Olivia Zaleski (right) and Kate Rich (left) are two of 14 national qualifiers for the Denison women's swimming team.

Denison enters the 2009 NCAA Division III Championship with the nation's fastest time in four of the five relay events and veterans Kristen Hohl (Winfield, Ill./Wheaton North), Annamarie Novinger (Longmont, Colo./Niwot), and Olivia Zaleski (Corry, Pa./Corry Area) bring a combined 41 All-America performances to the table beginning next Wednesday (March 18) in Minneapolis, Minn.

Overall, Denison will head north with 14 qualifiers which is third most behind Emory (16) and Kenyon (18).

Zaleski is coming off a perfect North Coast Athletic Conference Championship in February that saw her win seven championships and set seven conference records.  The 14-time All-American has the nation's top time in the 100 butterfly (54.84), the 100 backstroke (55.71), and is second in the 50 free at 23.19.

Her counterpart, Hohl, is making her fourth and final appearance at nationals.  The two-time Academic All-America leads Denison with 16 All-American swims.  She has the country's fastest time in the 100 freestyle (50.45) and is right behind Zaleski, in third place, in the 50 freestyle.  Novinger is also making her fourth and final trip to the national championships and is looking to build on her 11 All-American citations.  She will be a factor in the relays and in the sprint freestyle events.

Junior Ksenia Golovkina (Newton, Mass./South) swam well in her first national appearance in 2008.  She was a part of the national champion 200 medley relay team and also logged All-American swims in the 100 breaststroke and the 400 medley relay.  This year she ranks fifth in the country in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:03.74 that was set in the preliminaries of the NCAC Championships.

Senior Lauren Barone (Maumee, Ohio/Notre Dame Academy) is making her first trip to nationals after qualifying in the 200 breaststroke.  Junior Kate Rich (McMurray, Pa./Peters Twp.) was a part of that national champion 200 medley relay team in 2008 and was a part of four winning relay teams at the conference championships.  Laura Menard (Mukliteo, Wash./Kamiak) and Jenny Cunningham (Gainesville, Fla./Gainesville) round out the veterans for Denison.

The largest number of representatives come from Denison's freshman class who will send six to Minnesota.  Emily Schroeder (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern) is second to only St. Mary's (Md.) Brie McDowell in the 200 backstroke with her time of 2:01.65.  Callen and Cunningham will carry the torch for the Big Red in the distance freestyle events.  Callen is second in the mile and the 500 freestyle while Cunningham has the fourth quickest time in the 500 at 4:55.95.

The rest of Denison's rookie class is made up of Gail Blachly (Indianapolis, Ind./North Central), Laurel Brabson (Boonsboro, Md./Boonsboro), Brenna Broadus (Charlottesville, Va./Western Albemarie) and Breanna Gordon (Mission Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita).

Denison will begin the four-day championship on Wednesday (March 18) with preliminaries starting at 10 a.m. CST.  The finals will start each night at 5:30 p.m. CST.  Visit the NCAA Division III Championship Homepage for live results throughout the championships.