The Denison seniors accept their NCAC Championship trophy. DU posted 15 wins and set 11 new meet records in returning to the winners podium for the first time since 2004.

The Denison women's swimmers and divers surged into the lead midway through Thursday night's finals and never looked back.  In their wake Denison posted victories in 15 of the 20 events and set new North Coast Athletic Conference records in 11.  DU closed out Saturday strong by winning five of six events to knock off Kenyon by 131 points.  The Big Red totaled 1,740.5 points while the Ladies checked in with 1,609.5.

This is the second NCAC Championship for the Big Red and their first since 2004.  It also helps avenge last year's 15-point loss to Kenyon in what turned out to be the closest conference championship in history.

Junior Olivia Zaleski (Corry, Pa./Corry Area) was named the NCAC Swimmer of the Year for the second consecutive season and teammate Kristen Hohl (Winfield, Ill./Wheaton North) pumped her career number of conference titles up to nine after wins in tonight's 100 freestyle and 400 free relay. 

"We have some star power and we have some more depth out there," noted head coach Gregg Parini. "Zaleski was a part of three national records this weekend, the diving played a huge role and to see Hilary Callen come back today and win the mile was just tremendous."

"They preformed at a very high level and set the bar very high for nationals Minnesota." 

After her seven conference titles and seven NCAC records Zaleski's career conference championship totals have risen to 12 with one year to go.  

Hohl set a new conference record in the 100 freestyle in morning preliminaries with her time of 50.45.  It broke Erin Stanley's Denison record of 51.20 that had stood since 2001. Hohl returned in the final with a time of 50.54 to pick up her fourth win of the meet.  

Later, both Zaleski and Hohl combined with Annamarie Novinger (Longmont, Colo./Niwot) and Kate Rich (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township) to close out the meet with record-setting performance in the 400 free relay.  Hohl anchored with a 49.96 split to clinch the record in 3:24.80.  That topped a conference mark that had been held by Denison since 1999.

The night would be led-off by Callen who posted a "A" cut time of 17:00.66 in the 1650 freestyle.  Sophomore Jenny Cunningham (Gainesville, Fla./Gainesville) followed in 17:11.07 which was also an automatic qualifying performance for the Big Red.

Another rookie who landed her name in the record books was freshman Emily Schroeder (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern).  The lone DU representative in the 200 backstroke final turned in a clutch performance by following her record setting prelim time of 2:01.65 with a win in the final.  Kenyon would occupy third, fourth and fifth place in the 200 back but the 46-point swing would not be enough when all the chips were counted.

Denison's final individual title was earned by Laurel Brabson (Boonsboro, Md./Boonsboro) in the 200 butterfly.  She posted an automatic qualifying time of 2:05.56 and was followed in fifth and sixth place, respectively by Lauren Pipkin (Lawrence, Kan./Free State) and Brenna Broadus (Charlottesville, Va./Western Albemarie).

The final result from Saturday saw Laruen Barone (Maumee, Ohio/Notre Dame Academy), Rochelle Akradi (Eagan, Minn./Eagan) and Ksenia Golovkina (Newton, Mass./Newton South) placed fourth, sixth and eighth respectively in the 200 breaststroke.  

Denison would make a clean sweep in the women's award ceremony with Parini taking home Swimming Coach of the Year honors for the seventh time and Zaleski picking up her second NCAC Swimmer of the Year plaque.  In diving, Steve Ritter was named Coach of the Year and first-year Brett Balling (Troy, Mich./Troy) was named Diver of the Year after wins in the one and three meter dives.

DU will return to the pool next weekend in search of more NCAA qualifying times at the Kenyon Invitational in Gambier, Ohio.

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