After the first day of competition at the 2016 North Coast Athletic Conference Championship, Denison is in second place with 583 points through six events. They trail first-place Kenyon by 39 points. Third-place belongs to DePauw with 332 points while Oberlin is fourth at 281.
Denison's victories came in the 200 freestyle relay and the 400 medley relay to bookend the evening. The 200 free relay came first as Carolyn Kane, Ashley Yearwood, Kate Wright and Mary Van Leuven logged the program's ninth consecutive win in the event with a time of 1:32.41. It was a season-best time for Denison as Wright led the way with a 22.35 50 split. The win marked the eighth career NCAC title for Yearwood and the sixth conference crown for Kane.
The night was capped off with Denison's first victory championship in the 400 medley relay since 2011 after Yearwood, Marissa Bednarek, Carolyn Kane and Van Leuven posted a time of 3:45.38.
In the 500 freestyle, Campbell Costley would touch third in 4:53.01 while Taylor Johns placed sixth with a time of 4:56.08. Alex Elizeus would round out the DU trio in the championship final with an eighth-place finish and a time of 4:59.92.
Seven Big Red swimmers would take part in the three finals heats of the 50 free as Van Leuven and Carolyn Kane paced Denison with second and third-place finishes, respectively. Van Leuven posted a season-best 'B' cut time of 23.44 while Kane followed in 23.61. Wright would follow in seventh with a season-best time of 23.92 and Yearwood took eighth in 24.00. Thirteenth, 14th and 22nd place would be turned in by Elizabeth Kane (24.48), Erin Hudson (24.62) and Ellen Higdon (25.19).
Seven more DU swimmers would rack up points in the 200 IM as Halli Garza's time of 2:06.88 paced the team with a fourth-place finish. Marisa Pulaski (2:07.83) and Bednarek (2:07.87 closed out the championship final with eighth and ninth-place finishes, respectively. In the B-Final, Libby Dalziel finished 12th in 2:08.90 while Leigh Hartog (2:10.80) and Emily Eiben (2:11.70) went 16-17. In the C-Final, Stephanie Munoz would finish 25th in 2:15.75.
On the women's 1-meter board, DU would pick up some additional points as three Big Red divers placed in the top-seven. First-year Emma Weber logged an 11-dive score of 403.35 which was 1.12 points higher than her entry score. Her best individual dive in the finals would come on her inward 1 ½ somersault tuck which was scored a 47.30 with a 2.2 degree of difficulty. Classmate, Eva Vivero followed in fifth place with a score of 396.35 while Katherine Hennigan ended in seventh with a score 357.60.
Denison will return to the Trumbull Aquatics Center on Friday for preliminaries in the 200 medley relay, the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back and 800 free relay beginning at 10 a.m. Finals will commence at 6:30 p.m. The championship will conclude on Saturday, Feb. 13.
