I really am interested

Fastest NCAA Women’s records in Order (top 4):

100 Breast
50 Free
100 Free
200 Breast

These are ALL D1 A CUTS!, that’s amazing.

Fastest Relay is the 200 FR which is only a second off the D1 A cut… for a relay!!!

Slowest record:
500, by far… the rest are all D1 b cuts, this is not.

My opinion of why Kenyon hasn’t held the women’s but has the men’s is that women, when being recruited, put less stock in tradition and therefore are more willing to go to other teams…

Best – 100 Br. (Would have placed 4th at ’06 D1’s)
Worst – 500 (50th)
Why – There are a lot more D1 opportunites for women, so recruiting them to D3 is more of a crapshoot.

Best Overall Record:

Payne’s 100 Breast

Best Meet Record”

Payne’s 200 Breast

Worst Overall:
500 Free
or
3M Diving

Reason Kenyon has been dethroned on the women’s side and not the men’s. I have to think this has something to do with why women choose to attend a college. I think you would discover that more women won’t base as much of their decision on tradition and the lure of a National Title as the men do. I am not saying they are any less competitive because I certainly do not believe that to be the case.

“Reason Kenyon has been dethroned on the women’s side and not the men’s. I have to think this has something to do with why women choose to attend a college. I think you would discover that more women won’t base as much of their decision on tradition and the lure of a National Title as the men do. I am not saying they are any less competitive because I certainly do not believe that to be the case.”

I have a couple of thoughts on this, not sure if they hold any water.

I think more male athletes than female athletes are sports FANS. This is no comment on competitiveness or commitment, toughness, etc. I know that growing up I was into college football and basketball. Schools like Stanford, Texas, and Michigan weren’t just schools with swim teams, they were name brand sports franchises to me. I was nowhere near good enough to swim at any of those, but I think that notion trickles down, and Kenyon is definitely the brand name swimming school for D-III. Maybe this idea has more of an effect on males than females.

Many of the top females in D-III history were also stellar swimmers from a much younger age. A great 13 year old girl is much more likely to qualify for a national level meet than a great 13 year old boy. They have a little more time to become accustomed to the high level of competition, to where they may be able to look at college more holistically than a late-blooming boy who is star-struck by recruiting attention from a traditional powerhouse, DI,II,or III.

As far as sluggo’s post, boo-hoo. Want more female swimming chatter? Post topics on women’s swimming, everyone of the regular posters on here seems interested and willing to comment on them. Although whining did spark some good posts, so it may have some merit, too!

Correct me if I’m wrong (and I’m sure someone will), but aren’t there just more women involved in swimming and diving than men? In my experience, at USS age-group meets there always seemed to be twice as many girls competing as boys. And at the high school and D3 college levels (the programs I’m familiar with anyway) the women’s teams are almost always larger than the men’s. It just seems that with more women participants, the best talent would naturally spread out more. They can’t all go to Kenyon. Or Dennison, or Williams, or Emory, for that matter.

Age group traditionally has more female swimmers than male as there are fewer competitive sports for young girls to participate in. It seems at grade school ages, boys participate in many competitive sports, depending on the season…football, basketball. baseball, hockey, etc. If the girls get some early success in swimming, they tend to stick to it year round and thereby participate in more state, nationals meets than the boys at around ages 10-14.

There are also more scholarships available for women than men though.

Another thought is, there are also more women in college than men. Ok maybe that doesn’t make sense.

I laud Facenorth’s points that there are more women in college than men. Also, most d1 men’s teams are underfunded as compared to a women’s team. I don’t know if I agree with sluggo’s post about there being “a lot fewer opportunities for girls to compete in sports.” At least where I’m from (Minneapolis) girls can play soccer, hockey, football, softball, run track, swim etc ad nauseam. The statement that girls have less opportunity may have been true 20 years ago, but I don’t think it is now. Am I just being naive?

@sluggo wrote:

If the girls get some early success in swimming, they tend to stick to it year round and thereby participate in more state, nationals meets than the boys at around ages 10-14.

The reason is girls develop more rapidly come alot closer to their peak earlier. Compare some of the top 13-14 girls times and physical development to older women. Whereas boys are just that boys compared to men. Even the top 13yr -14 boy is no match for the top males. My son went 55.49 this summer after just turning 14 in july. Still that is no where near Jr Nats let alone nats.

@JHU84 wrote:

@sluggo wrote:

If the girls get some early success in swimming, they tend to stick to it year round and thereby participate in more state, nationals meets than the boys at around ages 10-14.

The reason is girls develop more rapidly come alot closer to their peak earlier. Compare some of the top 13-14 girls times and physical development to older women. Whereas boys are just that boys compared to men. Even the top 13yr -14 boy is no match for the top males. My son went 55.49 this summer after just turning 14 in july. Still that is no where near Jr Nats let alone nats.

55.49 in what?

@The Treat wrote:

55.49 in what?

The 100 M free – if it were fly or back he would nats in those events. It is still a good time and he will continue to improve as a freshman in HS with 2/days but it is nowhere close to competing in college with men. just look at the t16 times for boys and girls 2 sec away vs a cople 10ths.

@DonCheadle wrote:

Why has Kenyon maintained a stranglehold on Men but not Women?

Back on topic – where can you get “juicy” in gambier? Translation for you guys that don’t know what I am talking about (wait until you have a teenage daughter) where is the nearest mall – go to atlanta, chicago, boston… and you have shopping!!!!

Clostest to getting “Juicy” in Gambier is down the road in Coumbus, but that’s a bit of a drive…

Paynes 2 breaststroke records followed by Marsman’s 100 free record are the most impressive records

@swim5599 wrote:

Paynes 2 breaststroke records followed by Marsman’s 100 free record are the most impressive records

Payne’s 200 breastroke is not as impressive as either of Marsman’s records… especially if we want to take into account the fact that a sprinter is more likely to be recruited and get a D1 scholarship than any other discipline.

49.7 is that much more impressive than 1:00 and 2:13? They both seem pretty awesome to me