GRANVILLE, Ohio (December 2, 2021) – Denison University's No. 3 nationally-ranked women's swimming and diving team are in the lead after the first day of the Third Annual Denison Invitational. The Big Red totaled 708 points on Thursday, giving them a 127-point advantage over second-place and NCAA Division I Eastern Michigan University with 581points. No. 2 nationally-ranked Emory University is third with 540 points, followed by No. 13 Washington University-St. Louis in fourth with 263 points.

In the first event final of the invitational, junior Tara Culibrk, freshman Grace Kadlecik, sophomore Natalie English and senior Annalise Cheshire earned an NCAA Division III National "B" cut while finishing in second place in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:33.71.

Then in the first individual final of the meet, the 500 freestyle, Denison earned three National "B" cuts as freshman Taryn Wisner finished first with a time of 4:51.21 while fellow-freshman Alix O'Brien was third with a time of 4:55.44 and sophomore Tara Witkowski was sixth at 5:00.59.

Sophomore Esme Wright earned a National "B' cut and finished second in the 200 IM with a time of 2:04.87, and was followed by junior Savannah Sargent in fifth place with a time of 2:06.63.

In the 50 freestyle, English (23.68 seconds), Cheshire (23.69) and Kadlecik (23.76) finished in fifth, sixth and seventh place, respectively. English's time exactly matched the NCAA Division III National "B" cut.

The 400 medley relay closed out the night's finals as Denison's A team of Cheshire, Wright, freshman Emma Pritchett and Culibrk finished second and earned a National "B" cut with a time of 3:45.25.

No diving took place on the women's side during the first day of competition.

Denison returns to the Trumbull Aquatics Center on Friday, December 3, for preliminaries at 10 a.m. with diving to follow at 12:30 p.m. Swimming finals will take place at 6 p.m.

NCAA Division III National "B" cuts:
Tara Culibrk, Grace Kadlecik, Natalie English and Annalise Cheshire – 200 freestyle relay finals – 1:33.71
Taryn Wisner – 500 freestyle finals – 4:51.21
Taryn Wisner – 500 freestyle prelims – 4:57.93
Alix O'Brien – 500 freestyle finals – 4:55.44
Alix O'Brien – 500 freestyle prelims – 4:54.36
Tara Witkowski – 500 freestyle finals – 5:00.59
Tara Culibrk – 500 freestyle prelims – 4:59.12
Esme Wright – 200 IM finals – 2:04.87
Esme Wright – 200 IM prelims – 2:05.48
Natalie English – 50 freestyle finals – 23.68
Annalise Cheshire, Esme Wright, Emma Pritchett and Tara Culibrk – 400 medley relay finals – 3:45.25

Day One Results