GREENSBORO, N.C. – Hamilton College's Nathaniel Taft '27 and Jade Matthias '26 competed in the 100-yard freestyle on the fourth and final day of the 2024 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center on Saturday, March 23.
 
Taft finished in fifth place in the men's championship final with a time of 43.73 seconds. He was in fourth place after the first 50 yards with a time of 20.90 seconds and slipped one spot to fifth with a split of 22.83 in the final 50 yards. Kenyon College's Djordje Dragojlovic won the race in 43.26 seconds.
 
Taft recorded the fourth-fastest time of the morning's time trials in 43.62 seconds, which was just five one-hundredths of a second off his team-record performance set at the NESCAC championships. He racked up 44 team points over the course of the NCAA meet after he was runner-up in the 200 free and sixth in the 50 free, and put the Continentals in a tie for 19^th place in the final team standings. It was the highest finish for the Hamilton men since 2006 when the Continentals also tied for 19^th place.
 
Matthias finished 36^th out of 60 swimmers in the women's 100 free time trials in a personal-best time of 51.88 seconds but missed qualifying for the evening's finals. She would have needed to go a half-second faster to finish in the top 16. Matthias is one of just three Hamilton women that have finished the 100 free in under 52 seconds.