Owls win four events, remain in top spot

2/12/2026 8:28:00 PM

GRANVILLE, Ohio -- The Kenyon College Owls used results from two events Thursday night, as well as four title-winning swims, to separate themselves from the rest of the field on the second day of 2026 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Women's Swimming and Diving Championship, being held at Trumbull Aquatics Center on the campus of Denison University.

The Kenyon women posted a total of 188 points in the 500-yard freestyle and then tacked on 145 points in the one-meter diving competition to jump to the top spot in the team standings. At the end of the night, the Owls owned 719 points. Denison, which was tied with Kenyon after Wednesday, slid to second place with 602 points.

In the 500-yard freestyle, the first event on Thursday's slate, Kenyon swimmers locked in five of the top seven spots with senior Molly Haag leading the way. Haag took the title with a time of 4:51.06, her first conference crown in the event. Sophomore Nora Lee Brown took third place in 4:54.01, junior Sophia Giordano was fourth in 4:57.35, first-year Nina Schuerer was fifth in 4:57.72, and first-year Kate Dunagan was seventh with a time of 5:01.07.

That flurry left the Owls with 320 team points, nearly a 100 more than Denison, which moved to second place with 231 points.

Kenyon celebrated another event champion in the next race, the 200-yard individual medley, as sophomore Kelsey Van Eldik topped the field with a winning time of 2:03.72 and extended Kenyon's win streak in the event to six years. In the same event, junior Ashlyn Widmer claimed fourth place with a time of 2:04.87 and first-year C.J. Woare clocked in at 2:08.66 to take seventh place.

The Owls' win streak continued into the next event, the 50-yard freestyle. Kenyon senior Lisa Torrecillas-Jouault and junior teammate Kate Bogan were side-by-side and the wall, but Torrecillas-Jouault out-touched Bogan to take the title. Her winning time was a personal record 23.21, while Bogan took second in 23.24, also a personal record. First-year Julia Mascarenhas rounded out the Kenyon championship heat scorers with a fifth-place finish in 23.63, yet another personal best.

Despite Kenyon's event win streak, Denison narrowed the gap, closing within 25 points at the conclusion of the 50-yard freestyle. The Owls, however, responded on the diving board, outscoring the Big Red, 145-61, in the one-meter event. Kenyon divers occupied second through sixth place in the events with sophomore Nadia Milovich leading the way, logging a runner-up score of 397.85. Following her, in order, were Lucy Cassell-Kelley (374.95), Brooke Heis (332.70), Olive O'Dorisio (321.95), and Bryn Tiernan (314.90).

In the final swim of the session, Kenyon tacked on one more title, winning the 400-yard medley relay for the second year in a row and the fourth time in the past five years. The Owls winning team of Gwen Eisenbeis, Van Eldik, Nora Kortuem and Torrecillas-Jouault clocked in at 3:40.97.

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