CINCINNATI, Ohio – Despite garnering nine finishes in the top-three, Denison women's swimming and diving suffered a 226.50-73.50 loss to the University of Cincinnati on Saturday afternoon at the Keating Aquatic Center.
Senior KT Kustritz tallied Denison's lone victory of the afternoon in the 100 breaststroke when she clocked in with an NCAA 'B' cut time of 1:04.40. Fellow senior Kate Mesaros followed in fourth place at 1:07.15. Kustritz also competed in the 200 breaststroke where she logged a third-place finish with a final time of 2:24.72.
In the opening event of the day, Kustritz teamed up with Casey Kirby, Maddie Hopkins, and Gabriella Nutter in the 200 medley relay to place second overall after touching the wall in 1:46.11. The group also competed in the 200 free relay and finished in second place again with a 1:37.17.
In the 100 butterfly, Hopkins paced DU in second place at 58.04. Zoe Whelan took fourth place on a final mark of 59.51. Hopkins also took part in the 50 free event where she sprinted her way to a 24.46 in fourth place. Nutter trailed by .31 seconds in sixth place (24.77). She also led DU in the 100 freestyle in fifth place after clocking in at 53.91. Michaela Morrison followed in sixth at 54.33.
Freshman Keely Tierney added to DU's top-three finishes in the 1,000 freestyle when she placed third overall on a final time of 10:47.16. Sophomore Grace Kacmarek touched the wall at 10:54.77 to finish in fourth. Fellow first-year Tara Culibrk claimed a third-place finish in the 500 free behind a time of 5:12.18. Tierney followed in fourth at 5:19.47. Culibrk also took fourth in the 200 free at 1:55.33, ahead of teammate Logan Wickman in sixth on a final mark of 1:57.96.
Kirby took home a top-three finish in the 100 backstroke following a time of 59.69 in third place. Laine Newman finished in fifth place at 1:00.95. Bridget Horton led the Big Red in the 200 back after checking in at 2:09.75 in third place.
In the 400 IM, Natalie Zaravella clocked in at 4:39.06 to finish in fourth while Savannah Sargent took sixth place at 4:42.92.
In the diving events, senior Naomi Clayton highlighted Denison's efforts in the one and three-meter dives. In the one-meter, Clayton logged a six-dive score of 234.90 to finish in fifth place. Mattie Stauss followed in seventh place on a final total of 208.05. Clayton finished in sixth place in the three-meter dive with a score of 225.85 while Stauss added another seventh-place finish at 210.95.
The Big Red will return to the pool next Friday, Nov. 1 when they travel to NCAC-rival Kenyon College for a 6 p.m. start.
