NCAA Division III Championships, Day 1 Prelims: Veterans In Search of Crowns
Greta Gidley has been a fixture in finals at the NCAA Division III Championships in her four years at Hope College. Ditto Denison’s Emily Harris. NYU’s Kaley McIntyre and her eight individual national titles need no introduction in that department.
The slate of veteran female swimmers lined up to vie for championships on the first day of the NCAA Division III championships is long and impressive. They’ve put themselves in strong positions off the first morning session at the IU Natatorium. All the action:
Men’s 500 freestyle
George Goins of Denison set the fastest time in the morning with a 4:22.17. That’s quicker than the time that Justin Finkel used last year to win his second straight title (4:22.43).
The prelims were full of surprises, like Kenyon’s Teodor Jaworski bounding from the 27th seed up to second in 4:25.57, dropping 5.4 seconds off his seed time after placing 24th in this event last year. Or last year’s runner-up Ryan Nunez, the second seed out of Williams, plummeting to 12th place in 4:27.21.
Parker Chan of Washington University was third in 4:25.73, .17 up on Trinity’s Luke Fender. Grant Hu of MIT and Alex Schwartz of Chicago are in the A final for the second straight year.
Women’s 500 freestyle
Denison senior Emily Harris has six career NCAA A finals but remains in search of her first individual national title. This may be her chance, leading the way in 4:49.19 in prelims. The top seed entering edged Kenyon’s Molly Haag by nearly 2.5 seconds. Harris was fifth in this event as a freshman in 2023, but opted for the 200 IM, 400 IM and 200 fly last year.
Kenyon has two A finalists, Haag followed by Nora Lee Brown in fourth. Denison’s Harris is joined by Quinn Brown in fifth. NYU has three in the A final. Freshman Llew Ladomirak is third in 4:52.21, up from eighth. Anaya Wala is ninth, and Emery Muller made a huge jump from 15th seed to eighth. NYU also has Bethan Spangler in 10th.
Men’s 200 individual medley
It’s going to be a star-studded 200 IM final, even if the leader out of the prelims is maybe a little unexpected.
Washington University’s Marco Minai led the way in 1:46.33 in prelims. He entered as the fifth seed and was 11th last year. Second is the reigning champion, Carnegie Mellon’s Brayden Morford. He went 1:46.47 in the morning. It took 1:45.50 for him to win it last year.
Third is Jack Hill of Denison in 1:46.55. Fourth is the top seed entering the meet, Cooper Costello of Chicago, in 146.78. NYU freshman Connor Dean jammed another swimmer into the 1:46s in fifth.
Denison has two A finalists, with Devin Testin sixth, plus two in the B final. Emory has two, with Carson Kalish seventh and McKee Thorsen eighth. NYU’s Maksym Nechydyuk took the biggest fall, the sixth seed tying for 15th in the morning. He was sixth last year.
Women’s 200 individual medley
Is it Greta Gidley’s time? The Hope College fifth-year was second in this event twice and fourth last year, but the three women who finished ahead of her have all graduated. She entered as the top seed and defended that in 2:01.07 in the morning.
Williams freshman Sophia Phelps was second in 2:01.39, with Kelsey Van Eldik of Kenyon third in 2:01.42. With a gap of seven tenths back to fourth-place Samantha Thiele of Emory, then another nine tenths back to fifth, that seems to be the championship contender separation.
Emory has two in the A final, Allison Greenway seventh. It could’ve been better if Caitlin Crysel bridged .03 seconds into eighth, though at ninth, she’s still way up from her seeding of 36th. Kenyon got a big jump from Ashlyn Widmer from 28th seed to 11th.
Denison won’t score in the event. Drue Thielking went from 15th seed to 17th. Phoebe Ferguson, the 11th seed, was disqualified.
Men’s 50 freestyle
Djordje Dragoljovic is looking to add to his nine national titles. He was the top seed in prelims at 19.59 seconds. Chicago’s John Butler was second in 19.64. Max Cory, the top seed out of Bates, was safely third. It took 20.03 to make the final and 20.15 to make it back.
The top four seeds made the A final, with Jacob Dzurica of Saint Vincent fourth. UC Santa Cruz’s Kyle Reitan dropped two tenths to go from the 19th seed to sixth. MJ Hoban of TCNJ and Hayden Tupper of Emory round out the top eight. Tupper dropped .45 seconds from 45th to eighth in a bi score for Emory.
NYU’s Teddy Cross was ninth, with Hamilton’s Nathaniel Taft 10th. Among the big droppers was Matthew Mitros of Ithaca, seeded ninth but finishing 33rd, the only sub-20 seed not to earn a second swim.
Beyond the A final, the 50 was a bucket of fun. There were ties for 13th, 16th, 22nd, 25th, 27th, 33rd and a three-way for 35th. The 16th-place draw featured two title contenders. Kenyon’s Spencer Stluka beat Denison’s Cam Blevins-Mohr in the battle for 16th, both tying at 20.15.
That leaves Kenyon with one A and one B finalist, and Denison and Emory with one A finalist each.
Women’s 50 freestyle
In a rare occurrence, Kaley McIntyre swam an NCAA Division III Championships event in which she didn’t finish first. The three-time reigning champ from NYU probably kept plenty in the tank in finishing second in 22.59, .06 behind Genine Collins of Swarthmore. McIntyre holds the NCAA record at 22.15 and has been 22.29 this season.
Emory’s Ava Kennedy and Middlebury’s Anna McGrew tied for third. Kennedy was second last year, Collins third.
Keyon has an A finalist in Lisa Torrecillas-Jouault. NYU pushed Maeve O’Donnell up from ninth into fifth to join McIntyre, while Lian Jeong Engle leapt from 18th to a tie for ninth. Denison has just Olivia Morse in 16th.
Eighth seed Alexandra Sotek of SUNY Geneseo slipped to 19th.
Men’s 400 medley relay
Bates has its eyes on the national record. After finishing third last year and going 3:09.84 in-season, Bates went 3:09.93 to set the top time in the morning. That’s within .15 of the 2025 record of Kenyon. With Max Cory’s 43.02 on the end, there’s probably record potential in his leg alone.
Chicago was second in 311.67. Emory was third, TCNJ fourth and NYU fifth before a tie between Denison and Kenyon for sixth. The only top-eight seed not to make the final was Carnegie Mellon, the reigning champion slipping from fifth to 12th. UC Santa Cruz, seeded 14th, was disqualified.
Women’s 400 medley relay
Kenyon, the top seed entering the meet, ed the way in 3:40.09, chipping .83 seconds off their in-season time. Emory was second with NYU third, with Kaley McIntyre on the end. Denison, the second seed entering, was fourth. NYU was second last year, with Kenyon third, Chicago fourth and Denison fifth.
Claremont Mudd Scripps was fifth, followed by Williams, which slipped from third to sixth. Swarthmore leapt from 12th to the A final in seventh.
Reigning champ MIT was seeded ninth and finished 15th. Two DQs came of the morning, including 16th-seeded Amherst.
