Emory Claims D3 Swimming Championship, Williams' Todhunter Named Swimmer of the Meet

The final night of Women's NCAA Division III Swimming Championships at the Aquatic Center at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis began just as fans were becoming accustomed, with an NCAA record from a Williams swimmer. For the second time this meet it was freshman Caroline Wilson, this time finishing nearly 27 seconds ahead of the previous record holder Liz Horvat of Emory with a time of 16:25.21. That time smashed Horvat's record of last year by nearly 5 seconds. Jessie Lodewyk of Washington University finished third, just behind Horvat with a time of 16:52.88. Wilson added to the legacy of her alma mater, Choate Rosemary Hall school, which has produced such other noteable graduates as John F Kennedy, Adlai Stevenson, Glenn Close and playwright Edward Albee among others.

Despite beign bested by Wilson, Horvat's 17 points helped build on Emory's lead in the overall championship. The Eagles came in to the final night of competition leading second place Denison by just 25.5 points for the national crown. The Eagles needed a big night from all their swimmers to insure their first NCAA Division III Swimming championship since 2006 and they got it. Three other Emory swimmers scored points in the 1650, boosting their overall lead to 44.5 points by the end of the night's first event. They never looked back.

The second event of the night featured another duel between the Amanda Croix of Carthage and Kendra Stern of Amherst. They didn't disappoint, with both swimmers beating the previous NCAA record in the event. Stern just out touched Croix to become the first D3 swimmer to finish the 100 free in under 49 seconds. Her final time was 48.98. Croix, the 50 yard freestyle champion, finished with a time of 49.35, 2/100th's faster than last year's record set by Stern. Ruth Westby of Emory was third, finishing just behind Croix for the third time this meet. She was second in the 50 freestyle, and third in the 200 freestyle,

Dennison added 20 points to their team total in the 100 freestyle with 8th and 9th place finishes, but it was no help in the standings as Emory had 4 finishers in the top 12 and expanded their lead to 58.5 points.
The 200 backstroke was next and was dominated by Emory and Denison swimmers, Emory's Anne Culpepper finished first with a time of 1.59.74, followed by Denison swimmers Emily Schroeder and Olivia Zaleski. Emory sophomore Whitley Taylor finished fourth. What made Culpepper's win even more impressive was the fact that she did it after having just moved up 9 places from her seed time to finish 6th in the 1650 earlier in the evening . She then proceeded to best her prelim time in the 200 backstroke and take home the championship. . Zaleski had come into the event seeded 22nd,

The 200 breaststroke gave Annie Perizzolo of Claremont Mudd Scripps her second championship of the meet, adding to her 100 breaststroke win from the night before. She was followed by Emory swimmers Katie Mroz, and April Whitley, who was 2nd in the 100 breast. Alisa Vereshchagin of Kenyon finished fourth.
Trinity dominated the 3 meter diving, with Junior Hayley Emerick winning the event, followed by sophomore Lindsay Martin. Meagan Collins of Middlebury finished third.

The 4-day meet culminated with the 400 freestyle relay with the team championship already decided. Emory swimmers Ruth Westby, Lillian Ciardelli, Ann Wobler, and Claire Pavlak put an exclamation point on their team's performance, taking the relay easily, besting Denison's Zaleski, Marirt Wangstad, Hilary Callen and Alyssa Swanson by almost 2 seconds, Emory and Denison were the only teams to win any of the 5 relay events held throughout the meet. Kenyon finished 3rd, and Williams finished 4th.

Sophomore Logan Todhunter of Williams was named swimmer of the meet for her 3 championships and 2 NCAA records, The award could have easily gone to Wilson as well, who matched Todhunter with 3 championships and 2 NCAA records. Williams coach Steve Kuster was named coach of the meet.

Emory's win ended Kenyon's three year run of championships on the women's side. Emory, Williams and Kenyon are the only three colleges ever to win the NCAA Division III championships in the 28 year history of the event. Top ten finishers this year: 1. Emory University 568.5, 2. Denison University 452, 3. Williams College 367, 4. Kenyon College 318, 5. Claremont M-S 177, 6. Amherst College 169, 7. UW La Crosse 130, 8. Gustavus Adolphus 114, 9. College of New Jersey 108, 10. Carthage College 101.

Sources: http://ncaaresults.com/; http://www.ncaa.com/history/w-swimming-d3.html