GRANVILLE, Ohio -- Facing a narrow, 18-point deficit heading into the fourth and final day of the 2024 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Championship, the Kenyon College women's swimming and diving team exploded out of the gates and clinched the program's 28th NCAC title. The Owls completed the comeback to clinch the crown, edging out hosting and defending champion Denison University by a score of 2,039.5 to 1,968.5.
The victory was Kenyon's first on the NCAC stage since 2022 and fourth over the last six Championship meets. On the other side, the Kenyon men repeated as NCAC Champions, marking the first time since 2008 that Kenyon has topped the standings on both the men's and women's sides.
The Owls could not have asked for a better start in terms of individual championships, as Kenyon swimmers secured conference championships in each of the first five events. Kenyon swimmers tallied 10 individual titles over four days at the Trumbull Aquatics Center, and the Owls bookended the meet with a relay championship on the first and final days.
The impressive stretch started in the longest event of the meet, the 1,650-yard freestyle. Kenyon first-year Bengisu Caymaz won her second title of the year after touching first with a time of 16:34.52. Her mark was a season-best by nearly five seconds, surpassing her previous top time of 16:39.30 to improve her NCAA 'B' Cut mark. Sophomore Molly Haag also posted a season-best time in the event and improved her 'B' cut mark when she placed third at 16:46.37, and senior Sarah Hoffman did the same in seventh at 17:15.15.
Jennah Fadely continued to dominate when she entered the pool for the 100-yard individual medley. The junior brought in an individual championship for the third straight night, and her time of 56.05 paced the field by 1.67 seconds. Sydney Buchman and Kate Bogan added points in the final, touching back-to-back in fourth and fifth at 58.42 and 58.52, respectively.
The consecutive gold medals kept coming when Caleigh Wukitch, a senior, won the 200-yard backstroke. The victory marked Wukitch's first career NCAC crown, and her winning time of 1:59.90 was 1.99 seconds faster than second place. Jordan Herrera (2:06.87) and Anna Clare Fleenor (2:07.68) helped Kenyon take the edge on the scoreboard with fifth- and seventh-place finishes, respectively.
Lisa Torrecillas-Jouault won her second race in as many nights, and she secured her second career title after touching the wall at 51.12 in the 100-yard freestyle. The sophomore's time was the fastest by a Kenyon swimmer this season and is a season-best personal mark that helped her clear the NCAA 'B' Cut threshold of 51.46. Junior Sydney Geboy joined Torrecillas-Jouault on the podium after securing the Owls' first silver medal of the evening with a time of 51.54. Gwen Eisenbeis placed sixth at 52.03, rounding out Kenyon's competitors in the event.
Another Owls win was on the way in the penultimate individual event. Gabrielle Wei, a junior, topped the 200-yard breaststroke standings for the third straight season, winning her first 2024 title with a time of 2:15.36. Senior Sydney McCallie brought home a bronze medal after clocking in at 2:19.58, a career-best mark that improved her 'B' Cut this season. Buchman (2:23.78) helped Kenyon build a 36-point cushion with a fifth-place showing, putting the Owls atop the standings for good.
That said, the Big Red made things interesting in the final individual event, the 200-yard butterfly. The hosts ended Kenyon's winning streak at five straight, and they knotted the score at 1,810.5 after placing first, third, fifth, and seventh. However, Kenyon stayed in the top spot after Sophie Schmitz secured second with a time of 2:02.60, the fastest of the senior's career, and Herrera (2:08.09) and Celia Ford (2:10.41) added points in sixth and eighth, respectively.
With scores tied at the end of individual events, Kenyon's depth on the diving board helped the team clinch the conference championship. The three-meter finals looked a lot like Thursday's one-meter results, with Denison claiming the top three scores and Kenyon populating fourth through ninth. Claire Fergusson led the way with 421.05 points, and fellow senior Katarina Ilic followed suit with 391.75. Sophomores Bryn Tiernan (378.00) and Brooke Heis (359.60) slotted into sixth and seventh, while first-years Olive O'Dorisio (343.70) and Lucy Cassell-Kelley (322.00) rounded out the standings.
The diving results put the Owls ahead by 63 points heading into the 400-yard freestyle relay, the Championship's final event. Kenyon put an exclamation point on their 2024 crown as the quartet of Haag, Eisenbeis, Torrecillas-Jouault, and Geboy took the title with a time of 3:22.96.
The final tallies had Kenyon first with 2039.5 points and Denison second at 1968.5. DePauw University and The College of Wooster had a close finish in third and fourth, with the Tigers edging out the Fighting Scots 1313 to 1259. Oberlin College (819), Wittenberg University (560), Ohio Wesleyan University (551), and Hiram College (438) completed the conference standings.
Kenyon's NCAC hardware was not limited to the team's championship trophy. The Owls swept the individual swimming awards as Fadely was featured as the NCAC Women's Swimmer of the Year, and Caymaz collected NCAC Women's Newcomer of the Year laurels. For Fadely, the award marked the second straight season she has been selected as the top swimmer in the league. The junior has earned a conference award in each of her three seasons after being named Newcomer of the Year in 2022, and she is Kenyon's third back-to-back winner since 1998. Caymaz became the fifth Kenyon woman to be chosen as the best newcomer in the conference, capping a fantastic first collegiate campaign.
The Owls return to the pool next weekend when Kenyon hosts the First Chance Invitational and Fast Chance Invitational as swimmers seek NCAA qualifying times. Additionally, Owls divers will head to the NCAA Diving Regional to begin postseason preparations.
