It was a night of firsts, and it was a night of feats for Denison men's swimming and diving. For the third-straight year, Al Weik jump started the Big Red with a victory in the 500 freestyle, and junior Connor Dignan captured his first career national title in record-setting fashion in the 3-meter dive.
Through five events, Denison sits in first-place overall with 173 points. Kenyon College trails in second-place with 104 points, while Emory sits third with 73 points.
For Weik, the win in the 500 free was not only his third-straight victory in the event, it marked his eighth career national championship at Denison.
Weik posted a winning time of 4:24.31, which was more than two seconds faster than his preliminary time of 4:26.73 which had him seeded first entering tonight's final. Weik's 2012 time of 4:21.79, set in this very pool, remains the NCAA record.
Adding seven points to the Big Red's cause with a 10th place finish in the 500 freestyle was sophomore PJ Fallon who touched in 4:29.60. He improved his preliminary time by slightly over one second.
After a stellar morning which resulted in DU swimmers taking up half of the eight lanes in tonight's championship final of the 200 IM, the Big Red would occupy places 3-6-7-8-15 to rack up 54 points in the event. Senior Carlos Maciel led the way with a career-best third-place finish after a time of 1:48.92. This marked Maciel's third All-American performance in the 200 IM and the 14th of his career.
Fellow senior Spencer Fronk followed in sixth-place with a time of 1:49.96. After entering the meet seeded 24th, Fronk catapulted into the championship final with the second-fastest prelim time (1:49.31) on Wednesday morning.
Right behind Fronk was senior Jackson Humphrey who touched in 1:50.00. This was Humphrey's first All-America performance in the 200 IM and his seventh overall. Touching eighth was Joe Brunk, who's time of 1:51.24 picked up 11 points for DU. Brunk was also a big mover on Wednesday morning. He entered the meet seeded 25th and moved all the way into eighth heading into the finals. First-year Jack Lindell rounded out the scoring for the Big Red with a 15th place finish after a time of 1:50.71 in the consolation. Denison's 54-point effort was countered by Kenyon with only nine points, resulting in a +45 point swing for the Big Red.
DU landed two swimmers in the 50 freestyle, and Ryan Fleming improved his seeded position by seven spots thanks to a fourth-place finish and a time of 20.35. In the consolation, sophomore Conrad Wuorinen touched in 20.59.
After three swimming events, Denison held a 101-72 lead over Kenyon College. It also allowed Denison's talented stable of divers to take center stage on the 3-meter board.
Dignan ripped through his 11 preliminary 3-meter dives and entered the six-dive final in first-place. First-year Max Levy and sophomore Ben Lewis also qualified for the 8-man final.
As the lights shined brighter, Denison's trio only seemed to get better as Dignan paced the group with a meet record score of 613.90. The win marked the second men's diving national championship in school history. The first was captured last year by Lewis, in the 1-meter board. Dignan's best dive of the night came on his sixth and final dive of the final where he popped off a score of 78.00 to distance himself from his teammate, Levy, who placed second with a score of 536.40.
Placing eighth was Lewis with 459.90 points while rookie Brian Allen logged his first All-American performance with an 11th place finish and a score of 459.00. The 54 points scored by Denison's four divers accounted for nearly one-third of the team's total scoring effort on Wednesday night.
In the final event of the night, Denison's 200 medley relay team rebounded from a disappointing preliminary time of 1:31.49 which landed them in tonight's consolation heat, rather than in the championship heat where Big Red relay teams have been a fixture over the last 25 years. The relay team of Fronk, Damon Rosenburg, Andrew Rich, and Wuorinen made the best of the situation by winning the consolation heat in 1:29.63 to earn 18 points. Denison's primary completion, Kenyon, placed third in the championship heat, picking up 32 points in the process.
Denison will return to the IU Natitorium on Thursday at 10 a.m. for preliminaries in the 200 free relay, the 400 IM, the 100 fly, the 200 free, and the 400 medley relay. Finals will begin at 6 p.m.
