While the majority of the Hopkins student body was enjoying the relaxation of spring break, the men’s and women’s swimming teams traveled to Shenandoah, Texas to compete in the NCAA National Championships from March 18-21. The men’s team finished eighth overall in the championship, picking up several honors along the way, while the Lady Jays were even more impressive, finishing fifth overall and bringing home some hardware of their own.
On the first day of competition, the Jays wasted little time in breaking records with some impressive individual performances. Sophomore Andrew Greenhalgh got a quick start in impressing the crowd on hand for the championships. Greenhalgh became the first Hopkins national champion in the 500 freestyle since the year 1981, setting a national record with a time of 4:20.60. The individual national championship was the first of his bright young career for the Jays.
Hopkins also received an inspirational performance from sophomore Evan Holder, who claimed third place in the 200 IM race with a time of 1:46.92. Holder became the first Blue Jay to finish in the top three in the 200 IM at the NCAA since 1993.
And the Jays were just getting started.
On day two of the championship, Hopkins picked up another strong performance from Holder, who broke a school record in the 200 Free while finishing fourth overall in the race. Holder finished with a time of 1:37.77. A team of Jays also picked up a fourth-place finish in the 200 Free Relay in the consolation final, placing 13th overall. Senior Greg Kogut started off the event for the Jays, followed by Holder, senior Aaron Katrikh and sophomore Jeremy Bauchwitz.
The Jays continued to build off of their positive momentum heading into the third day of competition, as Holder and Kogut broke a couple more school records and the Jays notched a top-three finish in the 800 Free Relay. Kogut got Hopkins started with an impressive performance in the consolation final of the 200 Fly, finishing first in the race and ninth overall. Kogut completed the race with a time of 1:47.20 to not only drop nearly three seconds off of his preliminary time, but also to beat the rest of the field by 1.3 seconds.
A relay team of Holder, Greenhalgh, freshman Kyle Otazu and freshman Davis Knox paced the Jays to a third place finish in the 800 Free Relay with a time of 6:34.90. The time matched the third-fastest time in the history of the program. Holder broke yet another school record by besting his previous record by seven-hundredths of a second to lead off the race.
Entering the final day of competition, the Jays were poised to capture a strong finish in the NCAA tournament. Greenhalgh was the highlight of the day for an inspired Blue Jay squad as another dominating performance by the sophomore earned him a second-place finish in the 1650 Free with a time of 15:04.63.
In addition to capturing the silver medal, Greenhalgh broke his own school record by more than eight seconds and was .22 seconds away from cementing his name under another national record.
After Greenhalgh’s strong performance, the Jays closed out the day with a second-place finish in the consolation final of the 400 Free Relay. A Blue Jay squad of Holder, Otazu, Bauchwitz and Kogut swam a time of 3:01.40 to close out the NCAA competition and Kogut earned his fifth All-America honor of the championship.
The Jays finished eighth overall with 162 points while Kenyon won its 34th NCAA title with 468 points to cap off another dominant weekend. The eighth-place finish was the 27th NCAA top-10 finish for the Jays, ending another season on a high note.
In the midst of solid performances by the men’s team, the Lady Jays were busy breaking records and earning medals of their own. Senior Ana Bogdanovski was very strong on the first day of the NCAAs, picking up her second straight title in the 50 Free with a time of 22.85.
The senior was a mere .05 seconds shy of her time in the event from a season ago and now holds the top 10 fastest times in the event in school history. The first-place finish also marked Bogdanovski’s third overall individual national championship. In addition to the senior’s dominating performance in the 50 free, Hopkins recorded a sixth-place finish from its 200 medley relay team. Junior Sean McGrath, freshman Gwynnie LaMastra, freshman Anna Wisniewski and Bogdanovski notched a sixth-place finish, adding valuable points for the Jays.
Bogdanovski couldn’t be contained on day two of the NCAA Championships as she cruised to another gold medal for the second time in consecutive days.
After besting the entire field in the 50 Free, the talented senior took first place in the 200 Free with a finishing time of 1:46.69. The title was her second straight in the event and her ninth career NCAA title.
The Lady Jays also picked up a third-place finish in the 200 Free Relay, marking the program’s second straight medal in the event. Wisneiwski started the race off strong before Bogdanovski, freshman Kaitlin Jones and senior Kylie Holden closed it out for Hopkins. The team finished with a time of 1:32.97, the third-fastest time in program history.
Day three of the championship was only slightly less eventful for the Lady Jays as sophomore Abby Brown broke the school record in the 200 Fly. Brown finished third in the consolation final with a time of 2:02.95, besting her own previous program record by .71 seconds.
In addition to Brown’s performance, the Lady Jays capped off the day with a fourth-place finish in the 800 Free Relay with a time of 7:22.24. Bogdanovski, Wisniewski, Jones and freshman Courtney Cowan breezed through the relay, posting the third fastest time in program history for the event.
The Lady Jays looked confident and composed entering the final day of the championship searching for another top-five finish in the tournament. On the last day of her career at Hopkins, Bogdanovski captured first place in the 100 Free in her final collegiate swim.
The title was her third of the championship and 10th of her career. The victory completed Bogdanovski’s sweep of the 50-100-200 titles as the senior touched in with a time of 49.31 to break her own school record.
Bogdanovski finishes her tenure as a Jay with five individual titles, five relay titles and 23 All-America honors.
LaMastra captured first place in the consolation final of the 200 Breast, while the Lady Jays finished out the championships with a fifth-place finish in the 400 Free Relay.
Wisniewski, Jones, Cowan and Holden combined for a time of 3:24.82, the third fastest time in program history. For her performances throughout the course of the tournament, Holden earned a pair of All-America honors to finish her Hopkins career with four total.
The Lady Jays finished fifth overall in the tournament with 250 points while Emory eased their way to a first place finish with 603 points. Denison finished second before Williams, Kenyon and Hopkins rounding out the top five. The top-five finish marked the end of a strong season for the Lady Jays.
