Denison opened the 2012 Indoor Track & Field season with a third-place finish at the Denison Lid-Lifter on Saturday in Granville.

DU was led by distance runners Dee Salukombo and Chad Kosanovich, who both logged victories.  Salukombo clocked in at 8:34.37 in the 3,000-meter run, while Kosanovich finished the mile with a time of 4:23.09.  Salukombo's time in the 3,000 marked the second-fastest time in program history, besting Joel Bendtsen's 2008 time by three-hundredths of a second.

The Big Red's other victory came in the Distance Medley Relay.  Kosanovich, Win Fox, Joe Thackery and Salukombo combined to win the DMR with a time of 10:29.13.

Also helping the DU cause were seniors Alexander Chappars and Wendell Taylor, and sophomore Jonathan Brachna.  Chappars finished runner-up to Salukombo in the 3,000 with a time of 9:13.89, while Taylor took second in the shot put with a toss of 42-05.25.  Brachna completed the 400-meter dash in 52.05 en route to a second-place finish.

Additionally, the team of Stephen Czujko, Ivanhoe Hall, Thackery, and Keith Mullings, Jr. took home the silver in the 4x400 relay with a time of 3:46.72.

Defiance won the event with 158 points followed by Wittenberg (105), Denison (85) and Transylvania (53).

Denison returns to action on Saturday (Feb. 4) when they travel to Wooster, Ohio for the Fighting Scots Invitational.  Events are scheduled to begin at 12 p.m.