Ending Emory University's ten-season reign as defending champs, the Kenyon College women's swimming and diving team finished off the four-day 2022 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championship with 446 points and the first-place trophy. The NCAA team title was the 24th in program history. That mark tops all women's programs, in any sport and any division of the NCAA.
Following Kenyon in the team standing was Emory with a second-place total of 439. Denison University was third with 411.5 points. Williams College was fourth with 289 points and Pomona-Pitzer rounded out the top five with 226 points.
Coming into Saturday's final session, Kenyon, Emory and Denison were separated by just 4.5 points in the standings. When competition got underway, Denison made the first move. With three swimmers racing in the 1,650-yard freestyle, the Big Red racked up 46 points and temporarily moved into first place. Kenyon's top swimmer in the distance event was Sarah Hoffman, who placed 10th with a time of 17:05.61. Kira Bowling wasn't too far behind, placing 12th in 17:07.39 for Kenyon.
Next up, it was Kenyon senior Emmie Mirus' turn to shine, as she captured the national championship in the 100-yard freestyle. A 15-time All-American and now a four-time NCAA event champion, the individual event title was the first in Mirus' Kenyon career. She won the race in 49.90, which was a personal best. Kenyon junior Alexandra White added an eighth-place finish in the 100, giving the Ladies a total of 31 points and pushing them closer to the head of the pack. White clocked in at 50.95 after posting a personal best 50.75 in morning prelims.
Kenyon's other super senior, Crile Hart, kept the Kenyon streak going. Winning her sixth event in as many attempts at this Championship, Hart took gold in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:56.54. Olivia Smith, a junior, added a fourth-place swim in 1:59.04, breaking the two-minute mark for the first time. The combination of 35 points produced by those two, put Kenyon back atop the team standings.
With just three events left, Kenyon had 389 points. Emory was second with 377 and Denison was third with 368.5.
The 200-yard breaststroke was next and Kenyon first-year Jennah Fadely came through with a third-place finish with a time of 2:14.57, which was another personal best. In the consolation heat of the same event, first-year Gabrielle Wei grabbed a win and ninth-place overall finish by stopping the clock at 2:15.07.
From that point, Kenyon had an 18-point lead over Emory and a 45.5-point lead on Denison. Following the three-meter diving competition, Emory and Denison drew a bit closer, shrinking Kenyon's lead to 15 and 30.5 points, respectively.
That brought everything down to the Championship finale, the 400-yard freestyle relay. In order to ensure the championship trophy, the Ladies had to finish no worse than sixth place in the event. Their relay team got off to a bit of a slow start, but to no one's surprise, Hart and Mirus finished the last two legs, bringing Kenyon back from eighth place to a third-place finish and earning just enough points to secure the championship.
At the end of the meet, Hart was named the Division III Swimmer of the Year for the second time in her career. Throughout the four days, Hart set four records and won six events, including taking individual titles in the 100-yard butterfly, the 200-yard backstroke and the 200-yard individual medley.
Additionally, Jess Book was named the co-Division III Coach of the Year. It was the third time in his Kenyon career that he earned the national honor.
