AKRON, Ohio (October 8, 2022) – Denison University men's swimming & diving closed out the season-opening Akron Zips Classic in second place with 1,092 points. Youngstown State University was the team champion with 1,398.5 points while third place went to Xavier University with 926.5 points.

Session 2 - Saturday, Oct. 8 - 10 a.m.

In the morning session, Denison started with a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay as senior Aidan Lane and the sophomore trio of Christian Narcelles, Patrick Daly and Dhinal Weerasinghe combined for a time of 1:24.82. In fifth place with a time of 1:26.06 was sophomore Chris Luus, junior Richie Stewart, sophomore Elijah Venos and sophomore Gavin Jones.

In the 400 IM, sophomore Max Soja finished fourth with a time of 4:06.85 while two other sophomores, Lucas Conrads (4:09.44) and Connor Brown (4:11.94), took seventh and ninth place, respectively.

Denison put together second-place finishes in each of the next four events as senior Richie Kurlich finished second in the 100 butterfly at Akron for the second year in a row, this time earning Denison's first NCAA Division III National "B" cut of the season with a time of 48.37 seconds and trailing only Aleska Radenovic (48.33) of YSU.

In the 200 freestyle, Narcelles was also in second place, doing so with a time of 1:42.45 and trailing only Andrew Martin (1:40.89) of Xavier.

Venos took second in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 56.95 seconds, putting him behind only James Slessor (55.59) from YSU.

In the final swimming event of the morning session, the 100 backstroke, Luus finished in second place for the second year in a row, this time finishing in 51.17 seconds and trailing only Radenovic (49.86), who also beat Kurlich in the 100 butterfly.

Lastly, in the 1-meter dive, senior Brendan Downey finished with a total score of 242.85 to sweep the diving events while fellow-senior Kristian Kowalski finished right behind in second place with a score of 241.65.

Session 3 - Saturday, Oct. 8 - 5 p.m.

In the evening session, Denison started off with a win in the 200 medley relay, just like it did a year ago. This time, Luus, Venos, Kurlich and Weerasinghe finished with a time of 1:30.90 to beat out YSU with a time of 1:32.09.

In the 1650 freestyle, sophomore Tyler Distenfeld (16:07.21) earned a National "B" cut with a third-place finish while senior Luke Landis (16:26.47) was sixth.

In the 200 backstroke, Brown (1:56.30) and junior Nick Settembrine (1:56.53) finished back-to-back in sixth and seventh place, respectively.

Daly won the 100 freestyle with a time of 45.99 seconds, besting Rares Douglas from YSU with a time of 46.28 seconds.

Venos finished third in the 200 breaststroke at 2:06.94 while Jones was fifth in 2:07.81.

In the final individual race of the meet, the 200 butterfly, Kurlich earned his second National "B" cut of the meet (both in the butterfly events) with a second-place finish and a time of 1:48.99 while Soja was fourth at 1:53.18.

Last but not least, in the final relay of the meet, the 400 freestyle relay, the sophomore group of Luus, Weerasinghe, Venos and Daly finished third with a time of 3:06.49 while Distenfeld, Stewart, Narcelles and junior Ryan Foreback were fifth with a time of 3:09.32.

Denison returns to action in three weeks to host its first home meet of the 2022-23 season against Xavier University. The action will start at 1 p.m. on Saturday, October 29, inside the Trumbull Aquatics Center.

NCAA Division III National "B" cuts:
Richie Kurlich – 100 butterfly – 48.37
Tyler Distenfeld – 1650 freestyle – 16:07.21
Richie Kurlich – 200 butterfly – 1:48.99
 
Akron Zips Classic Results