Denison led the 2014 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championship by 28-points at the three-quarter mark of the competition, but a stacked 200 breaststroke event for the Lords proved to be the turning point, as Kenyon College edged the Big Red for first place by eight points.
The Lords finished with 480 team points, while Denison totaled 472 points across the 20-events to log the program's ninth NCAA runner-up finish. The eight-point differential was the second-closest finish in the history of the men's Division III Swimming & Diving Championship.
Denison senior Al Weik made the final swim of his epic career one to remember. He became the first male in NCAA Division III history to win the 1,650 freestyle in four consecutive years. Weik nearly broke his own national record with a winning time of 15:05.60. His national record of 15:04.85 was set at the IU Natatorium in 2012. Weik led the race from start to finish and pulled away by more than a lap at one point. Second-place went to Andrew Greenhalgh of Johns Hopkins in 15:12.98.
DU led nearly the entire way in this year's competition, but through the first three events of the night, the Lords chipped away. All of that changed in the 200 breaststroke where they posted a 27-point swing in the overall standings thanks to finishes of third-place, seventh, and 10th. Denison countered with a 13th place finish by Damon Rosenburg in 2:02.78. That marked the fifth All-American swim of the meet for Rosenburg. Gus Evans and Joe Brunk rounded out the scoring for Denison in the 200 breaststroke with times of 2:04.34, and 2:05.87, respectively. That marked the first All-American performance in Evans' young career.
Entering the night's final event, the 400 freestyle relay, Denison needed a victory followed by a seventh or eighth-place finish by the Lords to force either a tie for the championship, or an outright win. They got neither, but Denison did finish in front of Kenyon in the race after a second-place showing. The foursome of Ryan Fleming, Conrad Wuorinen, Spencer Fronk, and Carlos Maciel ended the race with a time of 2:58.67.
Other scorers for the Big Red on Saturday included a seventh-place finish from Jackson Humphrey in the 200 backstroke after a time of 1:47.85. First-year Jack Lindell closed out his first national meet with a 14th place finish in 1:49.07. For Humphrey, he closed out his DU career by earning his first All-American certificate in the 200 backstroke. Overall, he leaves Denison as a 10-time All-American.
In the 100 freestyle, Fleming reached the championship final after a prelim time of 44.91. He entered the championship seeded 21st overall, and would finish in eighth place after a time of 44.79 in Saturday night's final. Fleming's classmate, Wuorinen, would finish third in the consolation final of the 100 free after touching in 44.97.
For the meet, Denison logged three event national championships, 22 top-8 finishes and 38 All-American performances. DU men's swimming & diving has now finished in the top-5 of the NCAA Division III standings in 12 consecutive years. Their string of top-10 national finishes dates back to 1984 (31-years).
