After the first full day of competition, the Denison men and Kenyon women have both raced out to early leads at the 2016 NCAC Swimming & Diving Championships at the Trumbull Aquatics Center on the campus of Denison University. The Big Red men won three of the night's five events to sit in first place with 653.5 points, while the Kenyon Ladies topped the field in three of the six women's events and lead after night two with 622 points.
The Kenyon Lords, who were victorious in the remaining two men's events on Thursday night, sit in second with 572.5 points, followed DePauw (320), Wabash (289), Wooster (219), Ohio Wesleyan (181), Wittenberg (180), Oberlin (175), Allegheny (147) and Hiram (88). The DU women won both the 200 free and 400 medley relays and currently sit in second with 583 points, followed by DePauw (332), Oberlin (281), Wooster (279), Wittenberg (197), Allegheny (195), Ohio Wesleyan (146) and 102).
The Kenyon men cut into Denison's lead in the opening event of the night as the Lords came out of lane three to win the 200 free relay in an NCAA "B" cut time of 1:20.61. In the first men's individual event of the night, Denison sophomore Stuart Hohm (Springfield, IL/Glenwood) won his first-career individual event NCAC title after touching first in the 500 free with an NCAA "B" cut time of 4:29.24. Denison junior Jack Lindell (Edina, MN/Edina) posted the men's first NCAC-record swim of the meet in the 200 IM with an NCAA "B" cut time of 1:49.21. It also marked Lindell's first-career individual event NCAC title. Another first-time NCAC individual event champion was crowned in the men's 50 free as Kenyon senior Ryan Funk (Pace, FL/Pace) touched the wall first in an NCAA "B" cut and pool-record time of 20.29. In the final men's event on Thursday night, Denison won the 400 medley relay at the NCAC Championships for the first time since 2011 with a time of 3:17.56.
In the women's 200 free relay, the Denison Big Red picked up the first points of the 2016 Championships after racing to the wall first with an NCAA "B" cut time of 1:32.41. The NCAC record fell in the women's 500 free as DePauw junior Angela Newlon (O'Fallon, IL/O'Fallon Twp.) outpaced the field in an NCAA "B" cut time of 4:48.61. Newlon also won the 2014 NCAC title in the women's 500 free. A pair of Kenyon Ladies collected their first-career NCAC individual event titles in the next two races as sophomore Julia Wilson (Bethesda, MD/Sidwell Friends) won the 200 IM in an NCAA "B" cut time of 2:03.08 and senior Hannah Lobb (Auckland, New Zealand/Epsom Girls Grammar) tied the pool record and posted an NCAA "B" cut in the 50 free with a time of 23.30. The highlight of the evening saw Kenyon senior diver Maria Zarka (Kanoehe, HI/Kalaheo) not only win her third-straight NCAC title on the one-meter board, but also break the longest standing record on the NCAC books with a winning score of 480.85. Allegheny's Melissa Moody had held the previous record of 460.30 since 1989. The DU women capped off Thursday night's action by picking up their first NCAC victory in the 400 medley relay since 2011 in a time of 3:45.38.
