It was clear that for the Big Red men's swimming & diving team to repeat at this year's North Coast Athletic Conference Championships it would take a number of athletes to step up and rise to the occasion. None may have been bigger than the performances of Denison junior Jake Lewing (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury). The two-time All-American of a year ago won his first NCAC title on Thursday night in the 200 IM and he parlayed that into a total of three titles and two second-place finishes on his way to NCAC Swimmer of the Year honors.
Denison ended up going wire-to-wire to capture their third NCAC Championship in school history and their second in as many years. DU ended up besting second-place Kenyon by 149 points. Overall, DU totaled 1,678 points while Kenyon amassed 1,529 points. Wabash placed third with 815.5 points and Allegheny took fourth with 799 points.
Lewing becomes the seventh athlete from Denison to win the Swimmer of the Year award. Head coach Gregg Parini was awarded the Men's Coach of the Year award for the fifth time.
On Saturday night the Big Red got victories from Lewing in the 200 breaststroke and from sophomore Robert Barry (Richmond, Va./St. Christopher's) in the 200 backstroke. Barry posted his second conference record of the meet with a time of 1:48.49 and Lewing grabbed his third win with a time of 2:03.01. In the 200 backstroke, sophomore Mike DeSantis (Beverly Hills, Mich./Brother Rice) posted a 'B' cut with a time of 1:51.50 which landed him in third place. Andy Brabson (Boonsboro, Md./Boonsboro) and John Nemeth (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic) both logged provisional swims with their fifth and seventh place performances, respectively in the 200 breast.
In the final event of the night, the 400 free relay, Chris Bagley (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice), Mike Barczak (Beverly Hills, Mich./Brother Rice), Andrew Krawchyk (Severna Park, Md./East Chapel Hill) and Dan Thurston (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron) placed second to Kenyon with a time of 3:03.38. That same foursome also placed in the top-six in the men's 100 freestyle earlier in the night. Bagley led the group with a runner-up time of 46.44 while Krawchyk placed third in 46.84. Thurston took fourth while Barczak took sixth and rookie Joe Katich (Toledo, Ohio/St. Francis DeSales) rounded out a stacked finals for DU with a seventh-place finish.
In the first event of the night, sophomore Austin Vierra (Placerville, Calif./Ponderosa) placed third in the 1650 freestyle in 16:06.20 and the 200 butterfly saw Kyle Chabot (Washington, Mich./Stoney Creek) take fifth place and Casey Browning (Grosse Pointe, Mich./South) finish seventh.
In 20 events the Big Red racked up 10 victories which ties for the second-most in school history. Last year DU posted 16 victories which is tied with Kenyon's 2003 squad for most team titles in one championship. In addition to the event wins, DU chalked up 51 top-8 finishes and six NCAA 'A' cuts.
