Denison's divers highlighted Thursday night's proceedings from the 2015 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championship in Shenandoah, Texas. At the midway point, Denison sits in second place with 209 points. Kenyon is the leader with 287 points while Emory sits in third with 145 points.
The Denison trio of Max Levy, Connor Dignan and Ben Lewis placed first, second and third, respectively on the 1-meter board. Levy posted an 11-dive score of 532.85 while Dignan compiled a total of 528.50 and Lewis amassed 526.85 points. Levy capped off his championship with a score of 65.0 on a forward 1 ½ somersault 1 twist free. His best individual dive score was his second, a 67.5 on a forward 2 ½ somersault pike.
Dignan saved his best two dives for last. His second to last attempt was an inward 2 ½ somersault tuck that brought the crowd to its feet with a judge's score of 71.3. His final dive, a forward 1 ½ somersault 2 twist free, netted 68.9 points.
The only thing that remained in question was Lewis. The former 1-meter champion in 2013 took the board as the final diver of the night. He needed at least a 56 point dive to place third. Lewis would pop a score of 65.0, completing the Denison diving trifecta. Levy is Denison's second 1-meter national champion, joining his teammate, Lewis, in the record book. Also competing in preliminaries of the 1-meter board was sophomore Brian Allen and junior Nathan Lightman.
In the 100 butterfly, Jack Lindell turned in a third-place performance in the 400 individual medley with a school record time of 3:50.02. Lindell broke Al Weik's record of 3:51.98 set in 2013. Lindell picked up 13 points towards Denison's cause, but Kenyon would post a 50 point swing in the event by finishing first, fourth, sixth, seventh and 11th.
Defending North Coast Athletic Conference 100 butterfly champion Andrew Rich would win the consolation heat of the event with a time of 48.11. He dropped 0.62 seconds off his prelim time and would add nine points toward the team total.
The 200 freestyle followed and after dropping 0.61 seconds off his seed time in the morning, Joe Brunk qualified for the championship final. In the final, he would trim another 0.38 seconds and that helped him move to sixth place. That marked a six-spot improvement over last year's showing in the event. In the consolation final, Stuart Hohm checked in 16th, touching in 1:41.15.
The night began with a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay as Ryan Fleming, Conrad Wuorinen, Damon Rosenburg and Max Howes posted a time of 1:20.65. Wuorinen's 20.01 split led the group. Kenyon would win the relay title thanks to a 19.92 anchor split by Wes Manz. The Lords touched with the winning time of 1:20.38.
Thursday's final event was the 400 medley relay that saw the team of Lindell, Rosenburg, Rich and Fleming tie with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps for sixth place with identical times of 3:16.74.
DU will return on Friday to compete in the 200 butterfly, the 100 backstroke, the 100 breaststroke and the 800 freestyle relay. Preliminaries start at 11 a.m. EST and finals will commence at 7 p.m. EST.
