The NCAA News - News and Features

March 16, 1998

Division III Men's Swimming and Diving

Kenyon sets sights on winning 19th straight Division III championship

Event: 1998 Division III Men's Swimming and Diving Championships.

Overview: "Times are changing" isn't a phrase you hear in Division III men's swimming and diving. Kenyon will return to the championships as the favorite after winning every meet since 1980. After losing last year's North Coast Athletic Conference meet, the Lords rebounded to win their 18th straight Division III title, and now have restored order in league competition with their recent victory over Denison, 993-905. Senior Pedro Monteiro leads this year's squad. Monteiro set conference records in both butterfly events, placed first in the 100-yard backstroke and was a member of the Lords' record-setting medley relays. Overall, the Lords return 14 all-Americans from last year's squad, along with an impressive freshman class. Coach Jim Steen will look to his relay teams to again swim record times, just as they did in the conference championships .... Contenders for the title include UC San Diego, which finished second at last year's championship; Denision; and Williams. Williams will bring a younger squad to this year's championships. The team is led by Cyrus King, who will look to make an impressive showing in the butterfly events and in the 1,650-yard freestyle.

Field: The maximum number of participants allowed is 209. All qualifiers who have met the "A" time standard will be admitted to the meet; those who have met the "B" time standard will be considered for the field. No team is allowed more than 18 competitors.

Dates and site: Principia will host the championships March 19-21 at the St. Peter's Rec Plex in St. Louis.

Information/results: The fax-on-demand telephone number is 770/399-3060 (passcode 1915); request numbers are 5207 for the list of qualifiers, 5208 for the second day's results and 5210 for the final day's results. Individual and team results also will be available on the World Wide Web at www.ncaa.org. Championships results will be published in the March 30 issue of The NCAA News.