For the seventh time in program history Denison women's swimming & diving is the NCAA Division III runner-up. The Big Red enjoyed a stellar four days in Shenandoah, Texas, winning four event national championships while logging 34 All-American performances. Denison finished with 457 team points, placing them 23 points in front of third place Williams College. First place went to Emory University with 603 points while Kenyon College finished fourth with 404 points.
Denison and Williams were locked in a battle for second place throughout the championship. Entering the final event, DU held a 15 point lead over Williams. Lots of math can come into play when calculating point differentials in relays. There is one way to take all of the math out of the equation. Win the race.
That's exactly was Denison's team of Rima Jurjus, Carolyn Kane, Ashley Yearwood and Mary Van Leuven did as they won with a time of 3:21.49. Kane's 49.88 split pushed the Big Red into the lead and the rest was history. The foursome broke a six-year old varsity record set by Olivia Zaleski, Annamarie Novinger, Kate Rich and Kristen Hohl who won the national title in 2009.
Denison's point total got a few other jolts early in the night when Taylor Johns, Campbell Costley and Elizabeth Flaherty all logged top-8 finishes in the 1,650 freestyle. Johns finished third with a time of 16:41.87. That broke Hilary Callen's varsity record time of 16:42.61 set in 2012. Costley checked in sixth with a time of 16:51.06 while Flaherty reached the podium for the first time in her career, placing eighth in 16:56.42. She trimmed 5.98 seconds off her entry time in the afternoon trials and that allowed her to bring home some hardware in her first national championship appearance.
Another stacked event for the Big Red was the 100 freestyle. With five swimming in Saturday's finals, DU would total 43.5 points in the event. Kane led the way with a second place finish and a time of 50.17. She posted a personal best time of 50.05 in prelims. Van Leuven tied for sixth in 50.83 while Yearwood (51.14) and Jurjus (51.15) finished 11th and 12th, respectively. Kate Wright rounded out the scoring with her first career All-American swim. She finished 15th in 51.45 seconds.
Marissa Bednarek would match her seventh place performance in last night's 100 breaststroke in tonight's 200 breast. She dropped 0.13 seconds from her prelim time to finish in 2:18.63.
Senior Molly Willingham hit the water for the final time in the 200 backstroke. She placed 14th, earning her first career All-American showing in this event. It was the 16th All-American performance of her career.
Denison's women have finished no worse than sixth at the NCAA Division III Championship every year since 1992 (24 years). They have won one national championship (2001) and have placed second seven times and third on eight occasions. In addition to the 34 All-American performances, six varsity records were broken this year in Texas.
