Through 14 of 20 events, Denison women's swimming sits in fourth place at the 2016 NCAA Division III Championship. The Big Red trails third place Williams College by 20 points heading into the final day. Emory remained in the lead with 407 points while Kenyon is second with 338.
Denison kicked off the Friday night's finals with a seventh-place finish from Halli Garza in the 200 butterfly. Garza followed up her sixth-place showing from a year ago with a time of 2:03.61 to earn 12 points towards DU's cause. Amanda Stadermann of Washington University won the event in 2:00.53. After the first event, the Big Red sat in fourth-place overall, trailing third-place Williams by only seven points.
In the 100 backstroke, senior Ashley Yearwood qualified for the consolation heat after a time of 56.76 in prelims. She returned with a time of 56.91 in the finals to finish 16th. This marked the 20th career All-American swim for Yearwood, placing her in some exclusive company. She is the 14th women's swimmer at DU to earn 20 or more All-American certificates.
Senior Marissa Bednarek would represent Denison in the 100 breaststroke championship final after she placed seventh in preliminaries. Bednarek improved one spot, taking sixth in 1:02.93. It marked the best finish of her career in the event after placing seventh in 2015 and 15th in 2014. Bednarek also came close to the Denison varsity record held by Natalie Lugg (1:02.93).
The night was wrapped up by the 800 freestyle relay team of Campbell Costley, Alex Elizeus, Kate Wright and Taylor Johns. They entered the meet with the nation's third-fastest time in the event and would go on to finish fourth in 7:24.47. Johns logged a 1:50.31 in her 200 split to hold off Chicago. This marked a one-spot improvement over last year's fifth-place showing for DU.
Denison will close out the national meet on Saturday with finals in the 1,650 free, 100 free, 200 breaststroke and 400 free relay. The Big Red owns the nation's fastest time in the 400 free and Campbell Costley and Taylor Johns are both ranked in the top-7 in the mile. Kane boasts Division III's second-fastest time in the 100 free and Bednarek is seeded sixth in the 200 breast. Preliminaries will begin at 10 a.m. with finals commencing at 6 p.m.
