Denison ran its event championship count to eight after another solid showing on Friday night at the 2014 North Coast Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Championships from the Trumbull Aquatics Center. Through 14 of 20 events, Denison leads second-place Kenyon by 155 points heading into the final day of competition.
Denison has scored 1,460 while Kenyon sits at 1,305. DePauw is third with 792.5 and Wabash is in fourth with 625.
For the second time in this year's championship, junior Connor Dignan (pictured below) captivated the crowd with another record-breaking performance in the 1-meter dive. After an 11-dive score of 534.90 in the prelims, Dignan returned for his six-dive final and upped his total to 578.70 which set a new national record for the second time in three days. On Wednesday, Dignan's score of 645.70 shattered the previous national mark in the 3-meter board.
Following behind Dignan in second place was Max Levy who totaled an 11-dive score of 555.50, which would have also been a new school record, if not for Dignan's performance. Third-place belonged to last year's champion in this event, Ben Lewis. The sophomore ended with a score of 533.25. Positions four through six went to Brian Allen (470.55), Nathan Lightman (440.05), and Matt Poulos (433.40). In all, Denison tallied 180 points in the event. In this year's championship, DU diving has accounted for 25 percent of the Big Red's overall scoring to this point.
In the 100 breaststroke, Damon Rosenburg won for the third-straight year in the event while breaking his own meet record in 54.66. Rosenburg's time was just shy of his national record time of 53.61 set at the Miami Invitational in December. He punched his ticket to the NCAA Division III Championship with that 'A' cut swim. First-year Al Nennig earned his second-career all-conference award with his third-place finish in 100 breast (56.23).
Denison would capture its 10th title out of the last 14 years in the 200 freestyle thanks to Carlos Maciel's winning performance and time of 1:38.43. That's the second individual win for Maciel in this year's championship, and his third win overall.
Denison's fourth and final event title came in the 200 medley relay as Spencer Fronk, Rosenburg, Conrad Wuorinen, and Ryan Fleming combined for a time of 1:30.17.
Senior Jackson Humphrey was the runner-up in the 100 backstroke while leading a group of four DU swimmers that placed in the top-10. Humphrey clocked in at 50.63 while Fronk checked in with a third-place finish and a time of 51.01. Sixth-place went to Andrew Rich in 51.66 and Max Howes won the consolation final in 51.91.
Rich would return with an all-conference third-place finish in the 100 butterfly in 49.21. Wuorinen took fourth in 49.40 and Fleming placed ninth (50.71).
Denison's depth was also on display in the 400 IM where Jack Lindell finished fourth in 4:01.31. Tim Smith and Al Weik finished in positions 5-6, while PJ Fallon checked in eighth.
In the final event of the night, DU finished third in the 800 free relay as Humphrey, Howes, Conner Downard and Maciel hit the wall in 6:46.41. First-place went to Kenyon in 6:39.94 while DePauw checked in second.
The Big Red will be back in action tomorrow for preliminaries that begin at 10 a.m. with finals following at 6:30 p.m. Saturday's events include the 1650 freestyle, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly and the 400 freestyle relay.
