Kenyon women tied for second at national meet

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Wednesday's opening session of the 2023 NCAA Division III NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championship resulted in what looks to be a pretty tight race between the Kenyon College Owls, Denison University, and Emory University. Denison holds the day-one lead with 107 points, while Kenyon and Emory are tied for second with 90 points apiece.

Kenyon's top individual finish of the day came from senior Alexandra White, who cleared the 50-yard freestyle in a personal-best time of 22.82 to take third place. In the consolation heat of the same event, fellow senior Ella Campbell won the race to take ninth place overall in a personal-best time of 23.13.

Prior to that, the Kenyon women opened the finals session with two participants in the 500-yard freestyle. Junior Sarah Hoffman clocked in at 4:57.38 to claim seventh place. First-year Molly Haag posted a quicker 4:57.12, but she was locked into the consolation final, so her time gave her an 11th place finish.

In Wednesday's only other individual swimming event, the 200-yard individual medley, Kenyon, again, had a pair of point-scorers. Sophomore Jennah Fadely won the consolation and placed ninth overall with a time of 2:02.39. Not too far off that pace was senior Ania Axas. She hit the wall in 2:04.57 for a 13th-place finish.

At that point, Kenyon, as a team, was third in the standings, but a second-place finish in the evening's final event, the 200-yard medley relay, moved the Owls up to the runner-up spot alongside Emory. The Owls relay team of Olivia Smith, Fadely, Celia Ford, and White finished the race in 1:39.67, which was just shy of Emory's winning and NCAA-record time of 1:39.55.

Just before that relay took place, the women's three-meter diving competition was held. Kenyon did not have any qualifiers, which gave way for Emory to up its team total by 21 points and Denison to improve by nine points.

The four-day championship will resume tomorrow with five more swimming events, including two relays. The preliminary heats kickoff at 10 a.m. and the finals start at 6 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Ania Axas: Junior

Ella Campbell: Junior

Sarah Hoffman: Sophomore

Olivia Smith: Junior

Alexandra White: Junior

Jennah Fadely: First-Year

Celia Ford: First-Year

Molly Haag: First-Year

Players Mentioned

Ania Axas
: Junior

Ella Campbell
: Junior

Sarah Hoffman
: Sophomore

Olivia Smith
: Junior

Alexandra White
: Junior

Jennah Fadely
: First-Year

Celia Ford
: First-Year

Molly Haag
: First-Year