GRANVILLE, Ohio – In a matchup in the top two teams in Division III, No. 1 Denison men's swimming and diving raced to a 188.5-109.5 over No. 2 Kenyon College on Saturday afternoon at the Trumbull Aquatic Center in Granville, Ohio.
Led by 11 victories and three total wins for sophomore Drake Horton, the Big Red opened with wins in the first three events of the day, highlighted by Horton, Brett Weicht, Tiernan Foster-Smith, and Carson Clear teaming up to win the 200 medley relay in 1:32.18.
Horton also went on to win the 200 free and 100 free, logging a 46.67 in the 100, and a season-best 1:42.43 in the 200. Senior Ryan Stevenson followed in third in the 200 with a season-low time of 1:43.2, while Nicholas Czepukaitis landed in fourth with a 1:44.99. Stevenson also captured a victory in the 200 breaststroke after clocking in at 2:09.10.
Leading DU in the distance events was senior Matt Hedman who garnered a pair of victories in the 1,000 and 500 free events. In the 1,000, Hedman posted his best time of the season while clocking in at 9:24.20 for a first-place finish, and then logged a 4:35.04 to win the 500. He was followed in both events by Dayen Wilson, who hit the wall at 9:39.52 in the 1,000 (2nd) and finished the 500 in 4:42.98 (3rd).
Junior Bebe Wang was the final Denison swimmer to post multiple victories on the day. In the 200 IM, Wang won the event after checking in with a season-best 1:54.26. Trailing Wang by less than two seconds was sophomore John Stauffer who finished in third with a PR time of 1:56.14, and Hedman followed in fourth at 1:56.37.
Wang also won the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:50.30, and finished in second in the 100 backstroke after logging at 51.83. Sam Jo followed in both events, placing second in the 200 (1:52.61) and third in the 100 (52.31).
Denison ended the day with three more victories, led by a season-best time from Mitch Williams in the 200 butterfly at 1:51.75. Freshman Noah Houskeeper followed in second at 1:52.14 and Matt Reed in fourth (1:54.57).
Foster-Smith garnered the win in the 100 breaststroke with a final time of 57.11, while senior Kenny Fox trailed in second with a season-best 58.71, and Sam O'Malley did the same in the third place with a 59.29.
Kymani Senior rounded out the individual victories after clocking in at 21.27 to win the 50 free. Matt McHugh finished 0.10 seconds behind Senior in second place with a season-low 21.37, and Christien Kelly landed in a tie for fourth at 21.54.
The Big Red also placed three in the top five of the 100 butterfly, headlined by Colin MacMillan in second with a 50.77 and Fox in third at 50.87. Houskeeper placed fifth with a 51.10.
On the diving boards, freshman Liam Simmons paced DU with a pair of second-place finishes on the one and three-meter boards. In the one-meter dive, Simmons logged a six-dive score of 210 while being followed by Brendan Downey in third (185.18). Simmons also finished the three-meter dive in second place with a score of 213.23 and Downey placed third overall with a 197.03.
The Big Red will return to action Nov.29 through Dec. 1 when they host the inaugural Denison Invitational in Granville.
