Press Release courtesy of Kenyon Athletics
The Kenyon College women’s swimming and diving team kicked off the 2017-18 season by winning the annual Kenyon College Relays, held Saturday at Steen Aquatic Center. The Ladies won 8 of 11 events and scored a total of 124 team points to beat out seven other teams.
In typical Kenyon fashion, the Ladies showed a great deal of team depth. Thirteen different swimmers were a part of at least one relay win. Of those 13, six were freshmen.
Leading the way for those first-year collegiate swimmers were Crile Hart and Makena Markert. Hart was a winner on six relay teams, while Markert swam with four winning teams. Junior Hannah Orbach-Mandel also collected four wins, while classmate Abby Wilson tallied three wins.
The Ladies set the tone early with a meet-record time of 1:44.76 in the 200-yard medley relay. That quartet consisted of Markert, Hart, Orbach-Mandel and freshman Kate Alexy. One event later, Alexy, Hart, Summer Otazu and Caitlin Foley combined for the win and a meet-record time of 1:44.07 in the 200-yard backstroke relay.
The Ladies went on to set meet records in four other events, including the meet-closing mixed 200-yard medley relay, an event in which Markert and Hart teamed up with Ben Baturka and David Fitch from the Kenyon men’s team. That relay team clocked in at 1:38.74.
Denison University, which placed second in the final team standings, won both the one-meter and three-meter diving competitions, as well as the 200-yard breaststroke relay. The Big Red finished with 112 team points.
The College of Wooster placed third with a score of 54. Ohio Wesleyan University was fourth with 42 points and Ohio Northern University recorded 40 points while rounding out the top-five finishing teams.
The Kenyon women now have nearly two weeks removed from competition. They next face The Ohio State University in a dual meet on October 27.