The Kenyon men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams took to the pool for the final time in Gambier this season, competing in the unscored First Chance Invitational and Fast Chance Invitational on Friday and Saturday, respectively. The events were meant to give the Owls an extra opportunity to qualify for next month’s NCAA Championship, and while the women’s team posted many new qualifying finishes, no additional swimmers from the men’s team reached the “B” cut.

Women: Friday began with a faceoff between Kenyon’s Grace Jansen ’26 and Grace Ramirez ’25 in the 200 yard individual medley. Jansen took the win with a time of 2:11.27, while Ramirez left the pool with a time of 2:14.85, and both posted qualifying times. In the 400-yard IM, Jordan Herrera ’25 took first place, stopping the clock at 4:26.38. Ashlyn Widmer ’27 was not far behind, taking third with a time of 4:26.97. Both Owls earned a “B” cut, or consideration cut, to qualify for nationals. 

Nora Lee Brown ’28 continued the top finishes in the 200-yard freestyle, taking the win and a “B” cut qualification with a time of 1:51.55. Lucy Patterson ’25 also ended up on the podium, but narrowly missed qualifying by 0.01 seconds. Kenyon’s sole participant in the 200-yard freestyle, Amelia Stevenson ’27, earned a “B” cut qualification with a time of 2:03.75 and came in second place. Gwen Eisenbeis ’26 was Kenyon’s final qualifier of the day, as she secured first place and a “B” cut qualification with a time of 2:02.01.

The following day, the Owls took to the pool again for the Fast Chance Invitational, where they earned just one more qualifying time. Widmer opened the day for Kenyon in the 400 IM, looking to earn an “A” cut qualifying time. Despite beating her previous time by nearly two seconds and earning first place, she remained with a “B” cut qualification time of 4:24.04. In the 200-yard freestyle, Gabrielle Wei ’25 earned a “B” cut qualification and third place, as she finished with a time of 1:51.15.  

Despite the fact that the 100-yard IM is not an NCAA event, the Owls swept the podium, as Janson took first place (1:00.66), Jeannie Cook ’26 took second (1:02.45) and Alaina Pizarro ’28 rounded out the trio in third (1:02.84). In the 200-yard backstroke, Emma Kelley ’26 and Widmer had a photo finish, swimming the race in 2:05.05 and 2:05.37, respectively, to earn first and second place. The Owls were also able to win the 200-yard medley relay, as the group of Eisenbeis, Jansen, Celia Ford ’25 and Molly Haag ’26 finished with a time of 1:43.93. 

Men: In the First Chance Invitational, Sam Brown ’25 started things off for the men’s team, earning second place in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:54.48. Next, Peter Dunson ’27 came up just short in the 50-yard freestyle, as his time of 20.67 was just one-tenth of a second behind the first-place finisher from Denison University. 

Djordje Dragojlovic ’26 gave Kenyon its first win of the day in the 200-yard freestyle where he came in at 1:40.85. Teo Jaworski ’26 finished third in the race as well. Matthew Weiner ’27 and Michael Baltodano ’28 then earned second and third place, respectively, in the 200-yard butterfly. To close out the day, Niko Theodos ’26 put together a strong performance in the 200-yard breaststroke, as his time of 2:06.79 was enough for second place. Finishing right behind him was Owen Gingras ’28, who placed third.

The Owls didn’t fare quite as well in Saturday’s Fast Chance Invitational, as Theodos produced the best result of the day, a third-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:55.86. Once again, Gingras finished immediately after Theodos, falling by less than one-tenth of a second. Additionally, Charlie Green ’28 earned fourth place in the 1,650-yard freestyle, finishing in 15:57.67. Leo Karnitz ’28 closed out the day, finishing fifth in the 100-yard butterfly for Kenyon’s only other top-five finish at the meet.

After a strong regular season, Green expressed his excitement for what’s to come. “I feel like I have done a good job of being consistent in my training,” he wrote in an email to the Collegian. “I feel good about where I am at this point in the season. I am excited to see how I perform at nationals after getting more rest.”

Kenyon’s divers will be back in action on Friday for the NCAA Diving Regional, before the rest of the qualified swimmers and divers head down to Greensboro, North Carolina, for the NCAA Championship. The men’s team will be hungry to avenge the results of the previous two years, where they finished in second place behind Emory University (Ga.), while the women’s team will look to win its second consecutive national title.