The Denison men's and women's swimming and diving team's return to Canton, Ohio seeking their fourth consecutive North Coast Athletic Conference Championship. The action will kick off on Wednesday night (Feb. 15) with the preliminaries and finals of the men's 3-meter dive competition.
Swimming will being on Thursday with 10 a.m. preliminaries followed by finals at 6 p.m. That schedule will continue through Saturday night. All swimming and diving will take place at C.T. Branin Natatorium which is located next to the Pro Football Hall of Fame museum.
Combined, Denison returns 22 conference champions and a number of veterans with multiple NCAC titles on their resumes. Junior Alyssa Swanson leads that list with 12 NCAC championship performances in only two years. Swanson's 12 titles rank third in DU history behind only Ksenia Golovkina (14) and Olivia Zaleski (19). Trailing right behind Swanson are seniors Hilary Callen and Emily Schroeder with nine. Callen is looking to become a four-time winner in three events (1650 freestyle, 500 freestyle and 800 free relay) while Schroeder will be searching for a fourth title in the 200 backstroke in addition to repeat titles in the individual medley events.
On the men's side, senior Robert Barry tops the list with eight career NCAC titles. He is the defending champion in the 100 backstroke and the 400 medley relay. Dan Thurston follows with seven career titles in Canton and Mike Barczak checks in with five titles and is the defending champ in the 50 free.
Denison diving coach Jason Glorius brings a stable of men's divers poised to compete for not only a conference crown, but a spot on Denison's roster for the NCAA Division III Championships in March. Returning All-American and former conference champion Gabe Dixson headlines this list that also includes 2009 champion Phil Meyer, sophomore Matt Poulos, and first-year's Connor Dorff and Connor Dignan. In women's diving, first-year Katie Collins could be a contender for a conference championship in her first trip after a strong 11-dive showing last week at the Kenyon Invitational. Freshman Sterling Keiser will also be competing in her first NCAC Championship meet.
Combined, Denison's men's and women's programs have captured eight swimming and diving conference championships since the NCAC's founding in 1984.
To the left, Denison Sports Network reporter Christian Payne sat down with Denison co-captains Michael DeSantis and Brenna Broadus to get their thoughts on this weekend's conference championship.
