The Denison women's swimmers closed out the 2011 NCAA Division III Championship by holding off Williams College to log the program's sixth national runner-up finish.

Denison totaled 428 points, trailing only Emory University who captured the national championship with 614 points.  Williams College finished in third place, followed by Kenyon in fourth.

The Big Red closed out their championship with a runner-up finish in the 400 freestyle relay behind strong swims from Alyssa Swanson, Marit Wangstad, Maddie Armitage and Ksenia Golovkina.  The foursome touched in 3:23.43 for the silver.  Emory won the race in 3:22.39 to cap off their championship performance.

Earlier in the night, after dropping into third place following the 100 freestyle, the Big Red bounced back in the 200 backstroke where junior Emily Schroeder placed second with a time of 1:59.19.  In the consolation of the 200 back, Lindsay Zeberlein pulled away from the field to win the heat which placed her ninth overall with a time of 2:01.07.

In that aforementioned 100 freestyle, despite dropping some points to Williams, Denison's Swanson and Wangstad placed 11th and 14th, respectively in the event.  That marked the sixth All-America performance of the meet for Swanson and the third for Wangstad.

In the opening race of the night, DU junior Hilary Callen swam the mile in 17:04.95 to place sixth.  The winner of the 1650 free was Caroline Wilson of Williams who defended her title with a time of 16:31.34.

Two more members of the Big Red had All-America swims in the 200 breaststroke.  Golovkina placed eighth with a time of 2:20.62 and first-year Natalie Lugg closed out her first appearance at nationals with a second-place finish in the consolation final. She touched in 2:19.26.

Overall the Big Red racked up 30 All-American swims, two national championships in the 800 free relay and the 200 free relay as well as a new national record in the 800 free relay.