RESULTS  I  CHAMPIONSHIP SITE

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Kenyon College Lords finished with 322 team points Saturday night and closed out the four-day 2018 NCAA Division III Men's Swimming and Diving Championship in third place. Denison University won the team title with 596.5 points, while Emory University, the defending national champion, claimed this year's runner-up spot with 369.5 points.

A testament to the strength of Kenyon's program, this season's third-place finish marked the first time since 1978 that the Lords did not finish either first or second at the NCAA Championship meet. In that same span, the Lords collected an NCAA record 34 national titles, including 31 consecutive titles from 1980 through 2010.

Saturday, the Lords concluded the most recent championship without an event title. That's the first time that happened since 1982. The Lords came closest to continuing the streak this season with a runner-up finish in Friday's 800-yard freestyle relay.

In individual events, the Lords had a trio of fourth-place finishes throughout the meet. Freshman Tim Hagemeister was fourth in the 500-yard freestyle on Wednesday, classmate David Fitch was fourth in the 100-yard butterfly on Thursday and sophomore Mick Bartholomew was fourth in Saturday's 200-yard backstroke.



Bartholomew's backstroke result highlighted the final day of NCAA competition for the Lords. His time of 1:46.86 was a personal record. In the consolation heat of the same event, sophomore Colin Reardon clocked in with a 1:49.05 to take 13th place and senior Matthew Cooper finished in 1:51.55 to claim 15th place.

In the next event, the 200-yard breaststroke, two more sophomores came through for the Lords. Alexander Law placed tenth with a personal-best time of 2:01.44, while Kieran Allsop claimed 14th place with a time of 2:03.46.

Earlier in Saturday's session, Kenyon collected team points from four different swimmers in the grueling 1,650-yard freestyle. Connor Rumpit, another sophomore, led the group with a ninth-place time of 15:40.45. Junior Robert Williams placed 11th in 15:45.47, Hagemeister was 12th in 15:47.89 and freshman Fielding Fischer was 15th with a time of 15:59.40.

The Lords ended the evening, as well as the meet, with a sixth-place showing in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Fitch and Williams paired up with Cooper and sophomore Tommy Weiss to post a time of 2:59.34, giving the Lords their fourth top-eight finish in the meet's five relay events.