Some UAA prelim observations
We are rushing, sorry for the typos.
A few thoughts on prelims (with the expectation that tonight will be long and posting will have to wait until early Sunday morning).
But first - NCACs is still basically tied.
Men
100 IM: Really leans towards Kenyon. Denison’s Patrick Daly was great, but he’s out there alone, while Kenyon sends three swimmers into the A Final, including event leader Marko Krtinic.
200 Back: Even. Yurii Kosian and Ethan Manske vs. Connor Brown and Nick Settembrine. Order of finish can move things a little, but not as much as a flinch on the blocks or an illegal turn.
100 Free: Leaning Kenyon as expected. Kenyon sends three swimmers from one city (Belgrade) to the A Final - Aleksa Kisic, Djordje Dragojlovich, and prelim winner Aleksa Dobric. Daniel Brooks rounds out the quartet for Kenyon. Denison sends only Ryan Foreback to the A Final. Christian Narcelles and Richie Stewart will try to chip in some points for Big Red from the B Final, but even that will be partially thwarted by Kenyon’s Pedro Mello Araujo.
200 Breast: Before prelims, this event looked really bad for Kenyon, but it turned out more even than expected. For Denison, Gavin Jones and Elijah Venos went 1-2 in prelims, with Christian McIntire and Liam Nelson also making the A Final. But Kenyon has Noal Tumbasz, Vaughn Hajra, and Sam Brown there for damage control. Denison could use a really big event right now, and this doesn’t look like it.
200 Fly: Another event that leans Denison, 3-2. Marko Krtinic and Noah Hargrove swim for Kenyon versus Max Soja, Dylan Escano, and Luke Landis.
If you are thinking there will be something decisive in the mile, take a look at the psych sheet:
It is really late in the meet and we have no idea who is going to win this thing.
Women
In the A Finals -
100 IM: 3 Kenyon (Jennah Fadely, Sydney Buchman, Kate Bogan) vs. 3 Denison (Phoebe Ferguson, Esme Wright, Riley Tofflemire)
200 Back: 3 Kenyon (Caleigh Wukitch, Jordan Herrera, and AC Fleenor) vs. 2 Denison (Jasmine Park and Claire Moody)
100 Free: 3 Kenyon (Sydney Geboy, Gwen Eisenbeis, Lisa Torrecillas-Joualt) to 4 Denison (Grace Kadlecik, Annie Pfeufer, Maja Palmroos, Natalie English)
200 Breast: 3 Kenyon (Gabby Wei, Sydney McCallie, Sydney Buchman) vs. 2 Denison (Drue Thielking, Riley Tofflemire)
200 Fly: 3 Kenyon (Sophie Scmitz, Jordan Herrera, Celia Ford) vs. 4 Denison (Emily Harris, Emma Pritchett, Maria Mrosko, Amber Croonquist)
That’s 15 A Finalist for Kenyon and 15 A Finalists for Denison.
So, is this going to come down to the mile? Here’s how that looks:
Yup, that’s 3 and 3.
Seriously, is this going to be won or lost in Women’s 3 Meter diving?
UAA
200 Back
Women
We think this is your A Final. The HyTek site is not updating, so flying a little blind here. But let’s speculate anyway…
Isabel Huang continues to lay down very convincing swims. We should bring back Eagle of the Week just for Isabel Huang. She is joined in the A Final by three more teammates - Jane Sanderson, Megan Jungers, and Penny Celtnieks. All of them pros and very likely to hold their spots and deliver big points for the Eagles. So - as we like to say - barring DQs, Emory already won this event. Calista Lynch is one more NYU standout, and she is joined by the undisputed surprise in this group, Ella Romberg, who was seeded, what…21st maybe?
Men
Kyle Wolford of WashU just flew through the 200 Back, and came within a few tenths of surpassing Derek Maas’ prelim time. His teammate, Alex McCormick, also made it into the A Final, along with rookie of the year candidate Braydon Morford. Oh and Emory got four guys into the A Final - Graham Zucker, Alex Pollack, Adam Braunschweig, and Will Kohn - so they already won the event.
100 Free
Women
Kaley McIntyre casually laid down the fastest 100 Free of the season in Division III. In prelims. 49.77. Also that’s about 0.05 away from breaking Caroline Maki’s UAA Conference Record.
Chicago looks really good in this event. Karen Zhao, Emily Xu and Annabel Olivo all A Finaled, giving Chicago the plurality. And in the B Final Sophia Zhao and Catherine Candy are poised to throw a few more points on the pile. Case Western’s Claire Kozma and Gaby Chambers are set to score big for the Spartans. And the intrepid Penelope Helm will be Emory’s lone representative in the championship final.
Men
Before today, Nick Goudie was ranked 129th in Division III in 100 Free. This morning he went 44.69, which should be fast enough to score points at Nationals.
NYU’s Ajay Watanakun is in second and is joined by two NYU First-Years, Pierce Downs and Greg Wehbe.
200 Breast
Women
Fiona Arwood, Katie Cohen and Ali Kaiser are well positioned to extend Emory’s lead, as no other team has more than two swimmers. NYU Senior Jolie Le Fauve appears to have dropped 3.85 seconds off her seed - that must have felt nice - and will be swimming for A Final points this evening.
Men
Jake Meyer appears to know how to pace himself for prelims. He added more than 4 seconds to his seed and still took first place. The Emory breaststroke troika is all here - Liyang Sun and Henri Bonnault both A Finaled. No other team has more than two competitors.
This isn’t looking like a great day to make-up ground on Emory’s Men.
200 Fly
Women
This is interesting. NYU’s Caitlin Marshall dropped 1.34 seconds and grabbed the top spot. She is joined in the A Final by Nicole Ranile, Reina Gomez and Grace Baik. No other team has more than one swimmer in the A Final. And Emery Muller will be contributing points from the B Final. This is looking like a big moment for NYU.
Men
Cooper Costello is incredibly impressive as a First-Year. He was off his best time and still took the top spot in this event. But this meet is a horse-race. Emory has three athletes in the A Final - McKee Thorsen, Crow Thorsen and Jeff Echols. No other team has more than one. Please refer to the note above about this not being a great day to make-up ground on the Emory Men.
Congratulations to CWRU Sophomore John Drumm. He’s having a great season, and he grabbed the last spot in the A Final.
1650 Free
Men and Women
We’d love to talk about it but we have only spotty updates. We did notice that CWRU’s Griffin Gushman, co-host of the Anchor Leg Podcast, dropped 15.65 off his seed time, which he should be pretty happy about.