PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Denison women's swimming & diving claimed eight different top-three finishers on Friday evening as the Big Red matched up with the University of Pittsburgh at Trees Pool in Pittsburgh.
Senior KT Kustritz led DU with four finishes in the top-three, including three, second-place finishes in the 50 and 100 breaststroke and the 100 IM. In the 50 breast, Kustritz finished second overall with a final time of 29.08. Kate Mesaros followed in fourth place at 30.40 and Olivia Lantry logged a final time of 32.22 in sixth place. Kustritz' clocked in at 1:05.06 in the 100 breast to finish in second while Mesaros claimed fourth place once again in 1:06.27. Lantry took seventh at 1:11.28.
Kustritz' final second-place finish came in the 100 IM where she touched the wall in 58.40. Senior Michaela Morrison took sixth place in 1:02.41 and fellow senior Natalie Zaravella clocked in at 1:03.46 for seventh place. Kustritz also teamed up with Angela Le, Maddie Hopkins, and Gabriella Nutter in the 200 medley relay and took third place with a 'B' cut time of 1:44.93.
Nutter also added a pair of third-place finishes in the 50 and 100 free. In the 50, Nutter checked in at 24.18. Senior Haley Gullquist trailed in fifth place at 25.50 and Eili Wright took sixth in 25.56. Nutter's third-place finish in the 100 free came in 53.16 while Morrison took sixth (55.53) and Mia Chiappe finished in seventh place (55.63).
In the 200 free, freshman Tara Culibrk finished fifth overall in 1:53.81. Chiappe followed in sixth place at 1:59.17 while Hannah Rusinko took seventh in 1:59.47. Culibrk also led the Big Red in the 300 free in third place when she clocked in at 2:57.83. Caroline Colville took fifth overall in 3:01.80 and Rusinko followed in sixth at 3:08.34.
Le added the last top-three finish for Denison in the 50 backstroke where she placed third overall with a season-best time of 26.75. Laine Newman finished in sixth place at 29.22 and Devin Javens trailed in seventh in 29.37. Le also took fourth place in the 100 backstroke with a final time of 58.54.
In the final event of the night, the quartet of Nutter, Hopkins, Le, and Casey Kirby took fifth overall in the 200 free relay after touching the wall in 1:37.68.
In the diving events, senior Naomi Clayton headlined DU's efforts in the one-meter dive in fifth place with a six-dive score of 239.25. Ally Peterson followed in eighth place at 221.40 and Mattie Stauss rounded out in 10th place at 205.35. In the three-meter dive, Stauss took sixth overall with a score of 220.13. Peterson landed in ninth place at 213.00 and Clayton took 10th overall at 201.83.
The Big Red will continue their two-day trip to Pittsburgh on Saturday, January 18 when they travel to Carnegie Mellon University to take on the Tartans and Calvin College at 1 p.m.
