Women's Swimming
Women's Swimming: Denison third after first night of 2008 nationals
Olivia Zaleski helped DU to a pair of second-place relay finishes and logged a sixth place finish in the 50 free on Thursday night in Oxford.
Date: March 13, 2008
Location: OXFORD, Ohio
After the first night of competition at the 2008 NCAA Division III Championships in Oxford, Ohio the Denison Big Red sits in third place with 114 points. DU trails second-place Amherst College by just eight points while Kenyon College is the day one leader with 205 points.
Denison opened up the 2008 meet with a runner-up finish in the 200 freestyle relay. Led by junior Kristen Hohl's (Winfield, Ill./Wheaton North) 22.97 split, the team of Olivia Zaleski (Corry, Pa./Corry Area), Hohl, Annamarie Novinger (Longmont, Colo./Niwot) and Kate Rich (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township) finished with a time of 1:34.15. Kenyon took first in the event with a time of 1:33.55 but Hohl's blazing 50 meters was the fastest split in the race.
After swimming the final leg of the 200 free relay, Rich, who placed 26th in last year's 200 individual medley, reached the finals after a preliminary swim of 2:05.65. She would go on to place eighth in the event after touching in 2:06.25. Rich was followed by classmate Kathy Faingold (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) who logged a 10th place finish with a time of 2:07.06. Also swimming in the 200 IM for Denison was senior Ginny Walsh (Austin, Texas/St. Andrews) who placed 22nd and freshman Bethany Sabourin (Troy, Mich./Troy Athens) who came in 37th.
The 50 freestyle saw DU land a pair of swimmers in the championship heat. Hohl would go on to touch in 23.62 to place fourth while Zaleski would finish in 23.78 which was good for sixth place. Emory University's Ruth West was the champion in the 50 free with a time of 23.40.
The Big Red failed to place anyone in the finals of the 500 freestyle but senior Kacey Centrella (Douglassville, Pa./Boyertown) scored a 19th place finish after covering the 500 yards in 5:05.75. Novinger and first-year Taylor Blake (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla./Suncoast) landed in 28th and 36th place, respectively. The championship in the 500 yard freestyle went to Amherst freshman Kendra Stern who set a new NCAA Division III record with her swim of 4:52.34. Stern's performance broke the record previously held by Denison graduate Tamara Carty since 2002.
Thursday night's final event was the 400 medley relay. After a third place finish in 2007, Denison improved one spot and thanks to strong swims by senior Anna Comella (Dover, Ohio/Dover), freshman Ksenia Golovkina (Newton, Mass./Newton South), Zaleski and Hohl, the Big Red trimmed 4.55 seconds off their preliminary time to log a 3:47.04. Amherst edged DU with a time of 3:46.87 to win the event and jump Denison in the standings heading into Friday's second day.
Preliminaries at the Corwin M. Nixon Aquatic Center on the campus of Miami University will begin at 11 a.m. with finals kicking off at 6:30 p.m.