GRANVILLE, Ohio (December 3, 2022) – Trailing by 160.5 points entering the final day of competition, the No. 5 Denison University men's swimming & diving team moved up two spots in the team standings to win the Denison Invitational for the fourth year in a row. In the end, Denison totaled 1,846 points to the win event by just 4.5 points over No. 1 Emory University in second place with 1,841.5 points. Third place went to No. 7 Washington University-St. Louis with 1,823 points, just 23 points behind the Big Red, while fourth place belonged to No. 3 Johns Hopkins University with 1,350.5 points.
After earning a combined four wins and 10 NCAA Division III National "B" cuts during the first two finals sessions of the invitational, the Big Red racked up seven more National "B" cut times during the finals on Saturday.
For the second year in a row,
Lucas Conrads,
Tyler Distenfeld and
Sam Myaard all earned an NCAA Division III National "B" cut in the 1650 freestyle while
Eric Chimes,
Richie Kurlich and
Max Soja all did so for the second year in a row in the 200 butterfly.
On the 3-meter dive,
Brendan Stanley earned first place with a provisional regional qualifying score of 302.55 points.
Entering the night's finals, Denison had pulled to within only 7.5 points of Emory (1,269.5-1,262) and was 84 points up on WashU (1,178) in third place.
Conrads finished third in the 1650 freestyle with a time of 15:37.32, and was followed by Distenfield (15:51.23) in fifth and Myaard (15:59.79) in eighth. All three times were good for a National "B" cut as the Big Red overtook first place in the team standings over WashU (1,363-1,318) while Emory (1,298.5) dropped to third place at the time.
In the 200 backstroke,
James Pastore (1:50.65) and
Shea Card (1:52.40) finished back-to-back in seventh and eighth place as Denison (1,495 points) expanded its lead to 79.5 points while Emory moved up into second place with 1,415.5 points.
However, after the 100 freestyle in which
Patrick Daly finished fourth with a time of 45.36 seconds, Emory overtook the Big Red for first place (1,601.5-1,587). That would not, however, be the final lead change of the meet.
In the "B" final of the 200 breaststroke, Franceso Assalone (2:02.75),
Gavin Jones (2:03.62),
Christian Narcelles (2:04.86) and
Josh Thomas (2:04.93) finished in order between second and fifth (11th-14th overall), and then Denison made its move in the final individual event of the invitational, the 200 butterfly, as Kurlich took second place with a National "B" cut time of 1:47.42 while Chimes (1:48.69) was third and
Max Soja (1:50.53) was sixth, both of which were "B" cuts as well. That was enough to put the Big Red back into first place by just 20.5 points over Emory (1,792-1,771.5) with only the 400 freestyle relay remaining.
The Big Red capped off the win with a sixth-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay as
Dhinal Weerasinghe, Daly,
Aidan Lane and Chimes worked together to put up a time of 3:03.57.
In all, Denison accumulated 18 NCAA Division III National "B" cuts by 10 individual student-athletes throughout the meet, led by four from Kurlich and three by both Conrads and Chimes.
In lieu of admission to the Denison Invitational, donations and non-perishable food items were collected at the gate. Throughout the three days, over $1,800 and 529 food items were collected. Donations will be made to the Market Street Pantry and the Licking County Food Pantry.
NCAA Division III National "B" cuts:
Brendan Stanley – 3-meter diving finals – 302.55
Brendan Stanley – 3-meter diving prelims – 292.35
Lucas Conrads – 1650 freestyle – 15:37.32
Tyler Distenfeld – 1650 freestyle – 15:51.23
Sam Myaard – 1650 freestyle – 15:59.79
Richie Kurlich – 200 butterfly finals – 1:47.52
Richie Kurlich – 200 butterfly prelims – 1:48.69
Eric Chimes – 200 butterfly finals – 1:48.69
Eric Chimes – 200 butterfly prelims – 1:48.56
Max Soja – 200 butterfly finals – 1:50.83
Max Soja – 200 butterfly prelims – 1:49.95
Fourth Annual Denison Invitational Day 3 Results
Fourth Annual Denison Invitational Combined Results
