Division III Preview: The Kenyon vs. Denison Dual, Washington and Lee Travels to Carnegie Mellon

Photo Courtesy: David Torres

A number of teams are taking this weekend off from competing, before the first round of mid-season invites next weekend. For Kenyon and Denison, however, this is the biggest dual meet weekend of the year, as the longstanding rivals go head to head on Saturday.

It’s also a big dual meet weekend for Washington and Lee, traveling to Carnegie Mellon. Calvin College swims at Wheaton (IL), while MIT races NEWMAC rivals Springfield. On the West Coast, CMS will swim Chapman on Saturday and Pomona-Pitzer races Whittier and Occidental.

The Big Red Welcome the Lords and Ladies

After racing at Ohio State on Friday night, Saturday morning Kenyon heads to Granville, Ohio to race longtime rivals, Denison.

Women

Last year the Kenyon women won by only a few points, 154 to 146.

In 2017 both teams’ top swimmers won their respective events with Hannah Orbach-Mandel taking the sprint free double, Kendall Vanderhoof on top of the 200 and 500 and Crile Hart winning the 100 fly, 100 back, and 200 IM.

For Denison KT Kustritz swept the breaststrokes and Allison Fitzgerald won on both boards. The 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays were both close, with Denison taking the medley and Kenyon first to the wall in the freestyle relay.

Without any real upsets at the top, this meet was ultimately decided by close races the whole way through the line up.

Neither team has any standout freshman with the level of impact that Hart made last year, leaving this meet to be likely close again. Orbach-Mandel, Hart, and senior Abby Wilson are already rolling this fall for the Ladies. Kustritz has been incredibly quick, as has her fellow breaststroker Kate Meseros. The Big Red’s Maddie Hopkins, Natalie Zaravella and Hannah Ruskino are also rising to the top of the national rankings.

The CSCAA’s PreSeason poll picked Denison (#2) over Kenyon (#3), though by Saturday night, we’ll have an actual dual meet winner.

Men

Denison holds the CSCAA’s number one ranking headed into the weekend, while Kenyon is ranked second.

The Denison men swam away with last year’s meet, outscoring the Lords 186 to 112. Denison was strong top to bottom, with the Lords only winning the 100 back (Ben Baturka), the 500 free (Tim Hagemeister), and both one and three meter diving (Ryder Sammons).

This year Denison returns their core group of big scorers (Matt Hedman, Bebe Wang, Mitch Williams), and they’ve added a new group of freshman. Butterflier Noah Housekeeper is so far leading the freshman class.

Through one dual meet, Kenyon is led by Jon Zimdars (fly), Connor Rumpit (distance free), and Nick Tong (100 fly, 100 back). Baturka and Hagemeister weren’t quite as fast last weekend as they were this time last year.

Washington and Lee to Carnegie Mellon

The Washington and Lee (W&L) Generals (#14 women, #23 men) are lightyears beyond their peers in the ODAC. While their dual meet schedule does venture out of conference competition, this weekend will provide their most challenging meet as they head to Pittsburgh, PA, to swim Carnegie Mellon (#10 women, #11 men). Carnegie Mellon was the only loss on the Generals’ records last year.

The Tartans’ dual meet against Washington and Jefferson was cancelled last weekend, so they’re likely eager to race.

The Generals are led by junior breaststroker Emily Hageboeck, her classmate and butterflier/sprinter Ali MacQueen, and senior sprinter Elle Chancey.

At least on paper, the women’s teams’ strengths are uneven. While the W&L sprinters are strong, CMU has a deeper distance group.

Hagebock is unlikely to face breaststroke competition, but Emma Nicklas-Morris and Jessica Chau are leading the Tartans’ IM efforts, where Hagebock usually makes an appearance.

Cassidy Smith, Nicklas-Morris, and Madeline Hoedemaker are CMU’s top sprinters this fall, though they’re not yet as quick as the Generals’ crew.

Chau is leading the Tartans’ 200 backstroke efforts, a bit faster than anything the Generals have put together this year.

For the men, CMU has freshmen Richie Dauksher and Doug Johnson leading their distance freestyle efforts. Freshman Baris Denizli is at the top of the 200 freestyle. He could have a good race with W&L’s Patrick Sullivan. Sullivan is the guy to beat in the 100 free.

At least on paper, Carnegie Mellon has the upper hand in the butterfly and backstroke events.

Winston Chu is the Tartans’ leading breaststroker, but he’s only a small step ahead of the Generals’ Steven Warren in the 100.

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