Just as they did in 2010, the Big Red women's swimmers and divers have posted a clean sweep through the first 14 events at the 2011 North Coast Athletic Conference Championship from Canton, Ohio. Denison recorded eight more wins on Friday night to go along with three meet records and two school records. In the process, DU has pulled away from Kenyon College and lead the Ladies by 363 points. Denison has tallied 1,338 points while Kenyon checks in with 975 points.
Denison's pair of school records were turned in by Emily Schroeder (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern) in the 400 IM and Ksenia Golovkina (Newton, Mass./Newton South) in the 100 breaststroke. Both had the pleasure of breaking their own school and meet records in the process. For Schroeder, she posted an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 4:22.88 in the 400 IM, to rack-up her sixth NCAC title of her career.
Golovkina continued her dominance at this year's championship by besting her own meet record twice in one day. She capped off the night with a time of 1:02.91 which will stand in the record books for at least one more year. However, first-year Natalie Lugg (Woodbury, Minn./Woodbury) proved that she will be a prime candidate to take down Golovkina's record in 2012 after her time of 1:03.54 in preliminaries. Lugg took second in the finals in 1:03.75 and Brenna Broadus (Charlottesville, Va./Western Albemarle) placed fourth in 1:06.85.
In the women's three-meter dive, senior Lizzie Litwak (Loudonville, N.Y./Albany Academy for Girls) took home her first NCAC championship in the final conference competition of her career with an 11-dive score of 370.45. Just as they did in the one-meter dive, Denison would take the top-3 spots in the three-meter dive as Dallas Manson (Torrington, Conn./Torrington) placed second, just 1.25 points behind Litwak. Following in third was first-year Rachel Keselring (West Bloomfield, Mich./West Bloomfield).
The lead-off event for DU on Friday was the 200 medley relay which went to the foursome of Maddie Armitage (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington), Golovkina, Lauren Wine (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North) and Morgan Nuess (Kettering, Ohio/Dayton Christian) in 1:42.74. That time was an A-cut and the victory moved Golovkina past Kristen Hohl and Anna Tuttle and into second-place on Denison's all-time list of total conference championships. After her two victories this evening, Golovkina now has 13 career NCAC wins.
Litwak wasn't the only DU athlete to earn her first individual NCAC title on Friday. Lindsay Zeberlein (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista) won the 100 backstroke in 56.55 as four Denison swimmers locked down the top five spots. Trailing in third place was Cari Martin (Beavercreek, Ohio/Beavercreek) while Sarah Yu (Durham, N.C./Chapel Hill) and Armitage took fourth and fifth, respectively.
In the 200 freestyle, Alyssa Swanson (Aurora, Colo./Regis Jesuit) missed her season-best time by just one one-hundreth of a second but still won the event with a time of 1:50.18. That marked the second-straight win for Swanson in the 200 free.
Denison's depth was on full display in both the 200 free and 100 fly as Marit Wangstad (Wayzata, Minn./The Blake School), Hilary Callen (Oswego, N.Y./Oswego) and Tully Bradford (Lakeside Park, Ky./Notre Dame Academy) held down positions three through five in the 200 free. All three swimmers posted 'B' cut times.
In the 100 butterfly, Broadus picked up her second win of the championship, touching in 56.79. Laurel Brabson (Boonsboro, Md./Boonsboro) placed second in 56.87 and Wine took third in 56.98. Fourth and fifth places went to Lianne McCluskey (Hope, Maine/Camden Hills Regional) and Victoria Masney (West Vancouver, British Columbia/Mulgrave) and eighth was held down by Nuess. Overall, DU totaled 160 points in the 100 fly while gaining 125 points on Kenyon.
Denison's night would be capped off with the program's third consecutive 800 free relay championship as Swanson, Wangstad, Schroeder and Callen cruised to a new meet record and an 'A' cut. Swanson's 1:50.78 lead-off split set the tone for the 8-second victory.
No women's team in the history of the NCAC Swimming & Diving Championship have won all 20 events in the same year. Denison came close last year with 18 victories. They will return to C.T. Branin Natatorium on Saturday at 10 a.m. ready to take another shot at history.
