Kristen Hohl's anchor split in the 400 free relay helped Denison to their 4th national event title of the meet. Denison placed third overall for the second straight year.

After four grueling days of competition at the 2009 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championship the Denison Big Red finished in third place with 413 points and closed out the meet in style by winning the 400 freestyle relay in come-from-behind fashion.  Denison finished just 53.5 points behind second-place Emory University who totaled 466.5 team points.  Kenyon College defended their crown as women's team champion with 560 points.

Senior Kristen Hohl, who swam a brilliant 49.85 time in the 100 freestyle earlier in the night, anchored the Big Red's 400 free relay team and when she splashed down she had half a length to make up on Emory's Claire Pavlak. It became apparent within the first 25 yards that Hohl was swimming in a different gear.  It was kind of gear that maybe only a senior swimming the final race of her career could understand.  Hohl brought Denison all the way back and her 49.27 split helped her team set a new national record with a time of 3:21.97.  That marked the fourth national event championship of the meet for DU.  Emory did hang on for second place in the relay with a time of 3:23.19.  Joining Hohl on that relay team was junior Olivia Zaleski, senior Kate Rich and senior Annamarie Novinger.

As mentioned earlier, Hohl did turn in a time of 49.85 in the 100 freestyle finals.  That performance landed her in third place overall.  It was also a new school record.  Amherst's Kendra Stern set a new national record with her time of 49.37.  For Hohl it marked her fourth straight All-American performance in the 100 freestyle.  It was also a new school record for Hohl, who placed fourth in this same event in 2008.

Denison's top individual performance of the day came from first-year Hilary Callen in the women's 1650 freestyle.  After winning the North Coast Athletic Conference championship in 17:00.66 she trimmed almost 12 seconds off that time to place second overall to Emory's Liz Horvat, who obliterated the previous national record by more than 10 seconds.  Horvat's time of 16:30.17 knocked off a record that had stood since 1996.  Denison's Callen touched in 16:48.10 and her teammate, Jenny Cunningham, placed 13th in 17:13.23.

Emily Schroeder, another DU freshman making her first appearance on the big stage, followed up her NCAC title last month with a strong sixth-place finish in the 200 backstroke.  Schroeder touched in 2:20.08.  Kenyon senior Carolyn Barer won the race in 2:00.15.

After placing sixth in the 100 breaststroke last night, sophomore Ksenia Golovkina returned on Saturday with an eighth place finish in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:22.67.  It marked the sixth All-American swim of the meet for Golovkina and the ninth of her young career.

This marks the second-straight third-place finish for the Big Red at nationals. 

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