MIT women’s swimming and diving claim first national championship; men finish ninth
Multiple NCAA records and All-American finishes by MIT Swim and Dive at the Division III National Championship
From March 19 to March 22, MIT Swimming and Diving competed at the NCAA Division III Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina. The women won their first national championship in program history and the men finished ninth. The College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) announced Coach Meg Sisson French as one of the two recipients of the Swim Coaches of The Year Award for Division III. Sisson French leads both the men’s and women’s programs at MIT, and is the first female coach in Division III history to win a national team title.
Women achieve first national title via relay records and individual victories
After winning their 14th consecutive NEWMAC conference title, the Engineers sent ten swimmers and two divers to the NCAA championship. The team meshed veteran experience with young talent: Lauren Adler ’28, Kate Augustyn ’25, Fiora Beratahani ’27, Sarah Bernard ’28, Jessica Crane ’28, Rachel Loh ’25, Annika Naveen ’26, Ella Roberson ’27, Sydney Smith ’27, Belise Swartwood ’28, Alexandra Turvey G, and Iris Yang ’25.
The Engineers scored 497 points, beating second place NYU by a mere 27 points. They swept four out of five relays, setting NCAA records in the process, and also had several individual titles thanks to performances from Augustyn (100, 200 Backstroke) and Smith (100 Butterfly).
Listed below are the results from the finals at night — in other words, swims and dives that scored points. The strokes for each event are abbreviated as follows: Freestyle as Free, Backstroke as Back, Breaststroke as Breast, Butterfly as Fly, Individual Medley as IM.
Individual Events:
200 IM; Augustyn: 3rd, 2:01.35.
50 Free; Naveen: 4th, 22.89. Roberson: 6th, 22.97. Turvey: 11th, 22.89 (B-final).
400 IM; Bernard: 5th, 4:21.17. Adler: 12th, 4:24.32.
100 Fly; Smith: 1st, 53.96. Turvey: 5th, 54.27.
200 Free; Roberson: 4th, 1:49.42.
1 Meter Diving; Beratahani: 5th, 426.45. Loh: 16th, 384.80.
200 Fly; Swartwood: 6th, 2:02.21.
100 Back; Augustyn: 1st, 53.41. Ties own NCAA record. Smith: 2nd, 54.48. Naveen: 16th, 56.83.
100 Breast; Bernard: 8th, 1:02.80.
1650 Free; Adler: 13th, 17:09.17.
100 Free; Naveen: 3rd, 49.95. Turvey: 4th, 49.96. Smith: 6th, 50.68. Roberson: 10th, 50.01 (B-final).
200 Back; Augustyn: 1st, 1:55.85.
200 Breast; Bernard: 5th, 2:14.53.
3 Meter Diving; Beratahani: 3rd, 497.55. Loh: 13th, 433.15.
Relays:
400 Medley: 1st, 3:38.48. Augustyn, Bernard, Smith, Turvey.
200 Free; 1st, 1:30.00. Turvey, Smith, Roberson, Naveen. NCAA Record.
200 Medley; 1st, 1:39.51. Augustyn, Bernard, Naveen, Roberson. NCAA Record.
800 Free; 4th, 7:19.40. Turvey, Smith, Augustyn, Roberson.
400 Free; 1st, 3:18.03. Turvey, Smith, Augustyn, Roberson.
Men finish ninth with strong underclassmen performances
After winning their 16th consecutive NEWMAC conference title, the Engineers sent ten to NCAAs. The team was largely composed of underclassmen: Aitor Arrese-Igor ’27 , Kelson Cantrell ’28, Grant Hu ’28, Eugene Jiang ’26, Gidean Karp ’28, Nathan Kim ’28, Bryce Roberts ’27, Jason Wang ’27, Ben Wu ’28, and Thomas Wu ’26. The team, which finished ninth overall with a total of 131 points, garnered several All-American honors ranging from the 100 backstroke to the 400 individual medley.
Listed below are the results from the finals swims.
Individual Events:
500 Free; Hu: 7th, 4:25.76.
200 IM; Wang: 13th, 1:48.95.
400 IM; Hu: 5th, 3:51.90.
200 Free; Kim: 7th, 1:39.41.
200 Fly; Hu: 12th, 1:48.16.
100 Back; Kim: 7th, 48.03. Arrese-Igor: 15th, 49.00.
200 Back; Kim: 13th, 1:47.64.
Relays:
400 Medley; 11th, 3:14.20. Arrese-Igor, Wu ’26, Wu ’28, Jiang.
200 Medley; 11th, 1:28.38. Arrese-Igor, Wu ’26, Roberts, Jiang.
800 Free; 11th, 6:37.01; Hu, Kim, Wang, Cantrell.
400 Free; 7th, 2:58.02; Kim, Jiang, Arrese-Igor, and Roberts.