2026 NCAC Women's Swimming & Diving Champions

Dani Johnson / NCAC

Owls claim record 30th NCAC team championship

2/14/2026 9:45:00 PM

GRANVILLE, Ohio -- Saturday night at Trumbull Aquatics Center, Kenyon College responded to a late charge from Denison University and finished atop the team leaderboard at the conclusion of the 2026 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Women's Swimming and Diving Championship.

The Owls, who tallied a point total of 1,944, claimed their 30th overall conference crown, as well as their third in a row, and fourth in the last five seasons. No other team, in any sport, owns as many NCAC titles as the Kenyon women's swimming and diving team.

Host Denison finished second with 1,853 points and DePauw University claimed third with 1,377.5 points in the eight team field.

Kenyon marched into the final day of the championship meet with a 147-point lead over second-place Denison. When Saturday's first event, the 1,650-yard freestyle concluded, the Owls' lead bumped to 161 points, as senior Molly Haag and sophomore Nora Lee Brown finished the race in first and second place, respectively. Haag clocked in with a season-best time of 16:40.20. Brown then finished in 16:49.42, a personal record. Three spots lower, Kenyon first-year Nina Schuerer took fifth place in 17:21.11.

Denison then chopped its deficit down to 70 points after the next event, the 100-yard individual medley. Kenyon's only championship finisher was first-year Julia Mascarenhas, who claimed fourth place in 59.04.

Kenyon senior Gwen Eisenbeis did her best to hold off the Big Red, winning the 200-yard backstroke, but at the end of the race, Denison moved to within 43 points. Eisenbeis, who won the 100-yard backstroke yesterday, completed the stroke sweep Saturday, taking the 200 in a personal-best 1:59.91. First-year Kate Dunagan added a fifth-place effort, clocking in 2:03.22.

Next up was the 100-yard freestyle and the titles kept coming for the Owls. Senior Lisa Torrecillas-Jouault took the top spot and junior Kate Bogan claimed the runner-up spot. Torrecillas-Jouault touched in 50.46 and Bogan touched in 50.75, both personal-best times. First-year Deniz Guvenc added a seventh-place result in 52.75, Again, though, Denison had more swimmers in the championship heat and reduced Kenyon's overall lead to just 23 points.

With just one Kenyon swimmer in the championship heat of the 200-yard breaststroke, Denison, which had four in the heat, moved to the top of the team standings with a 60-point lead. Kenyon's swimmer, sophomore Kelsey Van Eldik, took the event title with a winning time of 2:14.19, which was also a personal-best and completed the stroke sweep for Van Eldik, who took the 100-yard version on Friday.

The lead for Denison was short-lived, as the Owls moved back in front after the next two events. Four Kenyon swimmers rang up championship heat points in the 200-yard butterfly and five posted points on the three-meter diving board.

In the 200-yard butterfly, Kenyon's wave was spearheaded by junior Amelia Stevenson, who was runner-up in 2:02.20. Fellow junior Ashlyn Widmer was third in 2:05.36, first-year C.J. Woare was fourth in 2:07.57, and Nora Kortuem, also a first-year, was seventh in 2:08.64.

Trailing by three points now, Kenyon reclaimed the lead in the diving well. The five divers who got the job done included runner-up Lucy Cassell-Kelley (390.85), third-place finisher Nadia Milovich (376.80), fourth-place finisher Olive O'Dorisio (358.95), fifth-place finisher Bryn Tiernan (357.65), and sixth-place finisher Brooke Heis (330.65).

That left just the 400-yard freestyle relay to be contested and Kenyon closed the meet in style, winning the race with the team of Haag, Eisenbeis, Bogan, and Torrecillas-Jouault. That quartet posted a winning time of 3:21.71.

At the end of the meet, it was announced that Haag was voted the 2026 NCAC Swimmer of the Year and that Kenyon's Jason Glorius was named the 2026 NCAC Diving Coach of the Year.

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