Michelle Howell did it again and the Big Red women snapped a three-year drought with a national title in the 200 free relay as Denison held in second place from the 2015 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships. Through 10 of 20 events Denison has totaled 252 points while Emory University leads the field with 323.5 points. While Emory managed to open a 71.5 point lead, Denison still holds a 39 point lead over third place Williams and a 57 point advantage over fourth place Kenyon.
Denison opened the night with a school record-setting performance in the 200 freestyle relay. The team of Rima Jurjus, Carolyn Kane, Ashley Yearwood and Mary Van Leuven won the national championship with a time of 1:31.82. It was the first national championship for all four swimmers. For Jurjus, it would happen in her first career swim in a championship final at nationals. Denison's last relay national title happened in 2011. The win pulled DU to within 5.5 points of the lead.
Next up was the 400 individual medley and Howell seemed primed to follow up last night's victory in the 200 IM. After finishing third in prelims with a time of 4:21.99, she would proceed to drop 4.11 seconds to win her second national title in as many nights. Howell finished in 4:17.88. Leading off with the butterfly split of 59.06, she followed with a 1:06.68 in the backstroke 100. Her breaststroke split was 1:13.63 and she closed with a 58.51 freestyle. Second-place went to Megan Pierce of Williams College who touched in 4:19.23.
Howell broke her own school record while becoming the first female 400 IM national champion in program history. Her national title in this event had been building since 2012. She was the runner-up as a freshman and sophomore and finished third in the event as a junior.
In the 100 butterfly, Kane posted her fourth All-American swim of the meet with a time of 55.72 that landed her in sixth place. Entering the 200 freestyle the Big Red trailed Emory by only 18 points.
The 200 freestyle was a game changer for Emory as the Eagles were stacked with four swimmers in the championship final and one in the consolation. Emory would proceed to finish third, sixth, seventh, eighth and 15th while Denison got a 10th place finish from Campbell Costley and a 13th place swim from Molly Willingham. Costley dropped 0.22 seconds and touched in 1:50.70. Willingham ended in 1:51.13, marking her fourth-straight All-American swim in the event. Emory's five scorers would allow the Eagles to post a 43 point swing that extended their lead to 61 points.
The night would be capped off by the 400 medley relay. The foursome of Willingham, Marissa Bednarek, Kane and Yearwood were seeded second after a time of 3:44.19 in the morning. They would drop nearly half a second off their time but that would land them in fourth place in 3:43.72. Emory was the winner of the relay in 3:41.44.
DU will return on Friday to compete in the 200 butterfly, the 100 backstroke, the 100 breaststroke and the 800 freestyle relay. Preliminaries start at 11 a.m. EST and finals will commence at 7 p.m. EST.
