GREENSBORO, N.C. (March 16, 2023) – The Denison University women's swimming & diving team continued to sit atop the leaderboard on Thursday night thanks to 11 individual All-American performances and two top-five showings in the relays at the 2023 NCAA Division III Women's Swimming & Diving Championship from the Greensboro Aquatic Center. Through 10 events, Denison leads second-place Emory University by 85.5 points (281.5-196) and is 90.5 points in front of Kenyon College (191) in third place.

Of Denison's 11 individual All-American swims on Thursday, seven of them were First-Team All-American performances (top-8).

In all during day two, the Big Red had at least one First-Team All-American finish in all five events and had three top-8 finishes in two of the three individual events.

Tara Witkowski (500 freestyle, 400 IM), Taryn Wisner (500 freestyle, 200 freestyle) and Tara Culibrk (50 freestyle, 200 freestyle) each lead the Big Red with two First-Team All-American certificates throughout the first two days of the national championship meet.

Denison started off day two with a sixth-place finish by Grace Kadlecik, Culibrk, Maja Palmroos and Phoebe Ferguson (1:33.35) in the 200 freestyle relay prelims.

Then in the finals, it was Amber Croonquist, Palmroos, Ferguson and Culibrk who worked together to help the Big Red move up to tie for fourth place with Pomona-Pitzer at 1:33.06.

That cut Denison's lead to only six points (136-130) over second-place Emory, but in the first individual event of day two, the 400 IM, the Big Red put themselves into position to score some big points as Savannah Sargent (4:21.90; 3rd place), Witkowski (4:22.18; 4th place) and Esme Wright (4:24.01; 8th place) all qualified for the A Final.

That set up a final in the 400 IM that saw Sargent (4:20.72), Witkowski (4:21.69) and Wright (4:22.36) finish in order between fourth and sixth place and collect a combined 42 points to expand Denison's lead to 36 points (178-142) over second-place Kenyon.

In the 100 butterfly, Emma Pritchett (54.54) qualified for the A Final in third place while qualifying for the B Final between 11th and 13th place was Amber Croonquist (55.50), Palmroos (55.61) and Ferguson (55.72).

Pritchett then earned third-place honors in the finals of the 100 butterfly with a time of 54.25 seconds while in the B Final, Croonquist tied for 11th place at 55.75 seconds, Palmroos finished 13th at 55.80 seconds and Ferguson was 15th at 56.20 seconds.

That increased Denison's advantage to 48.5 points (205.5-157) in the team standings as Emory jumped back ahead of Kenyon for second place after taking both the fifth and sixth-place positions in the 100 butterfly.

Then in the 200 freestyle, Denison again set itself up well as Culibrk (1:48.83) finished in first place in the prelims and was followed by Wisner (1:49.53) in fourth place and Annie Pfeufer (1:49.76) in sixth. Emily Harris (1:51.57) also qualified for the B Final in 15th place.

In the A Final, however, it was Wisner who earned her second national runner-up finish in the first two days of the meet with a time of 1:48.80 while Culibrk finished in third place at 1:49.03. Freshman Kaley McIntyre from New York University earned her second national championship (50 freestyle, 200 freestyle) of the meet with a time of 1:47.44.

In addition for the Big Red, Pfeufer finished in seventh place in the 200 freestyle at 1:50.81 in the A Final while Harris moved up to 14th place with a time of 1:52.12 in the B Final.

That grew Denison's lead to as many as 91.5 points (253.5-162) over Emory heading into the final event of the night on the women's side, the 400 medley relay.

In the 400 medley relay, Wisner, Christina Crane, Pritchett and Culibrk worked together to finish third in the prelims with a time of 3:43.62. However, in the finals, they finished in fifth place at 3:42.41. Kenyon, meanwhile, won it's second consecutive 400 medley relay national title with a time of 3:39.28.

Denison will return to the Greensboro Aquatic Center on Friday to compete in the 200 butterfly, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke, 1-meter dive and the 800 free relay. Preliminaries begin at 10 a.m. with finals starting at 6 p.m.
 
First-Team All-Americans (Top-8):
Amber Croonquist, Maja Palmroos, Phoebe Ferguson and Tara Culibrk – T-4th place in the 200 freestyle relay – 1:33.06
Savannah Sargent – 4th place in the 400 IM – 4:20.72
Tara Witkowski – 5th place in the 400 IM – 4:21.69
Esme Wright – 6th place in the 400 IM – 4:22.36
Emma Pritchett – 3rd place in the 100 butterfly – 54.25
Taryn Wisner – 2nd place in the 200 freestyle – 1:48.80
Tara Culibrk – 3rd place in the 200 freestyle – 1:49.03
Annie Pfeufer – 7th place in the 200 freestyle – 1:50.81
Taryn Wisner, Christina Crane, Emma Pritchett and Tara Culibrk – 5th place in the 400 medley relay – 3:42.41
 
Second-Team All-Americans (Top-16):
Amber Croonquist – T-11th place in the 100 butterfly – 55.75
Maja Palmroos – 13th place in the 100 butterfly – 55.80
Phoebe Ferguson – 15th place in the 100 butterfly – 56.20
Emily Harris – 14th place in the 200 freestyle – 1:52.12
 
Day Two Results