TLDR:
D3SO collaboration with The Anchor Leg Podcast
The swimmers in the top 10 of Women’s individual events still active in D3.
A historical note on the current coach of Trinity (TX).
What happens when the Denison Women swim long-course.
Another first for Salisbury.
D3SO Collaboration with The Anchor Leg Podcast
We're excited to unveil a new collaboration between D3SO and The Anchor Leg Podcast. With current Division III swimmers at the helm, The Anchor Leg Podcast offers an unparalleled insider view, featuring interviews with the top talents in Division III swimming. Don't forget to follow and rate their podcasts on Apple Podcasts, and look for their episodes on D3SO’s dedicated Anchor Leg Podcast page.
Ladies First
Currently, in Division III there are no active swimmers who hold a division record in an individual women’s event contested at Nationals. However, as we will see soon, there are a couple of record holders in other women’s events. And there are plenty of active Division III swimmers who are in the top 10 all-time in one or more women's events.
The ones you expect
Jennah Fadely, Kenyon
Second all-time in 200 Breast SCY
Second all-time in 100 IM SCY1
Third all-time in 100 Breast SCY
Kristin Cornish, JHU
First all-time in 1000 Free SCY2
Third all-time in 1650 Free.
Eighth all-time in 500 Free.
Kaley McIntyre, NYU
Fourth all-time in 100 Free SCY
Fourth all-time in 200 Free SCY
Eight all-time in 50 Free SCY
Sophia Verkleeren, Williams
Fifth all-time in 200 IM SCY
Seventh all-time in 200 Back SCY3
Ninth all-time in 400 IM SCY
Megan Jungers, Emory
Seventh all-time in 200 Back SCY
Eight all-time in 100 Back SCY
And lots of familiar names on this list as well
(We aren’t listing anyone’s swim twice, so - for example - no mention here of 100 Free SCY since we already covered that when we talked about Kaley McIntyre. If you don’t see an event listed for a swimmer, it’s because a) we covered it above, or there is no one currently competing in D3 who is in the top 10 for that event.)
100 Breast SCY
Edenna Chen, MIT, second
Kinsey Brooks (Mary Washington) and Amanda Wager (Williams) just missed, ranking 11th and 12th in this event.
100 Fly SCY
Alex Turvey, Pomona-Pitzer, ninth
Samantha Kilcoyne, Williams, tenth
100 IM SCY
Phoebe Ferguson, Denison, sixth
Kinsey Brooks, Mary Washington, seventh
Esme Wright, Denison, eighth4
1000 Free SCY
Madeline Dunn, Tufts, second
Lillie Bushway, Williams, seventh
Lily Codd, Williams, eighth5
1650 Free SCY
Taryn Wisner, Denison, seventh
Bengisu Caymaz, Kenyon, tenth
200 Back SCY
Kate Augustyn, MIT, tenth
Coming tantalizingly close to the top 10 is one of the Hope College standouts, Sara Kraus, who holds the eleventh place spot, just ahead of the talented Sophie Cassily of Bates.
200 Breast SCY
Amanda Wager, Williams, third
Gabby Wei, Kenyon, seventh
200 Fly SCY
Caitlin Marshall, NYU, third
Alesha Kelly, Chicago, seventh
Nicole Ranile, NYU, ninth
200 IM SCY
Greta Gidley, Hope, tenth
400 IM SCY
The only current swimmer in the top 10 is Ms. Verkleeren (ninth place), mentioned previously. But Trinity’s standout Neely Burns narrowly misses the top 10, holding the eleventh spot, with Ms. Augustyn close behind in twelfth.
Ms. Burns’ coach at Trinity, Cathleen Pruden, holds the 24th position in the 400 IM. She set that time while swimming for Mount Holyoke College, where she won the event at the 2016 NEWMAC Championships.
Coach Pruden’s 2015-2016 season appears to be the most successful ever by a Mount Holyoke College swimmer. The only other season coming close was Coach Pruden’s own 2014-2015 campaign. After that, the next best season by a Mount Holyoke swimmer would have been Coach Pruden’s 2013-2014 season.
Branching out
In less common events, a strong team can surge to dominate the all-time lists in just one meet. For instance, at the Denison Invitational, the Denison women's team competed in Long Course Meters events to qualify for Olympic Trials. Here's what happened:
Denison standouts Grace Kadlecik (7th) and Maja Palmroos (10th) now rank in the top ten all-time in Division III for the 50 Free LCM, with teammate Amber Croonquist close behind in 11th.
Denison's Annie Pfeufer catapulted to 5th all-time in the 100 Free LCM.
Riley Tofflemire is now 2nd in Division III history for the Women's 100 Breast LCM, trailing only Denison legend KT Kustritz.
Drue Thielking grabbed 3rd place in the 200 Breast LCM rankings.
Emily Harris snagged 3rd place all-time in the 100 Fly LCM.
100 IM SCM
Admittedly an unconventional event, the 100 IM SCM is swum fairly regularly in meets in the mid-Atlantic region, where short course meters pools are more common.6
We highlight it because out of the thousands of times the Women's 100 IM SCM has been contested in NCAA competition, no one has ever swum it faster than current Salisbury first-year Emma Schlutt.
And the seventh fastest time ever in this event also came from Ms. Schlutt's teammate Bryn Krasauskis. They both posted these extraordinary times in the same meet against TCNJ.7
Photo credit: @ellaewingphotos
Yes, we are counting that one. Oh, you have no idea, what until you get a little further down the page. You’re not going to believe some of these events.
Don’t even start with the splits- thing. We are treating each event as its own event.
Tied with Megan Jungers with 1:57.66.
Sometimes, just by looking at the list, you get little clues about these less common (non-Nationals) events. Those two Denison swimmers are both fantastic in this event and others, but it is also noticeable that three of the four swimmers in the top ten (including Ms. Fadely) are in NCAC. If you surmised that 100 IM SCY is swum at the NCAC championship then, well, that’s the kind of readers we have. Bunch of sharp cookies.
Again, aside from Ms. Cornish, all NESCAC swimmers. Draw your own conclusions.
Though still uncommon.
Oct 07, 2023