The Denison men have pulled away from the competition at the Miami Invitational. Through 10 events, the Big Red have totaled 1,431.5 points while the host Redhawks sit in second place with 861 points. Third place belongs to Wright State with 742 points while Emory (723.5) and Cincinnati (577) round out the standings.
The story of the meet has been the performance of junior Damon Rosenburg in the 100 breaststroke. This morning, he posted a time better than the Division III national record set at the 2011 NCAA Championship. His 54.08 also broke a 14-year old school record that had been owned by Aaron Cole. Rosenburg would return for the finals and drop an incredible .47 seconds off his record-breaking time to check in with a new meet record time of 53.61. In the 20-year history of the Miami Invitational, which is a predominately Division I meet, no one has gone faster than Rosenburg did this evening in the 100 breaststroke.
He also swam in the finals of the 50 free and was on the winning 400 medley relay and the second-place 200 free relay. In the 50 free, he touched in 20.84 and finished behind Ryan Fleming who logged a career-best time of 20.55. Also posting top-9 finishes in the 50 free were Conrad Wuorinen (20.92) and Cam Clerici (21.41).
In the winning 400 medley relay, Sean Chabot, Rosenburg, Andrew Rich, and Carlos Maciel posted a new meet record and strong 'B' cut time in 3:16.13.
While the 400 medley relay ended the night, the 200 free relay started it off and DU was the runner up after Fleming, Rosenburg, Wuorinen, and Spencer Fronk touched in 1:21.70. In the anchor leg, Fronk posted a 50 free split of 20.10 but Emory's Ross Spock rallied the Emory Eagles to the win with an impressive 19.60 split.
In the 200 free, Denison went 1-2-3 in the standings. Maciel was the winner in 1:38.27, while Chabot took second in 1:38.30, and Joe Brunk placed third in 1:39.34. Overall, five Big Red swimmers posted NCAA 'B' cuts in the event. Fronk and Max Howes were the final two as they placed ninth and 10th, respectively.
Chabot, Fronk and Rich all finished in the top-six in the 100 backstroke. Chabot was the runner-up in 49.13 while Fronk took third in 50.26 after a 50.10 time in preliminaries. Rich clocked in sixth-place in 51.38.
The night's final victory was turned in by Jack Lindell in the 400 individual medley as he finished with a time of 3:56.19. Humphrey was second in 3:58.50 while Al Weik touched fourth in 4:00.21. Tim Smith finished sixth in 4:01.43 while Nathan Thorne took eighth in 4:03.99.
In recapping the 100 breaststroke, while Rosenburg stole the show, Denison still landed six swimmers in the top-13. First-year Al Nennig tied for fourth place in 56.32 and Ben Snader was seventh in 56.79. Brunk (eighth), Humphrey (ninth), and Gus Evans (13th) rounded out the event.
The team scoring totals above do not reflect diving but senior Connor Dignan qualified for the finals in the 1-meter board and placed fourth with a score of 304.30. In the preliminaries, Max Levy posted a score of 253.00 and Ben Lewis was right behind in 252.55. Both divers went 11-12 in the final standings.
Denison will return to the Nixon Aquatic Center on Saturday at 9 a.m. for preliminaries.
