INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (March 19, 2022) – The Denison women's swimming & diving team placed third at the NCAA Division III Championship, capping off four days of competition at the IU Natatorium. This marked the 13th straight trip to the podium (top-four) for the Denison women.

Denison was in contention throughout the meet, even taking over first-place for a moment on Saturday. At the end of the meet, however, Kenyon placed first with 446 points while Emory was second with 439 points and Denison totaled 411.5 points across the championship's 20 events.

Denison's point total got a big boost early on in the night on Saturday when Taryn Wisner, Tara Witkowski and Alix O'Brien all logged All-American finishes in the 1,650 freestyle. Wisner took the silver and finished in second place with a new Denison varsity record time of 16:40.23. Additionally, Wisner's 1,000 freestyle time of 10:05.02 during the swim was also a new Denison varsity record. Meanwhile, Witkowski checked in fourth with a 1,650 time of 16:47.18 while O'Brien was right behind her in fifth with a time of 16:51.81.

Denison recorded 46 points in the 1,650 freestyle to take over first place by 25.5 points over Emory, 352.5-327, while Kenyon was 29.3 points behind the Big Red at the time.

Tara Culibrk and Annalise Cheshire would follow in the 100 freestyle with 16 points toward Denison's cause. In the prelims, Culibrk (50.72 seconds) was sixth while Cheshire (50.93 seconds) was 12th. Then in the finals, Culibrk placed seventh in 50.65 seconds while Cheshire took fifth in the B Final to place 13th overall after a time of 51.06 seconds.

Denison held a 10.5-pont lead over Emory, 368.5-358, and was 14.5 points ahead of Kenyon after the 100 freestyle. Unfortunately, the Big Red were unable to send anybody to compete in the finals in the 200 backstroke or the 200 breaststroke, resulting in a 45.5-point margin between Kenyon (414 points) in first and Denison (368.5 points) in third.

Kerstyn Johnson qualified for the A Final in the 3-meter dive with 442.95 points, which was good for fourth place. Then in the finals, Johnson remained in fourth place with 452.45 points to earn All-American honors.

The championship was then capped off by a fifth-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay. The team of Culibrk, Natalie English, Grace Kadlecik and Annie Pfeufer completed the prelim race in second at 3:23.38 before Culibrk, Cheshire, Kadlecik and Pfeufer took fifth in the finals with a time of 3:23.95.

Over the course of the championship, Denison totaled one event national championship by Taryn Wisner (500 freestyle), 29 All-American performances and 20 top-eight finishes. Denison women's swimming & diving has a storied tradition highlighted by a national championship in 2001, 34 straight top-seven national finishes dating back to 1987 and 51 event national championships.
 
All-Americans (Top-8):
Taryn Wisner – 2nd place in the 1,650 freestyle – 16:40.23
Tara Witkowski – 4th place in the 1,650 freestyle – 16:47.18
Alix O'Brien – 5th place in the 1,650 freestyle – 16:51.81
Tara Culibrk – 7th place in the 100 freestyle – 50.65
Kerstyn Johnson – 4th place on the 3-meter diving board – 452.45
Tara Culibrk, Annalise Cheshire, Grace Kadlecik, Annie Pfeufer – 5th place in the 400 freestyle relay – 3:23.95
 
Honorable Mention All-Americans (Top-16):
Annalise Cheshire – 13th place in the 100 freestyle – 51.06
 
Day Four Results
Final Results