GRANVILLE, Ohio- The Denison men's swimming & diving team ran away with the team championship at the 2019 Denison Invitational after 18 NCAA 'B' cuts on Saturday and two event wins. The Big Red totaled 2,338 points outdistancing second place Emory University by 608.5 points. Wayne State finished third (1,519) and Washington-St. Louis took fourth (1,272.5).
Donations were accepted at the door throughout the weekend and over $2,400 was raised and more than 450 food items were collected for the Market Street Pantry which will provide over 24,000 meals to help those in need in Licking County.
"The Market Street Pantry is such an important part of our families' life I thought it was a great opportunity for our team to do some outreach and help people who are in need," noted head coach Gregg Parini. "On behalf of the team, we are grateful to everyone who attended the meet and donated."
Denison entered the meet ranked No. 2 in NCAA Division III swimming but that could be changing after this weekend's performances. On Saturday, Bebe Wang logged a victory in the 200 backstroke and Mitch Williams won the 200 butterfly. In the 200 back, Wang touched in 1:46.13 while 'B' cuts were also logged by Sam Jo (1:49.57) and Chas Sigloh (1:49.86).
In the 200 fly Denison held down places 1-5 as Williams led the way with a time of 1:47.43 in prelims. Noah Houskeeper (1:48.66), Eric Chimes (1:49.97), John Stauffer (1:50.02) and Matt Reed (1:50.12) rounded out the qualifiers. Stauffer also logged a personal best time of 1:48.70 in preliminaries.
Three posted provisional qualifying times in the 1,650 free led by senior James Baker who covered the mile-long race in 15:32.34 to place second. Lukas Gately and Dayen Wilson both set new personal bests with times of 15:33.98 and 15:34.44, respectively.
Denison's depth was on full display in the 100 free as five members of the Big Red roster posted cuts with two PRs. Rookie Trey Ike placed second with a personal best time of 44.75. Eric Gerlach finished fourth in 44.91 after a 44.87 in prelims. Drake Horton set a new PR in the morning, touching in 44.87 while Matt McHugh (45.25) and Kymani Senior (45.27) rounded out the NCAA cut times for DU.
Sophomore Piotr Kurleto posted a new personal best time of 2:03.44 in the morning and returned with a 2:04.70 to place sixth in the 200 breaststroke.
On the 3-meter board, Liam Simmons placed second with a six-dive score of 264.55.
The meet was closed out by the 400 free relay squad of Horton, Gerlach, McHugh and Wang. The foursome finished second in 2:58.83 led by Gerlach's 44.27 split.
Denison totaled 49 NCAA 'B' cuts by 23 individuals across the invitational. Individuals with 'B' cuts this weekend was: James Baker, Ethan Bevill, Eric Chimes, PJ Desmet, Lukas Gately, Eric Gerlach, Drake Horton, Noah Houskeeper, Trey Ike, Sam Jo, Piotr Kurleto, Richie Kurlich, Patrick Madden Matt McHugh, Matt Reed, Kymani Senior, Chas Sigloh, John Stauffer, Kyle Verstandig, Bebe Wang, Mitch Williams, and Dayen Wilson. Liam Simmons qualified for NCAA regional competition in the men's one-meter dive.
