Through the first two days of the NCAC Championship, Ashley Yearwood and her Denison University Women’s Swimming teammates were like a predator stalking its prey recently. On Day One, they trailed Kenyon by 40 points. On Day Two, they trimmed their deficit to 26 points, setting up a Final night's title fight.
In one corner, the Kenyon Ladies were looking to win their first Conference Title since 2008. In the other corner, Denison had the pressure of swimming in front of a raucous home crowd at the Trumbull Aquatics Center. There were seven event Finals tonight, and Denison won four of them.
The night saw three lead changes but a stacked 200m Butterfly and 86 points in the 1-meter dive would push Denison over the top. When the smoke cleared, Denison prevailed by 35 points, scoring 1,839 for the meet. Kenyon trailed with 1,805 while DePauw cracked four digits with 1,087 points.
Denison's first lead of the championship came in the second event of the night, the 200 Backstroke. After the 200 backstroke, Denison University led by 14 and their future looked bright, especially with six set to race in the 100 Freestyle. Denison would rack up 152 points in the event, but gained only 16 points on the Ladies. Carolyn Kane led the group with a runner-up performance and time of 51.03. Mary Van Leuven was fourth in 51.35 and Yearwood took sixth in 51.51.
The final race of the championship was the 400 Freestyle Relay and Denison University touched second in 3:23.50. That Relay was comprised of Yearwood, Kane, Van Leuven and Molly Willingham.
Denison's Championship consisted of seven event Titles and 27 All-Conference Swims. Denison have won Six-Straight NCAC titles and Seven Overall.