Fifteen members of the Denison women's swimming & diving team nearly pulled off an impressive comeback at the nine-team Blue Devil Invitational from Fredonia, N.Y. The Big Red ended the three-day meet in second-place with 758 points, just 16 points behind eventual champion, SUNY-Fredonia.
Denison sophomore Cari Martin (Beavercreek, Ohio/Beavercreek) posted victories in the 200 backstroke and the 200 individual medley to lead DU on Sunday. Martin won the 200 IM with a time of 2:19.12 and came back with a time of 2:12.65 in the 200 backstroke.
Other individual event winners for the Big Red on Sunday included Lilla Grisham (Washington Grove, Md./Learning Community Int.) in the 200 breaststroke and Laurel Brabson (Boonsboro, Md./Boonsboro) in the 100 butterfly. Grisham touched in 2:27.59 to win the 200 breast. She was joined in the 'A' final by Allie Yemm (Sterling, Fla./Sterling) and Breanna Gordon (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita) who placed third and seventh, respectively.
Brabson's 100 fly victory in 58.48 led the way for five Denison swimmers to place in the top-eight in the event. Following behind Brabson was Emily Hopcian (Novi, Mich./Northville) in second while Hayley Anderson (Milford, Conn./Blair Academy) took fourth. Yemm and Maddie Armitage (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) placed seventh and eighth, respectively.
In the women's one-meter dive, freshman Dallas Manson (Torrington, Conn./Torrington) placed 11th with a score of 292.55 and senior Lizzie Litwak (Loudonville, N.Y./Albany Academy for Girls) was right behind in 12th place with a score of 287.55.
Denison's other victory would come in the 200 medley relay where Armitage, Grisham, Shannon Cogan (Strongsville, Ohio/Strongsville) and Anderson combined for a time of 1:51.16. Rounding out Denison's final day was Gordon and Sarah DiNardo (Arlington, Va./Washington-Lee) who took positions 2-3 in the 200 freestyle. Gordon posted a time of 1:59.78 and DiNardo touched in 2:00.75. In the 400 free relay, Cogan, Martin, Gordon and Ata Zaklicki (Shillington, Pa./The Hill School) were the runners-up in 3:34.94.
