GRANVILLE, Ohio (December 2, 2022) – Following an impressive showing on Thursday, the No. 5 Denison University women's swimming & diving team logged 13 more NCAA Division III National "B" cut times and a pair of event victories in the finals on Friday night as the Big Red increased their lead at the Fourth Annual Denison Invitational held at the Trumbull Aquatics Center in Granville. Currently holding a two-day total of 1,387 points, the Big Red sit 158 points ahead of No. 2 nationally-ranked Emory University with 1,229 points. NCAA Division I Eastern Michigan University follows in third place with a team score of 1,134 while No. 6 Johns Hopkins University (687) and No. 20 Washington University-St. Louis (553) round out the team standings in fourth and fifth place, respectively.

After finishing with 13 National "B" cut times during the finals on Thursday, the Big Red are now up to a total of 26 "B" cut swims and three event victories across two days at the invitational.

In addition, for the second year in a row, Esme Wright, Savannah Sargent, Tara Witkowski and Rebecca Martin each earned an NCAA Division III National "B" cut in the 400 IM while Tara Culibrk and Annie Pfeufer did so again in the 200 freestyle.

The night opened with an NCAA Division III National "B" cut time from Denison's 200 medley relay "B" squad as Lauren Richner, Drue Thielking, Maja Palmroos and Grace Kadlecik finished third with a time of 1:43.89.

The Big Red then put together four of the top-five times in the first individual swim of the night, the 400 IM, where Denison also earned four National "B" cuts and increased its lead to 145 points (883-738) over Eastern Michigan. Wright (4:23.44) picked up the win in the 400 IM while Sargent (4:23.60) was second, Witkowski (4:26.84) was fourth and Martin (4:27.66) was fifth.

In the 100 butterfly, Palmroos (55.57) and Phoebe Ferguson (55.79) both earned "B" cut times and finished in third and fifth place, respectively, as the Big Red lead over EMU continued to expand, this time up to 216 points (1,040-824).

Denison proceeded to earn three more National "B" cuts in the 200 freestyle as Culibrk (1:51.15), Pfeufer (1:51.22) and Quinn Brown (1:51.25) finished in order in fourth, fifth and sixth place.

Denison's second win of the night came from Christina Crane with a National "B" cut time of 1:02.96 in the 100 breaststroke while Thielking added a "B" cut herself with a time of 1:03.15 to land in third place.

Denison's lone swimmer in the "A" final of the 100 backstroke was Sophie Kannee, who finished in ninth place with a time of 58.27 seconds; and then in the 800 freestyle relay, Denison's group of Wright, Brown, Pfeufer and Culibrk finished in second place with a "B" cut time of 7:29.50.

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

The Big Red women's team will look to secure its second straight and third overall title in four years of the Denison Invitational on Saturday, December 3, with preliminaries scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., followed by finals at 6 p.m. Women's 1-meter diving will start at 12:30 p.m.
 
NCAA Division III National "B" cuts:
Lauren Richner, Drue Thielking, Maja Palmroos and Grace Kadlecik – 200 medley relay finals – 1:43.89
Sophie Kannee, Christina Crane, Phoebe Ferguson and Grace Kadlecik – 200 medley relay prelims – 1:43.06
Claire Moody, Drue Thielking, Maja Palmroos and Amber Croonquist – 200 medley relay prelims – 1:45.06
Esme Wright – 400 IM finals – 4:23.44
Esme Wright – 400 IM prelims – 4:27.57
Savannah Sargent – 400 IM finals – 4:23.60
Savannah Sargent – 400 IM prelims – 4:26.46
Tara Witkowski – 400 IM finals – 4:26.84
Tara Witkowski – 400 IM prelims – 4:26.91
Rebecca Martin – 400 IM finals – 4:27.66
Maja Palmroos – 100 butterfly finals – 55.57
Phoebe Ferguson – 100 butterfly finals – 55.79
Tara Culibrk – 200 freestyle finals – 1:51.15
Tara Culibrk – 200 freestyle prelims – 1:51.11
Annie Pfeufer – 200 freestyle finals – 1:51.22
Annie Pfeufer – 200 freestyle prelims – 1:51.89
Quinn Brown – 200 freestyle finals – 1:51.25
Quinn Brown – 200 freestyle prelims – 1:51.34
Christina Crane – 100 breaststroke finals – 1:02.96
Christina Crane – 100 breaststroke prelims – 1:02.80
Drue Thielking – 100 breaststroke finals – 1:03.15
Drue Thielking – 100 breaststroke prelims – 1:04.13
Esme Wright, Quinn Brown, Annie Pfeufer and Tara Culibrk – 800 freestyle relay finals – 7:29.50

Fourth Annual Denison Invitational Day Two Results