The Big Red made a late charge on Friday night, winning the final five events to take a 118 point lead over Kenyon College into Saturday's final day of swimming from the North Coast Athletic Conference Championship in Canton, Ohio. Denison leads the standings with 1,205 points while Kenyon sits in second with 1,087.
Denison's domination of the backstroke events continued on Friday with senior Robert Barry becoming the first four-time winner of the event in NCAC history. He did it in style, breaking his own conference record in morning prelims with a time of 48.79. He returned on Friday night with a time of 48.88 to win. Following in a tie for second-place was senior Mike Barczak and junior Quinn Bartlett. Both touched with times of 49.39. In fifth and sixth place, respectively were Sean Chabot (50.38) and Michael DeSantis (50.87). Denison came into the event trailing Kenyon by 149 points, but a 136 point showing pulled DU within 81 points of the Lords.
Prior to DU's display in the 100 backstroke, Chabot and first-year Damon Rosenburg set the tone with each earning their first conference titles of their respective careers. Chabot earned gold in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:39.16 and Rosenburg achieved the feat in the 100 breaststroke with a career-best and NCAA provisional time of 56.22.
Following Chabot in the 200 free was Spencer Fronk in seventh (1:41.41) and Carlos Maciel in eighth (1:41.56). In the consolation Robert Lawley finished third to place 11th overall.
Trailing Rosenburg in the 100 breaststroke was first-year Ben Snader who took bronze in 57.38 and Seth Lemon who touched sixth in 57.71.
The Big Red would get another major boost from their stable of talented divers as Gabe Dixson chalked up his fourth career NCAC diving title by winning the 1-meter with a score of 545.80. That score was a new Denison record, breaking the 11-dive score of 510.50 set by Dixson earlier this year in Fredonia, N.Y.
Following in second-place was first-year Connor Dignan with a score of 513.05. Checking in fourth was senior Phil Meyer with 457.45. Fifth and sixth place went to Connor Dorff and Matt Poulos with scores of 448.45 and 395.80, respectively. Denison gained 135 points in the event and entered the 800 free relay with a 54 point lead on the Lords.
In the 800 freestyle it appeared as if the Big Red would take second place with a time of 6:42.50, however, after the race the Lords were disqualified, erasing 64 points from their score while causing another tidal wave in favor of Denison. Dan Thurston, Fronk, Maciel and Chabot marked the fourth-consecutive 800 free relay title at the NCAC Championship. For the senior, Thurston, it marked the eighth NCAC title in his career.
Earlier in the night the men's 200 medley relay team comprised of Barczak, Snader, Barry and Bartlett were edged out by Kenyon's David Somers in the anchor leg despite Barry's 21.70 butterfly split. DU posted a time of 1:30.73 which is an 'A' cut and a season-best for the Big Red.
In the 400 individual medley Thurston's attempt at four-straight titles came to an end thanks to an outstanding swim by Kenyon's Andrew Chevalier. Thurston posted a time of 3:58.64 to place third while Jackson Humphrey finished fifth in 4:03.95. Rounding out the final heat was Al Weik who touched seventh and Matt Montague in eighth.
In the 100 butterfly, once again it was Kenyon's Somers who came out of lane eight to win in 49.28. Barry led Denison with a fourth-place time of 49.81 which was a season-best. Dan Hellman finished second in his heat to place 10th overall in 51.31.
Saturday's preliminaries will start at 10 a.m. followed by the finals at 6 p.m. The Big Red will be going for its fourth-straight conference title and their fifth title, overall.
