After the first night at the 2015 Miami Invitational, Denison sits in first place in the overall standings with 908.5 points. The Big Red leads second-place Emory (601) while Miami sits in third with 458.5 points and Urbana checks in fourth at 105.
Thursday night was highlighted by Jack Lindell's record-setting performance in the 200 individual medley. After a 1:49.05 in afternoon prelims, Lindell returned to break his own Denison record with a winning time of 1:47.93. Lindell's previous school record time of 1:48.23 was set last March at the NCAA Division III Championship.
Aside from Lindell, Denison would occupy six of the top-10 spots in the 200 IM standings. Joe Brunk placed fourth with a 'B' cut time of 1:52.21. Ryan Stevenson was fifth in 1:52.88 while Andrew Rich (sixth – 1:53.37), Alec Carlson (eighth – 1:54.09) and Blake Kent (10th – 1:53.29) rounded out the top DU finishers in the event.
The 500 freestyle was also stacked with Big Red swimmers as five landed in the top-eight. Stuart Hohm took second place in 4:30.09 while Aaron Saccurato was right behind in third at 4:31.39. Ben Burdick took sixth, touching in 4:34.98. All three were 'B' cut performances. Kevin Benson checked in seventh in 4:38.27 while Connor Downard took eighth with a time of 4:39.35.
In the 50 freestyle, Ryan Fleming and Conrad Wuorinen led Denison with a pair of season-best 'B' cut times. Fleming was the runner-up after a time of 20.64 in the final. In afternoon preliminaries, Fleming posted a time of 20.50. Wuorinen finished third in 20.69. Places 7-9 would go to Kenny Fox (21.06), Jason Wesseling (21.07) and Max Howes (21.09), respectively.
The night started with the 200 free relay that saw Fleming, Wuorinen, Howes and Wesseling place second in 1:22.11. Denison would close out the first day with a victory in the 400 medley relay thanks to Wesseling, Brendan Howely, Rich and Fleming's time of 3:17.73. Both times were season-best 'B' cut swims.
The three-day meet will continue on Friday, Dec. 4, with preliminaries that are set to begin at 11 a.m.
