The No. 2 team in Division III, Denison, gave the Ohio State Buckeyes all they could handle before dropping a close 189-111 decision on Friday night from the Trumbull Aquatics Center in Granville, Ohio.
More than two months removed from a 153-point loss to the Buckeyes in Columbus, the Big Red wanted to prove they could swim right with the No. 9 squad in Division I. DU did just that as they posted 12 top-2 performances over the course of 16 events, including four event victories.
Freshman Stuart Hohm helped lead the charge with two of Denison's four victories in the 200 and 500 freestyle events. In both events, the freshman freestyler led a trio of Big Red swimmers that occupied the top-3 spots. In the 200, Hohm touched the wall in 1:42.42 to beat out teammates Max Howes (1:42.95) and Franz Kabelka (1:43.76). The rookie returned to claim victory in the 500 free with a benchmark time of 4:40.41. Trailing Hohm were Aaron Saccurato (4:44.90) and Robert Lawley (4:46.11) who took second and third, respectively.
Denison's other two wins came in two of the final three events of the night. In the 100 butterfly, junior Andrew Rich beat out Ohio State's Peter Lyon by almost a full second en route to the victory. Rich clocked in with a time of 50.80. The fourth-and-final win came in the 400 free relay where the team of Ryan Fleming, Conrad Wuorinen, Damon Rosenburg and Howes posted a B-cut time of 3:04.45. In addition to swimming the lead leg of the victorious 400 free relay team, Fleming also posted a pair of runner-up performances. The junior posted a time of 21.31 in the 50 freestyle and touched in at 46.42 in the 100.
Other top performers included sophomore Jack Lindell who had four top-3 performances, including three second-place swims. Lindell's night started as the opening leg of the 200 medley relay team with Al Nennig, Rich and Cam Clerici. That foursome finished the race with a runner-up time of 1:33.96. After a third-place finish in the 100 back (52.53), the sophomore posted two silver medal swims in the 200 back (1:53.28) and 200 IM (1:54.09).
Rounding out the list of top-3 performances were Nennig, Rosenburg and Saccurato. Nennig and Rosenburg finished 2-3 in the 100 breast with times of 58.20 and 58.23, respectively, while Saccurato took third in the 1,000 freestyle after touching in at 9:52.08. Sophomore Max Levy led the DU divers with a pair of fourth-place performances. Levy scored 312.38 points in the 1-meter and 317.85 on the 3-meter board.
The Big Red returns to the pool tomorrow (Jan. 17) for their final home meet before the North Coast Athletic Conference Championship in mid-February. Denison will host another Division I school in the University of Pittsburgh on Senior Day. The meet is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
