Thanks to five, top-six finishes Denison sits in third-place through four events at the 2016 NCAA Division III Women's Swimming & Diving Championship from Greensboro, N.C.
Defending national champ, Emory University, is the leader with 127 points. Kenyon is second with 119 points followed by Denison with 79. Williams College checks in fourth with 64 points.
In the 500 freestyle, the duo of Campbell Costley and Taylor Johns logged a pair of top-six performances to score 29 points toward the team total. After finishing fourth in 2014 and fifth a year ago, Costley logged a third-place finish in 4:51.36 while trimming 1.31 seconds off her prelim time. Johns would go on to finish sixth in the event for the third consecutive year with a time of 4:53.54. It marked the 11th All-American swim for Johns and the ninth for Costley.
In the 50 freestyle, Carolyn Kane touched in 22.90 to place third. She trimmed 0.19 seconds off her time in preliminaries for her 13th All-American certificate of her career. This third-place finish comes after a runner-up finish in 2015 and a third-place showing in 2014. In the morning, Denison's Mary Van Leuven and Ashley Yearwood just missed the cut for the finals, placing 17th and 18th respectively.
Kane would return to lead-off the 200 medley relay team along with Marissa Bednarek, Yearwood and Van Leuven. The foursome would finish second in 1:41.94. Van Leuven gave first-place Emory a run thanks to her 22.82 freestyle split. Their second-place finish marks an improvement over last year's fifth-place showing in the event.
Denison will return to the Greensboro Aquatic Center on Thursday for prelims and finals in the 200 free relay, the 400 IM, the 100 fly, 200 free and the 400 medley relay. The 200 free relay team of Kane, Yearwood, Kate Wright and Van Leuven have the fastest entry time in the event. Preliminaries will begin at 10 a.m. followed by finals at 6 p.m.
