The Denison women's swimming & diving team dropped a very close 161-139 decision to NCAA Division I foe, Ohio University on Friday night at the Trumbull Aquatics Center. The Big Red captured seven event titles and posted eight runner-up performances.
The quartet of Carolyn Kane, Marissa Bednarek, Ashley Yearwood and Mary Van Leuven paced the Big Red with four top-3 finishes apiece. The foursome opened the event with a victory in the 200 medley relay after touching the wall in 1:44.88.
Bednarek led the grouping with three first-place finishes. In addition to her relay win, the senior also swept both breaststroke events. Bednarek and junior Marisa Pulaski finished 1-2 in both the 100 and 200 breast. In the 100, Bednarek touched in at 1:04.47, while Pulaski finished in 1:05.81. Sophomore Ellen Higdon also picked up a fifth-place finish after clocking in at 1:08.57. Bednarek out touched her teammate, Pulaski, by a slightly larger margin in the 200 breast. The senior clocked in at 2:20.07, while Pulaski turned in her first 'B' cut time as a member of the Big Red at 2:21.98.
Kane, Yearwood and Van Leuven became multiple winners in the final event of the night, the 200 freestyle relay, when they teamed up with senior Kate Wright to record a time of 1:34.54. Their winning time was over a second and a half faster than the second-place performance. The foursome of Elizabeth Kane, Bednarek, Campbell Costley and Erin Hudson took third in the event after touching in at 1:38.91.
DU's other three victories were posted by senior Taylor Johns, Costley and sophomore Halli Garza. Johns won the 1000 free with a time of 10:22.49, almost 10 seconds faster than Ana Henderson of Ohio University (10:32.16). Juniors Alex Elizeus and Alexandria Nickles followed Johns in the event with fourth (10:39.25) and fifth (10:55.57) place finishes, respectively.
Costley won the 500 freestyle with a mark of 5:04.93, while Elizeus took fourth at 5:12.44. Costley also had a runner-up showing in the 200 free (1:54.36), while Wright placed fourth with a time of 1:56.48. Garza's victory came in the 400 IM where she touched in at 4:31.92. Pulaski took fourth with a 'B' cut time of 4:36.43, while Johns was fifth at 4:41.05. Garza also took second in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:04.15. Senior Emily Eiben placed sixth in the event with a mark of 2:15.33.
Yearwood, Carolyn Kane and Van Leuven each had a second and third-place showing on the night. Yearwood was runner up in the 100 backstroke after clocking in at 58.19, while Elizabeth Kane took fifth with a time of 1:00.88. Yearwood and Libby Dalziel would finish 3-4 in the 200 back with times of 2:10.27 and 2:10.35, respectively.
In the 50 free, Carolyn Kane, Van Leuven and Hudson occupied second through fourth place. Kane turned in a time of 23.95, while Van Leuven touched at 24.10 and Hudson at 25.03. The 100 free saw Van Leuven finish runner-up with a time of 52.11 and Wright place fourth after completing the race in 53.44. Kane was third in the 100 fly with a mark of 57.70, while sophomore Stephanie Munoz took sixth after clocking in at 1:01.21.
Freshman Eva Vivero posted Denison's best diving performance of the night with a second-place finish on the 3-meter board. Vivero scored 226.20 points in six dive. She also placed fourth in the 1-meter event with a score of 187.05. Freshman Emma Weber paced the Big Red in the 1-meter with a third-place showing (195.60). Weber posted a score of 192.45 on the 3-meter board to finish in fourth. Junior Katherine Hennigan rounded out the scoring for Denison with a pair of fifth-place performances in the 1-meter (177.68) and 3-meter (180.30) events.
Denison will return to action on Saturday when they host North Coast Athletic Conference opponent, DePauw University, in a dual meet that will begin at 1 p.m. at the Trumbull Aquatics Center.
