GRANVILLE, Ohio (October 29, 2022) – The No. 2 nationally-ranked Denison University women's swimming team picked up a 137-125 dual meet victory over NCAA Division I Xavier University during the Big Red's first home meet of the 2022-23 season on Saturday afternoon at the Trumbull Aquatics Center. Denison posted victories in nine events while
Phoebe Ferguson,
Drue Thielking and
Quinn Brown each earned two wins.
The meet was kicked off with the 200 medley relay as Denison's group of
Sophie Kannee, Thielking,
Maja Palmroos and
Tara Culibrk finished in third place with a time of 1:48.09.
Then in the first individual event of the meet, the 1000 freestyle,
Tara Witkowski picked up the Big Red's first win of the day with a time of 10:26.68 while
Lucy Hardart was second at 10:45.62.
The Big Red then had three of the top-five swimmers in the 200 freestyle as
Taryn Wisner (1:54.77) was second,
Esme Wright (1:55.06) was third and Culibrk (1:55.39) was fifth.
Denison won each of the next three events as
Claire Moody was first in the 100 backstroke with a time of 58.88 seconds while Thielking won the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.64 and Brown won the 200 butterfly at 2:08.04. Behind Brown in the 200 butterfly was
Nikki Barnas (2:09.53) in third and
Kelly Derasmo (2:09.58) in fourth as the Big Red took the lead over Xavier, 59-53, for the first time on the day.
Xavier quickly took back the lead on the next event as
Grace Kadlecik finished third in the 50 freestyle at 24.78 seconds.
Culbirk won the 100 freestyle with a time of 53.06 seconds, and then Denison took three of the top-five spots in the 200 backstroke and four of the top-five in the 200 breaststroke to retake the lead at 96-92. In the 200 backstroke, Moody (2:05.96) was second, Wisner (2:06.79) was third and
Emily Harris (2:08.56) was fifth while in the 200 breaststroke, Thielking (2:23.21) was first, Wright (2:25.29) was third, Sargent (2:26.02) was fourth and
Christina Crane (2:29.99) was fifth.
In the 500 freestyle, Brown (5:03.66) earned her second win of the day while Witkowski (5:06.72) was third and
Annie Pfeufer (5:14.46) was fifth as the Big Red expanded their lead to 109-98; and then Ferguson won the 100 butterfly with a time of 57.41 seconds as Denison's lead grew to 120-106.
In the final individual event, the 200 IM, Ferguson (2:07.20) made it back-to back wins with another first-place finish before Wright (2:09.56) finished third and Sargent (2:12.32) finished fifth to make the overall scoring margin 133-112 in favor of the Big Red.
The home opener for Denison was capped off by the 200 free relay, which saw Kadlecik, Culibrk,
Natalie English and Croonquist finish in second at 1:38.15.
There were no diving events held during this dual meet.
Deinson returns to action next weekend on Saturday, November 5, when they head to Gambier, Ohio, to square off against No. 1 nationally-ranked Kenyon College in a dual meeting beginning at 10 a.m.
Final Results
