The Denison men will enter day two of three at the North Coast Athletic Conference swimming and diving championship holding a 12-point lead over second-place Kenyon in the race for the 2012 conference crown.
Denison totaled 498 points through six events and Kenyon has 486 points while DePauw sits in third-place with 329 points.
Denison's Quinn Bartlett joined junior diver Gabe Dixson as the Big Red's second conference champion of the weekend. Bartlett picked up his second career conference title by winning the 200 individual medley in 1:51.71. Overall, the event was a success for DU after posting seven swimmers in the top-19 in the standings. Sophomore Spencer Fronk placed fifth in 1:53.42 and Carlos Maciel posted a season-best NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:53.79 which landed him ninth. In 10th place, Jackson Humphrey clocked in at 1:54.20. Rounding out the consolation heats were Ben Snader in 12th, Dan Hellman in 18th and Seth Lemon in 19th.
Senior Dan Thurston also improved his provisional qualifying time in the 500 freestyle and placed second in the process with a time of 4:31.37. Sophomore Al Weik took fourth in 4:32.82 and Robert Lawley also posted a season-best 'B' cut time of 4:36.17 that landed him in seventh. Matt Montague rounded out Denison's point scorers in the event with a 10th place finish.
In Thursday's pair of relays, the 200 freestyle and the 400 medley, DU placed second. In the 200 free relay Robert Barry, Mike Barczak, Bartlett and Fronk combined for a time of 1:22.73. In the 400 medley relay it was Barry, Fronk and Barczak along with Damon Rosenburg who placed second in 3:19.44 which was an 'A' cut but roughly two seconds shy of Denison's season-best time in the event.
Rounding out the first night of swimming events was the 50 freestyle which saw Barczak place seventh in 21.03. Kenyon made a push in this event, landing swimmers in each of the top-four spots. After the event the Lords pushed to within 20 points of the Big Red and after the 400 medley relay the Denison lead was down to 12 heading into Friday.
Things will resume on Friday morning at 10 a.m. with preliminaries and finals at 6 p.m.
