Kenyon’s swimming and dive teams had their end-of-season Fast Chance Invitational at home on Saturday where they were joined by 11 schools, including long-time rivals Denison University. Though the meet was not scored, the Invitational acted as the final chance for many swimmers to make National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) cuts to continue on to nationals, or in the case of the Lords’ lone diver participating in this meet, the regional meet, or “zones.”

The meet was a successful final chance for diver Ryder Sammons ’19 to nab his second qualifying score; he will join seniors Brandon Roman and Maria Zarka and first year Madeline Carlson at the regional diving championships at Denison University on Feb. 26 and 27.

In the swimming realm, the Ladies grabbed eight NCAA national championship qualifying times, while the Lords took five. Seniors Haley Townsend and Natalie Parker both qualified for nationals; Townsend took first place in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyles while Parker took second in the 100-yard butterfly. Cecina Babich Morrow ’18 won the 100-yard butterfly and qualified for nationals, and juniors Alexa Kosberg and Sarah Lloyd both qualified in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Ellie Crawford ’17 had NCAA B-cut qualifying times in the 200-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard individual medley.

For the Lords, first years Robert Williams, Brooks McCoy and Grant Carr all took first place in the 500-yard freestyle, 400-yard individual medley and 200-yard freestyle, respectively. Rounding off the Lords’ national cuts was a team of seniors: Percy Gates, Ryan Funk, Christian Josephson and Joey Duronio took first in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:30.43 — around a hundredth of a second slower than their season best, which they set earlier this year.

Divers will not know if they qualify for nationals until after their regional meet. Still, these swimmers will join their previously qualified teammates in Greensboro, N.C. over spring break for the NCAA Division-III national meet.