Denison Men
For the eighth consecutive year, the Denison men's swimming and diving team are North Coast Athletic Conference champions. The Big Red finished with 1942.5 points outdistancing second-place Kenyon by 228 points.
Denison won 11 of 20 events at the championship, led by junior Jack Lindell who was named the Male Swimmer of the Year after three individual championships in the 200 IM, 400 IM and the 200 backstroke on Saturday night. Junior Max Levy was named the Male Diver of the Year for the first time in his career after a first-place finish on the 3-meter board and a runner-up showing on the 1-meter.
Mitch Williams was named the Newcomer of the Year after two all-conference performances in the 400 IM and the 200 fly. Denison's Gregg Parini and Russ Bertram would also take home respective Coach of the Year Awards. For Parini, this is his eighth men's swimming NCAC Coach of the Year award. This is the third-straight men's diving Coach of the Year award.
Lindell's win came in the second event of the night, the 200 backstroke. He posted a time of 1:47.89 to win. In third-place, Jason Wesseling touched in 1:51.63. Lindell's win marked the eighth time a Denison swimmer has posted a conference title in the 200 back.
Denison's second win of the night and 11th victory of the meet would come in the 400 free relay as Stuart Hohm, Ryan Fleming, Max Howes and Conrad Wuorinen broke Kenyon's six-year stranglehold on the event with a victorious time of 2:59.28. Kenyon took the lead at the start, but during Howes' leg the tide began to turn. A 44.25 100 split by Wuorinen would lock up the win. That was a season-best time for the DU relay. It also marks the ninth time a Denison team has captured the 400 free relay title at the NCAC Championship.
In the 100 freestyle, Denison's depth was on full display once again as five swimmers placed in the top-11 in the standings. Fleming came in second with a time of 45.12. Wuorinen, the 2014 100 free champ, was third in 45.19 while Howes touched sixth in 45.40. In the B-Final, Hohm won the heat in 45.87 while Kenny Fox took 11th overall and second in the heat in 46.02.
The Big Red went 2-3-4 in the 200 butterfly as Williams touched with a season-best 'B' cut time of 1:49.87 landing him as the runner-up. Friday night's 100 fly champ, Andrew Rich, finished third in the 200 fly in 1:50.85 while Blake Kent wound up fourth with a season-best 'B' cut time of 1:51.00.
Four more DU swimmers would post top-10 performances in the 200 breaststroke as Jake Ball, Joe Brunk, Ryan Stevenson and Brendan Howley went 4-5-6-10, respectively. Ball led the pack with a time of 2:04.20. Brunk posted a season-best 'B' cut time of 2:04.32 while Ryan Stevenson touched in 2:04.88.
The first event of the last night was the 1,650 freestyle which saw Ben Burdick lead the way with a time of 15:47.82 to finish second. That trimmed 7.31 seconds off his previous season-best time. Matt Hedman placed third in 15:54.11. That was a 4.24-second improvement on his 'B' cut time. Fourth place would go to last year's champion in the event, Aaron Saccurato. He covered the mile-long swim in 15:59.42. The winning pace was set by Kenyon's David Perez in 15:44.06.
In addition to Denison's 11 event titles, the Big Red also totaled 48 top-9 (championship heat) finishes and 26 all-conference (top-3) performances. This is Denison's eighth-straight team championship and the program's ninth overall.
Denison Women
The Denison women's swimming and diving team closed out the final night of the 2016 North Coast Athletic Conference Championship with two more event championships but for the first time since 2008, the Big Red did not come away with the team title. Denison would finish second with 1,787.5 points while Kenyon took home the title with 1,957.5 points.
The highlight of the night for Denison came in the final event, the 400 free relay, as Carolyn Kane, Ashley Yearwood, Kate Wright and Mary Van Leuven broke their own meet record and Trumbull Aquatics Center record with a winning time of 3:22.65. That was also a new season-best time for the Big Red relay.
In the 200 butterfly, Halli Garza won her second-straight conference title in the event with a pool record time of 2:02.40. Emily Eiben placed third in 2:06.88 while Stephanie Munoz won the B-Final in 2:10.86. Garza, who is already the school record-holder in the event. This was her third NCAC title of her career.
The 1,650 free started off the night. Last year's champion, Campbell Costley, placed third in 16:58.39 while Taylor Johns took home fourth in 16:58.47. Alex Elizeus in sixth-place rounded out the top finishers for the Big Red in the mile. She completed the race in 17:27.06. The winner of the 1,650 was Angela Newlon of DePauw who broke Costley's conference record with a time of 16:29.39.
The 100 free saw DU go 2-3-4 in the championship final as Carolyn Kane led the way in 50.84. Van Leuven placed third in 50.91 while Yearwood took fourth in 51.39. Van Leuven's time was a season-best 'B' cut swim.
Marissa Bednarek was the runner-up in the 200 breaststroke after touching in 2:18.23. Marisa Pulaski logged an all-conference finish by taking third in 2:18.45. That was a season-best 'B' cut time. Another season-best time would come from Ellen Higdon in 2:22.36. That landed her in fifth place in the event. In the B-Final, Leigh Hartog finished third in the heat and 12th overall in 2:29.67.
The swimming was rounded out by Kate Wright and Libby Dalziel who went 5-6 in the 200 back. Wright posted a season-best time of 2:05.49.
On the women's 3-meter board, Denison's Emma Weber finished second with an 11-dive score of 407.55. Junior Katherine Hennigan posted a score of 369.75 to place fifth and first-year Evan Vivero finished eighth with a score of 353.00.
Denison won seven of 20 events at this year's championship. There was 21 all-conference performances (top-3) and 50 championship heat swims (top-9). Denison has finished first or second at the NCAC Championship 28 times.
