Friday, by the numbers
Some overdue appreciation of the Chicago men's team. And we will look through the results of prelims and see if we should run another sim before tonight.
59.62
Thatโs the NCAA Division III record in womenโs 100 Breast. It is held by Kenyon senior and greatest sprint breaststroker in the history of Division III, Jennah Fadely.
Here is what our psych sheet says. KT Kustritz was awesome, no doubt. But the Division III record in womenโs 100 Breast was set this season, in a meet at Princeton, by the above mentioned Ms. Fadely.
1:39.51
Remember when we mentioned that MITโs relays pose a problem for everyone else? That includes swimmers who've retired. Yesterday, MIT's dream teamโKate Augustyn, Sarah Bernard, Annika Naveen, and Ella Robersonโset a new Division III record in the womenโs 200 Medley Relay with a time of 1:39.51, breaking the previous mark established by Emory in 2023 (1:39.55). Eagle legends all: Megan Jungers, Anna Glowniak, Taylor Leone, and Caroline Maki. Anyway, MIT continues to add to its collection of achievements at this meet.
6:26.98 x 2
Chicagoโs relay team in the menโs 800 FreeโAlexander Schwartz, Cooper Costello, Sebi Vernhes, and John Butlerโtied the Division III record previously set in 2023 by Emoryโs Nick Goudie, Crow Thorsen, Jason Hamilton, and Pat Pema. Interesting day for Emoryโs 2023 relay records. (Emory's 2023 record in men's 200 Medley RelayโRyan Soh, Jake Meyer, Jeff Echols, Colin Lafaveโsurvived the day).
Keep in mind that Chicago also won the menโs 200 Free Relay earlier in this meet (Jonathan Tang, Rylan Kruep, Igor Benderskii, and Sebi Vernhes). And Cooper Costello just broke the menโs 100 Fly record (and finished second in 200 Fly). And Chicago placed two athletes in the championship final of menโs 200 Free (Butler and Vernhes). And at the end of three days of competition, they are in third place.
At the beginning of the season, given the departure of Garrett Clasen and Jesse Ssengonziโthe two greatest swimmers in the history of that programโwe expressed some skepticism that Chicago could remain highly competitive in menโs events this season. John Butler, a Chicago first-year, texted us immediately to suggest we were wrong. Looks like we were.
53.41 x 3
At last seasonโs Nationals, Kate Augustyn set the new Division III record in the womenโs 100 Backโsort ofโgoing 53.41 in the opening leg of the 400 Medley Relay. Donโt get us wrong, she did break the record, but itโs a little anticlimactic (if that is the right word), breaking an individual event record with the opening leg of the relay. It counts, but itโs not the same. No matter, she came back the next day and won the womenโs 100 Back with a record timeโsort of, because she sort of already had the recordโanyway, a record time ofโฆ53.41.
Hey guess what? Division III womenโs 100 Back record-holder Kate Augustyn is again national champion in womenโs 100 Back having won the event yesterday with a time ofโฆ53.41. Seriously, Kate, what are the odds?
21.86, 22.00, 22.00
In the championship final, those were the fastest backstroke splits in the menโs 200 Medley relayโin order, Kyle Wolford (a grad student at WashU), Eric Lundgren (a senior from Tufts), and NYU first-year Teddy McQuaid. Torch passed.
[Yes, we know Djordje Dragojlovic is a junior and went 21.88 in the consolation final, but that screws up our narrative so we are ignoring that for the moment.]
1:42.64
Thatโs the new Division III record in menโs 200 Fly, set by the guy who established a new record (1:43.21) in this event last yearโJustin Finkel. Same guy who won menโs 500 Free on day one.
96
The number of points Centre College1 scored in menโs 1 meter and 3 meter diving, Wednesday and yesterday. All their points are from diving. At the end of the day yesterday, they were two points away from cracking the top ten.
51
The number of points scored by the four NYU swimmers in the womenโs 200 Fly finals. By now, these names are familiarโNicole Ranile, Caitlin Marshall, Reina Gomez, and Bethany Spangler. Depending on what happens later, that might turn out to have been a big moment.
Centre College is a private liberal arts institution located in Danville, Kentucky, with approximately 1,350 undergraduate students.
With those last 2 Emory womenโs records falling, it really feels like the end of an era. Iโm very happy for NYU and MIT though and am excited to see one of them raise the championship trophy tonight.