Women's Swimming
Women's Swimming & Diving: Big Red Set for Miami Invitational
Kathy Faingold and the Big Red will compete at the Miami Invitational starting Thursday.
Date: November 28, 2007
Location: GRANVILLE
The third ranked Denison women's swimming and diving team will travel to Oxford, Ohio for the annual, three-day Miami Invitational which begins on Thursday (Nov. 29) and continues through Saturday (Dec. 1).
The Big Red are one of 12 teams participating in the meet and one of just two Division III schools to receiving an invite. Joining the Big Red will be fellow Division III power Emory University and Truman State, who's six-year reign as national champion at the NCAA Division II level came to an end last March as they placed second in their respective national championship. The remaining nine schools all come from the NCAA Division I level. They are comprised of host, Miami, Illinois-Chicago, Florida Gulf Coast, Wright State, Cincinnati, Oakland, Marshall, Houston and Cleveland State.
Denison, who placed fifth at the NCAA Division III Championship meet last March and trailed third place Emory by only 28 points, will get sneak-peak of the top-ranked Eagles prior to the national championship meet, which will take place in the same facility as this week's Miami Invitational (Nixon Aquatic Center).
Leading Denison early in the season has been freestylers Kristen Hohl (Winfield, Ill./Wheaton North), Olivia Zaleski (Corry, Pa./Corry Area), Annamarie Novinger (Longmont, Colo./Niwot) and Kathy Faingold (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny).
Hohl posted a time of 52.93 in the 100 freestyle versus Kenyon and will look to lower that NCAA provisional time this weekend. Zaleski holds the team's lowest time in the 50 free and the 100 backstroke. She covered the 50 yards in 24.37 seconds versus Kenyon and returned in the same meet with a 59.91 in the 100 back.
Faingold is a member of the Big Red's 400 free relay and 400 medley relay teams and also has posted provisional qualifying times in the 200 IM and the 200 breaststroke. Novinger also has swum on the 400 free relay team and has the team's top-time in the 20 freestyle this year at 1:55.46.
This is Denison's third consecutive year of competing at the Miami Invitational. Last season was their best performance to date, placing third out of 11 teams with 1,200 team points. Also helping the Big Red's cause this season will be first-year divers Elizabeth Litwab (Loudonville, N.Y./Albany Academy for Girls) and Samantha Salas (Fairfax, Va./Robinson Secondary School).