Denison Press Release
Denison University women's swimming & diving earned their ninth North Coast Athletic Conference championship on Saturday night capping off an impressive four-day performance. Denison totaled 1,988 points and Kenyon followed with 1,769 points. Third place went to DePauw with 1,108 and Wooster checked in fourth at 1,064.
On Saturday night, Denison won 6 of 7 events to finish with 15 victories out of 21 total events.
Carolyn Kane was named the NCAC Swimmer of the Year in the post-meet ceremony with good reason. She won all seven events that she competed in at this year's championship. Her 7-for-7 performance moved her into third-place all-time at DU with 17 conference championships. Kane's night got started with a 100 freestyle victory in 51.34. It was her second win in the event. Her first came in 2015. Gabriella Nutter followed in fifth at 52.46.
Kane returned to cap off the night with a win in the 400 free relay. She anchored the relay that consisted of Nutter, KT Kustritz, and Casey Kirby. Not only did she anchor it, she led rallied for the win after an impressive final 100 split of 49.66. DU posted a time of 3:26.51 while Kenyon touched second at 3:26.58.
Prior to the men's 3-meter diving, Halli Garza became the second athlete to become a three-time winner in the 200 fly as she posted a 'B' cut and new pool record time of 2:01.81. It marked the fourth NCAC title for Garza in her career. Zoe Whelan followed in third place in 2:06.97 and Eva Jorn was eighth in 2:12.09. This was the 12th time a Denison swimmer has won the 200 fly at the NCAC Championship.
While Kane and Garza put capstones on impressive careers at the conference meet, a trio of rookies jumpstarted theirs. Kustritz was named the NCAC Newcomer of the Year after setting a conference and pool record in the 100 IM in 57.81. She ended the meet with six conference championships.
Hannah Rusinko and Kate Mesaros logged their first college championships as Rusinko placed first in the 200 back and Mesaros won the 200 breast. After swimming the grueling 1,650 freestyle and placing eighth in 17:36.63, Rusinko won the 200 back with a season-best 'B' cut time of 2:02.72. Erica Hsu was the runner-up in 2:03.73 and Kirby placed fourth in 2:05.80. Jacqueline Kurkjian rounded out the event with a fifth-place finish in 2:07.22.
In the 200 breaststroke, Mesaros was the champ with a season-best 'B' cut of 2:19.90. She is the first Denison swimmer to win the 200 breast since Natalie Lugg in 2014 and the 10th overall. Ellen Higdon picked up an all-conference certificate with a third-place showing in 2:24.71 and Natalie Zaravella placed fourth in 2:26.66.
2015 NCAC Swimmer of the Year, Campbell Costley, swam her final mile at the NCAC Championship and for the second time in her career, she was the runner-up with a time of 16:59.84. Since 2014 she has finished second, third, first and second at the NCAC meet. Fellow senior Alex Elizeus logged a ninth-place finish in 17:45.89.
In addition to Kane and Kustritz's awards, Allison Fitzgerald was named the NCAC Diver of the Year and Russ Bertram was named the Women's Diving Coach of the Year for the first time.
Over the course of the four-day meet, Denison posted 15 victories and 33 top-3 finishes.
For the ninth consecutive year, Denison University men's swimming & diving are the North Coast Athletic Conference champions. Denison totaled 1,953 points and won 17 of 21 events to lock up the win over second-place Kenyon. This is the 10th NCAC Championship overall and ninth-straight for the Denison men.
Denison outdistanced the Lords by 203 points as Kenyon checked in with 1,750 points. DePauw University was third with 1,141.5 points.
Senior Max Levy won his second-straight NCAC Championship on the 3-meter board with an 11-dive score of 570.85. For Levy, it marked a sweep of the conference diving championships. At the post-meet awards ceremony, he was named the NCAC Diver of the Year for the first time in his career.
Checking in second on the 3-meter board was senior Brian Allen who posted a score of 459.10. This is the second-straight runner-up finish for Allen on the 3-meter and his third all-conference performance. First-year Michael Burke placed sixth with a score of 405.60.
Denison's first victory of the night came from first-year Bebe Wang in the 100 IM. This marked the first year that the 100 IM was a championship sanctioned event. Wang touched in 51.56 for the win. Stuart Hohm and Kenny Fox followed in fourth and fifth place, respectively in 52.90 and 53.17.
Jason Wesseling capped off a strong NCAC Championship with his fourth win of the week and his sixth NCAC title of his career in the 200 backstroke. Wessling out-touched his teammate, Jack Lindell, at the wall with a time of 1:48.32. Lindell finished second in 1:48.68. This marked the ninth time a Denison swimmer has won the 200 back.
In the 100 freestyle, Denison dominated the top of the standings, placing 1-4 in the A-Final. The champion was Zach Wagner with a season-best 'B' cut time of 44.37. It marked the fourth conference title for Wagner at the meet, but his first in an individual event. After the 100 free, Denison's lead over Kenyon stood at 136 points.
Denison's 15th victory of the championship came in the 200 breaststroke. Jake Ball followed up a fourth-place finish in 2016 with his first individual conference title in 2017. Ball finished in 2:03.17 and Ryan Stevenson followed in third place after posting a time of 2:03.23. Tiernan Foster-Smith followed Stevenson in fourth at 2:05.87.
In the 1,650 free, Matt Hedman logged a season-best 'B' cut time of 15:40.04 and Ben Burdick followed in third place at 15:52.13. For Hedman, it marked his second straight all-conference performance in the mile. Last year he placed third.
In the 200 fly, Denison placed two in the A-Final as Francis Biagioli finished fourth in 1:52.49 and Kymani Senior took ninth in 1:58.36.
The championship was capped off in style as the team of Dauksher, Wagner, Gerlach and Howes won the 400 free relay in 2:59.23. That marks the second-straight year DU has ended the meet with a win in the final event.
In addition to Levy's Diver of the Year award, Lindell was named the NCAC Swimmer of the Year for the second time. Lindell won the 200 IM, 400 IM and placed second in the 200 backstroke. Russ Bertram was named the NCAC Men's Diving Coach of the Year for the fourth-straight year and Gregg Parini was named the Men's Swimming Coach of the Year for the ninth time.
Since Wednesday's opening event, the Big Red not only won 81 percent of the events, they also racked up 31 top-3 performances.
Kenyon Press Release
The Kenyon College Ladies chalked up one more event win Saturday at the North Coast Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Championship, but it wasn’t enough to lift the Ladies past host Denison University, which went on to capture its eighth crown in the past nine seasons.
Kenyon, which won the 2016 title by scoring 1,957.5 points, finished this year’s four-day meet in second place with 1,769 points. Denison topped the final standings with 1,988 points, while DePauw University (1,108), The College of Wooster (1,064) and Oberlin College (824) rounded out the top five in the nine-team race.
Kenyon’s event title was captured in the first race of the Saturday-night session. Sophomore Marysol Arce won the 1,650-yard freestyle in a time of 16:45.37. It was her second event title of the championship and her third career conference crown. She led a Kenyon contingent that took five of the top six positions in the race. Not too far behind Arce were Kendall Vanderhoof in third place (17:06.49), Julie Dierker in fourth place (17:14.70), Gail Anderson in fifth (17:14.81) and Sarah Lloyd in fifth (17:32.79).
Up next was a new event to the championship, the 100-yard individual medley. Kenyon again had three top-five finishers with sophomore Abby Chopp leading the way. She took second place in 59.11. Laura Duncan was fourth (1:00.75) and Hollie Hopf was fifth (1:01.58).
Kenyon entered the evening trailing Denison by 220 points, but after the 200-yard backstroke and 100-yard freestyle, the Ladies closed the gap to 89 points. Freshman Sydney Matteson led the way in the backstroke by clocking in with a third-place time of 2:04.73. In the 100 free, Sophia Kuvan, Zoe Toscos and Princess Vilan Ferguson-Nguyen went 2-3-4 with respective times of 51.78, 52.01 and 52.35. Kenyon had three more top-nine finishers in the 100 free and wound up outscoring the Big Red, 165-63, in the event.
The Ladies, however, would not get any closer the rest of the way, despite a second-place finish from Amelia Loydpierson in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:20.76) and another second-place finish from Kanchi Desai in the 200-yard butterfly (2:06.30).
Kenyon wrapped up the championship meet with a second-place showing in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The quartet of Kuvan, Toscos, Ferguson-Nguyen and Julia Green clocked in at 3:26.58, just shy of the winning time of 3:26.51 posted by Denison’s relay squad.
The Ladies, who decided to sit out a handful of swimmers in preparation for the national meet in mid-March, will dive back into competition Saturday when they host the Kenyon College Invitational beginning at noon.
The Kenyon Lords dialed up two victories and three second-place marks on Saturday night and concluded the North Coast Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championship in second place.
Kenyon totaled 1,750 points while host Denison University won the title with 1,953 points.
Junior David Perez started the final session in prime fashion as he won the 1,650 yard freestyle. He touched the wall in 15:38.01 which met ‘B’ cut standards and qualified as his best time this season. Brooks McCoy also earned a ‘B’ cut finish as he clocked in at 16:01.30.
First-year Connor Rumpit turned in Kenyon’s next first-place finish. During the 200 butterfly, Rumpit clocked in at 1:50.24 and secured 35 points for the Lords. It was also a ‘B’ cut finish. After the meet, Rumpit was named the NCAC’s Men’s Newcomer of the Year.
In the same race, Perez took the runner-up spot and met NCAA standards.
Delivering Kenyon’s first runner-up finish was from Gabriel Bellott-McGrath. In the 100 individual medley, he completed the race in 51.84, the best mark by the team this season. Coire Gavin-Hanner had the other second-place mark during the 200 breaststroke with a ‘B’ cut time of 2:03.23.
Kenyon’s final top individual mark came from senior Oscar Anderson in the 200 backstroke. With a time of 1:49.37, he not only earned a ‘B’ cut, he also secured third place. Additionally, freshman Colin Reardon placed fourth and had a ‘B’ finish in the same event.
In the last event of the night, the Lords came in second during the 400 free relay. AJ Reid, Ben Baturka, Austin Pu and Tommy Weiss finished in 3:01.80 and met ‘B’ cut standards.
The remaining schedule for the Lords looks like this. Next weekend they’ll host the Kenyon College Invitational starting at noon. Following the NCAA Diving Regional in Grand Rapids, Michigan on February 24-25, they’ll venture down to Shenandoah, Texas to take part in the NCAA Division III Championship from March 14-18.
