GRANVILLE, Ohio (December 2, 2022) – After day two of the Fourth Annual Denison Invitational, No. 5 Denison University men's swimming & diving currently sits in third place with a two-day total of 1,109 points. The Big Red find themselves 185.5 points ahead of No. 3-ranked Johns Hopkins University (923.5) in fourth place. Meanwhile, No. 1-ranked Emory University (1,269.5) holds a narrow 91.5-point lead over No. 7 Washington University-St. Louis (1,178) for first place.

For the second year in a row, Lucas Conrads and Max Soja both earned an NCAA Division III National "B" cut in the 400 IM while Richie Kurlich did it for the second year in a row in both the 100 butterfly and the 100 breaststroke.

The 1-meter diving preliminaries and finals took place in the afternoon, and Nick Fogle earned first place with a provisional regional qualifying score of 297.65 points while Kristian Kowalski finished second with a regional qualifying score of his own (289.55 points) as the Big Red moved into second place, trailing only Emory (565-504) entering the night's finals in the pool.

The night then opened with an NCAA Division III National "B" cut time from Denison's 200 medley relay "A" squad as Chris Luus, Gavin Jones, Kurlich and Patrick Daly finished sixth with a time of 1:30.92.

In Denison's first of two victories in the pool during Friday's finals, Eric Chimes won the 400 IM with a time of 3:55.97 while Conrads (3:56.38) was third and Soja (3:59.86) was ninth. All three times were good for NCAA Division III National "B" cuts as Denison drew to within 35 points of Emory (714-679) for the lead in the team standings at the time.

Kurlich followed with a win and a National "B" cut in the 100 butterfly as he finished with a time of 47.99 seconds, Daly finished in seventh place in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:40.04, and then Kurlich got right back into the pool to earn another "B" cut with a third-place finish and a time of 53.95 seconds in the 100 breaststroke.

In the final individual swim of the night, the 100 backstroke, Shea Card finished sixth with a time of 49.78 seconds.

In all, the Big Red added seven more NCAA Division III National "B" cut swims in the finals on Friday after finishing with only three during the finals on Thursday.

Denison will close out the invitational on Saturday, December 3, with preliminaries scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., followed by finals at 6 p.m. Men's 3-meter diving will start at 12:30 p.m.
 
NCAA Division III National "B" cuts:
Nick Fogle – 1-meter diving finals – 297.65
Kristian Kowalski – 1-meter diving finals – 289.55
Chris Luus, Gavin Jones, Richie Kurlich and Patrick Daly - 200 medley relay finals - 1:30.92
Eric Chimes – 400 IM finals – 3:55.97
Eric Chimes – 400 IM prelims – 3:56.21
Lucas Conrads – 400 IM finals – 3:56.38
Lucas Conrads – 400 IM prelims – 3:56.19
Max Soja – 400 IM finals – 3:59.86
Max Soja – 400 IM prelims – 3:59.15
Richie Kurlich – 100 butterfly finals – 47.99
Richie Kurlich – 100 butterfly prelims – 48.26
Richie Kurlich – 100 breaststroke finals – 53.95
Richie Kurlich – 100 breaststroke prelims – 54.35

Fourth Annual Denison Invitational Day Two Results