GRANVILLE, Ohio (June 20, 2023) – Denison University placed 34th out of 323 NCAA Division III institutions in the final 2022-23 Learfield Division III Directors' Cup standings, marking the college's 13th top-40 finish since 2004 and its best finish since 2015-16 (25th).
The Learfield Directors' Cup is given annually by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA). Points for the Directors' Cup is based on the order of finish in NCAA sponsored championships with the goal of identifying the top overall athletics department in the nation.
Denison totaled 477.50 points in this year's Director's Cup standings as eight Big Red athletics teams contributed to the total scoring. Denison collected 282 points in the Spring season (baseball, women's golf, women's lacrosse, men's lacrosse, men's tennis), 170.50 points in the Winter season (women's swimming & diving, men's swimming & diving) and 25 points in the Fall season (women's soccer).
Women's Swimming & Diving (First place, 100 points): 22 years after capturing the first national championship in school history back in 2001, the Denison women's swimming & diving team was
crowned as the 2023 NCAA Division III National Champions at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. The Big Red led the meet from wire-to-wire and ended the meet with 464.5 points, beating out Emory University (385) by 79.5 points and Kenyon College (383) by 81.5 points. Over the course of the championship, Denison totaled one national title in the 800 freestyle relay and had 37 All-American performances (32 ind., 5 relay) and 21 top-eight finishes (16 ind., 5 relay). 17 student-athletes earned at least one individual All-American certificate for the Big Red, led by
Tara Culibrk (3 First-Team),
Taryn Wisner (3 First-Team),
Tara Witkowski (3 First-Team),
Christina Crane (1 First-Team) and
Emily Harris (1 First-Team) each with three. In the post-meet awards ceremony, Denison head coach
Gregg Parini was named the NCAA Division III Women's Swimming Coach of the Year for the fifth time overall and for the first time since 2001.
Men's Swimming & Diving (Eighth place, 70.50 points): The Denison men's swimming & diving team
placed eighth overall at the NCAA Division III Championship, capping off four days of competition at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. Over the course of the four-day championship meet, the Big Red finished with 19 All-American performances (15 ind., 4 relay) and seven top-eight finishes (6 ind., 1 relay). Nine competitors for the Big Red earned at least one individual All-American certificate, led by
Richie Kurlich (2 First-Team) and
Lucas Conrads (1 First-Team) both with three.
Women's Lacrosse (Ninth place, 64 points): Merrill Rollhaus scored twice in the fourth quarter and netted the game-winning goal with just eight seconds left in triple overtime as the Denison women's lacrosse team
earned a 10-9 victory over the No. 17 nationally-ranked University of Chicago during the second round of the NCAA Tournament . Denison finished its 10th season under Head Coach
Amanda Daniels with an 11-11 overall record but advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the eighth time in school history and for the fifth season in a row.
Men's Lacrosse (Ninth place, 64 points): The No. 13 nationally-ranked Denison men's lacrosse team scored six goals in the fourth quarter to
pull away from Illinois Wesleyan University late and earn a 15-10 victory over the Titans during the second round of the NCAA Tournament inside Deeds Field-Piper Stadium. Denison finished its second season under Head Coach
Eric Koch with a 17-4 overall record, which is good for the fifth most wins in a single season in program history, and advanced to the NCAA Third Round (Sweet Sixteen) for the second season in a row.
Men's Tennis (Ninth place, 64 points): The No. 14 nationally-ranked Denison men's tennis team secured four straight victories in singles as the Big Red
defeated the University of Mary Washington 5-2 in the second round of the NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Tournament held at Case Western Reserve University.
Andreas Chapides extended his new Denison single-season record for singles wins to 31.
Zachary Portnoy's 26 total doubles wins this season were good for the second most in a single season in program history. In addition, Chapides' 45 combined wins between singles and doubles this season were good for the second most in a single season in program history while Portnoy's 44 combined wins were tied for the third most. Denison ended its 2023 season with a final record of 26-4, setting a new program record for wins in a single season for the second year in a row. Denison's win over Mary Washington also marked the third win in program history at the national tournament, but it was Denison's second win at the national tournament in the last two seasons after a 24-year gap between wins before that.
Baseball (17th place, 50 points): The No. 9 nationally-ranked and top-seeded Denison baseball team fell 10-6 against No. 12-ranked and second-seeded Baldwin Wallace University, but came back strong in the very next game with a
one-hit shutout and 7-0 defeat of third-seeded Spalding University (Ky.) to advance to the Granville Regional Championship game. The Big Red finished their 2023 season 36-10 overall, earning the second most wins in a single season in program history for the second year in a row and advancing to the regional championship game for the third year in a row. This marked the fifth consecutive NCAA Regional appearance and the second straight year hosting regionals for Denison.
Women's Golf (17th place, 40 points): After the NCAA Division III Women's Golf Committee determined that round three would officially be canceled on the grounds of an unplayable hole for the entire tournament field, the championship was ultimately concluded as a 54-hole tournament with the final round being seeded off of the completion of round two. The top-15 teams after round two advanced to the final round, leaving out
Denison (336-329; 665), which was in 17th place after round two. However, after the committee elected to advance six additional individuals to the final round, the top-12 individuals not on one of the 15 teams to advance played in the final round, including
Isabella Dolan and
Laine Hursh. Both Dolan (83-79-80; 242) and Hursh (84-79-80; 243) shot 10-over-par during round three and finished just one stroke away from each other for the tournament. Dolan finished in a tie for 36th place at plus-23 overall while Hursh ended in a four-player tie for 38th and was plus-24. The non-advancing players for Denison included
Kate Griffin (83-84; 167) in a tie for 64th,
Julia Shafir (86-87; 173) in a tie for 89th, and
Ella McRoberts (95-91; 186) in a tie for 130th.
Women's Soccer (33rd place, 25 points): No. 22 Tufts University earned a 1-0 victory over Denison
in the first round of the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship Tournament at Cozzens Field on the campus of William Smith College. The Big Red finished their 26th and final season under Head Coach
Gail Murphy 7-9-4 overall while making the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016.
Denison led all NCAC institutions in the Learfield Directors Cup standings, and was also the
NCAC's All-Sports Champion for a record 19th time.
Additionally, 42 Denison student-athletes achieved All-American status and seven received CoSIDA Academic All-America accolades (
Tara Culibrk, women's swimming;
Savannah Sargent, women's swimming;
Kerstyn Johnson, women's swimming;
Jack Bulger, men's tennis;
Sydney Cianciola, women's tennis;
Charlie Fleming, baseball;
Ari Fierer, baseball), running Denison's total of Academic All-America selections to 115.
2022-23 Denison Athletic Accomplishments by the Numbers:
- 19: Denison won its league leading nineteenth North Coast Athletic Conference All-Sports Championship in 2022-23 (The total of 190.0 points in 2022-23 by Denison is just half a point behind the conference record set by the Big Red last year (190.5 points), which had topped the previous record of 179.0 points that was set by Denison more than two decades ago in 1999-2000)
- 6: Six NCAC Championships (WSWIM, MOT&F, WGOLF, MTEN, MLAX, BASE)
- 5: Five NCAC Tournament Championships (WSOC, MTEN, MLAX, WLAX, BASE)
- 6: Six Conference Coaching Staff of the Year Awards
- 19: Nineteen Conference Athlete of the Year awards
- 8: Eight Team National Tournament Appearances
- 42: Forty-two unique All-Americans
- 7: Seven CSC Academic All-Americans
- 3.78 was baseline GPA of the James T. Glerum Top 50 Awards celebration
- 2 President's Medalists
Learfield Directors' Cup DIII Release
Learfield Directors' Cup DIII Standings
Learfield Directors' Cup DIII Conference Standings
