 thanks to an even quicker 28.84 on the way home. Neely Burns of Trinity, in top-three late thanks to the best breaststroke leg in the field, came home fourth in 4:21.72.
Women’s 3-Meter Diving
Carleton’s Nina Schwab dominated 1-meter diving, winning by 20 points over the field with a score of 465.65. Baldwin Wallace’s Makenna Mincey placed second (445.30) with Meera Kasturi third (436.25).
Men’s 200 Free Relay
Chicago closed out the men’s racing with a victory in an incredibly tight sprint relay. Denison, with three swimmers returning from the 200 free final earlier in the session, had command throughout the race before John Butler produced the fastest split of the race to give the win to Chicago. Butler, fresh off his second-place finish in the 200 free earlier, went 19.19 coming home to put his team into the wall in 1:18.57, six hundredths clear of Denison.
Cooper Costello, the only man with two individual wins so far in Indianapolis, led off this team before Rylan Kruep and Igor Benderskii handled the middle legs. Denison’s runnerup relay, which included Jack Hill, Nick Hensel, Cam Blevins-Mohr and Harry Parsons, put up a time of 1:18.63, while NYU placed third in 1:18.67. Pierce Downs, Teddy Cross and Stone Miller handled the first three legs for NYU before Greg Wehbe blasted the field’s second-fastest split of 19.16 coming home.
Kenyon, led off by 50 free individual winner Djordje Dragojlovic in 19.48, was in contention most of the way before falling to fourth at 1:18.88,just ahead of Bates (1:18.94). Max Cory anchored for Bates in 19.15, quicker than anyone else all night.
Women’s 200 Free Relay
Another win for Kaley McIntyre in her finale as NYU captured first place in the 200 free relay by more than two seconds, blasting the national record in the process. Already in the lead upon entering the water, McIntyre split 21.81 to bring her team to the wall in 1:29.38, crushing MIT’s previous national mark of 1:30.00 set last year. Lian Jeong Engle, Maeve O’Donnell and Llew Ladomirak were the first three swimmers for NYU.
Second place here went to the Hope College team of Greta Gidley, Claudia Busse, Laurel Wasiniak and Bella Turner in 1:31.44. Kenyon’s Gwen Eisenbeis, Julia Mascarenhas, Kate Bogan and Lisa Torrecillas-Jouault finished third in a time of 1:31.68.
