Denison totaled 1,456.5 points over the course of the three-day Miami Invitational. That landed them in fifth-place in the team standings. The host, Redhawks, won the team title with 2,409 points. Toledo was second with 1,554 and Cincinnati ended third with 1,523.5. The only other NCAA Division III invitee, Emory, placed fourth with 1,496 while Wright State and Urbana occupied sixth and seventh places.
Denison opened the night with five event finalists in the 1650 freestyle, led by Taylor Johns and her third-place finish. Johns covered the mile-long swim in 16:47.81. Campbell Costley came in eighth in 16:58.45 and Elizabeth Flaherty ended in 18th with a time of 17:13.94. All three were NCAA provisional times. In the C-Final, Mae Riordan (17:47.51) and Mary Cullen (17:53.59) placed 24th and 25th, respectively.
DU would add four more 'B' cuts in the 100 freestyle as Carolyn Kane touched third in 50.76. Ashley Yearwood, Rima Jurjus and Molly Willingham all posted faster 'B' cut times in preliminaries as Yearwood logged a time of 51.39 while Jurjus came in at 51.92 and Willingham touched in 51.89. They would place eighth, 14th and 15th, respectively in the finals. Kate Wright (52.77) and Liz Kane (53.00) would finish 25th and 27th to round out Denison's scoring in the event.
Five more Big Red swimmers would score in the 200 backstroke. Willingham notched a 'B' cut and placed sixth in 2:01.83. Kate Wright placed 17th in 2:07.41 while Liz Kane touched 23rd in 2:07.28, Alex Elizeus finished 26th (2:08.37) and Meghan Bagley ended in 27th (2:12.38).
In the 200 breaststroke, Marissa Bednarek finished 12th in 2:20.27 and Ellen Higdon dropped five seconds off her prelim time to finish 19th with a time of 2:22.88, both were NCAA provisional times. Leigh Hartog would follow in 20th place in 2:24.48 and Hailey Olson rounded out the C-Final in 27th in 2:29.43.
First-year Halli Garza would tie with Carolyn Kane and Johns for the best individual finish of the night after placing third in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:03.77. Michelle Howell won the B-Final and placed 10th in 2:04.48, while three placed in the C-Final led by Emily Eiben in 21st with a time of 2:06.92. Taylor Lifka finished 22nd in 2:07.16 and Katie Krivacs took 24th in 2:09.85. Garza, Howell, Eiben and Lifka all recorded provisional qualifying times in the event.
Denison's trio of divers would place eighth, 11th and 12th on the 1-meter board. Sarah Lopez led the way with 192.10 points on her six-dives. Katherine Hennigan totaled 138.80 points while Sterling Keiser finished with 127.35.
The three-day meet was wrapped up with the 400 free relay where Yearwood, Carolyn Kane, Jurjus and Willingham combined for a time of 3:24.79 to place fourth.
Denison will return to competition on Jan. 9 when they host Ohio University in a dual meet at the Trumbull Aquatics Center.
