AKRON, Ohio- The first event of the 2019-20 season is in the books and Denison women's swimming posted a fourth-place finish at the five-team Akron Zips Classic. Denison totaled 347.5 points across the two-day event. Akron took home the title with 1,332 points. Miami was second with 1,053 and Xavier was third, besting Denison by only 21 points. Cleveland State took fifth with 253 points.
Denison competed in six events in the morning session as senior KT Kustritz led the way with a fourth-place finish and an NCAA 'B' cut time of 1:03.94 in the 100 breaststroke. Kate Mesaros finished 15th in the 100 breast in 1:06.25 and Michaela Morrison was 17th after a time of 1:07.75.
First-year Savy Sargent led a foursome of Big Red swimmers that finished in places 10-13 in the 400 IM. Sargent posted a time of 4:38.35 to finish 10th. Natalie Zaravella was 11th in 4:38.93 while Erica Hsu (4:39.64) and Grace Kacmarek (4:41.13) followed in 12th and 13th place, respectively.
Zoe Whelan tied for 12th in the 100 fly with a time of 57.76 and Casey Kirby finished 15th in the 100 back in 59.58.
The only relay of the morning session was the 200 free relay where the team of Gabriella Nutter, Maddie Hopkins, Kirby, and Kustritz placed fifth in 1:37.22.
In the evening session, six DU swimmers finished in the top-14 in the 1,650 freestyle led by Kacmarek's eighth-place time of 18:09.37. Zaravella was ninth in 18:14.11 followed by Keely Tierney (18:19.06), Hannah Rusinko (18:23.14), and Caroline Colville (18:28.35) in places 10-12. Megan Balbo touched in 14th at 18:36.90.
Kirby logged a 13th place time of 2:08.15 in the 200 back and Zoe Whelan led a group of four DU scorers in the 200 fly with a ninth-place time of 2:06.29. Mesaros (2:23.90) got the best of Kustritz (2:25.01) in the 200 breast.
Denison placed seventh in the 200 medley relay as Kirby, Kustritz, Hopkins, and Nutter finished at 1:46.99. The foursome of Morrison, Hopkins, Kirby, and Kustritz returned for an eighth-place finish in the 400 free relay in 3:34.96 to close out the two-day competition.
There were no diving events held at this competition.
Denison will travel to the University of Cincinnati next Saturday for a dual meet against the Bearcats slated for a 1 p.m. start.
