Denison opened the three-day Miami Invitational on Thursday night and through five events, the Big Red leads the meet with 588 points. They hold a 72-point lead over second-place Cincinnati. Emory sits in third place with 465 points while Wright State is fourth with 412. Miami is fifth with 313 and Urbana rounds out the standings with 111 points.
Junior Ryan Fleming led Denison with a pair of second-place swims and one fourth place finish. In the 50 freestyle, Fleming touched second with a time of 20.56. Conrad Wuorinen finished sixth in 20.84 and Damon Rosenburg was right behind in 20.87 and Ian Delahunty placed 14th in 21.16. Wuorinen and Fleming's times were both NCAA 'B' cuts.
In the 200 free relay, Fleming, Wuorinen, Rosenburg and Andrew Delahunty would team up for a second-place finish and a 'B' cut time of 1:22.19.
Fleming's night was finished off in the 400 medley relay that he anchored with a split of 44.78 in his 100 free. Jack Lindell led off followed by Rosenburg and Andrew Rich. That foursome placed fourth in 3:20.69. Denison's second entry in the event was comprised of Alec Carlson, Al Nennig, Dan Hellman and Wuorinen. They touched fifth in 3:21.41. Both relays posted 'B' cuts.
In the 200 individual medley, Lindell (1:49.48), Joe Brunk (1:50.52) and Rich (1:52.16) would place third, fifth and eighth, respectively. All three of those times were NCAA provisional qualifying times.
DU opened the night with the 500 free and rookie Stuart Hohm led the way with a third-place finish and a time of 4:27.82. Aaron Saccurato checked in fifth in 4:33.38 and Connor Downard touched in 4:34.27. In the B-Final, Kevin Benson would finish 12th and Ben Burdick ended in 14th. All five of DU's top finishers logged 'B' cuts.
Overall, Denison posted 13 'B' cut performances on Thursday night. That includes their pair of cut times in the 400 medley relay.
The Big Red will return to action on Friday with preliminaries beginning at 11 a.m. followed by championship finals at 7 p.m. Friday's events include the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, 800 free relay and the 1-meter dive.
