INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (March 16, 2022) – Five events are in the books as the Denison University men's swimming & diving team logged four top-five finishes and is in second place at the 2022 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships. Denison is in second with 95 points, trailing first-place Emory (101 points) by six.

In the prelims of the very first event of the meet, the 500 freestyle, Denison had three simmers qualify for the B Final as Luke Landis (4:27.92) was ninth, Sam Myaard (4:30.52) was 15th and Lucas Conrads (4:30.68) was 16th. In the finals, Landis (4:26.98) took 11th while Myaard (4:29.08) stayed in 15th and Conrads (4:32.12) was still 16th.

In the 200 IM, Denison put one swimmer in the A Final and two in the B Final as Noah Houskeeper (1:48.61) finished seventh in the prelims while Richie Kurlich (1:49.25) was 14th and Patrick Daly (1:49.35) was 16th.

Houskeeper then brought home Denison's first All-American honor of the meet by finishing in fifth place in the finals with a time of 1:48.70. Like Houskeeper, Kurlich and Daly then improved their finishes from the prelims as Kurlich (1:48.25) moved up to 11th in the finals while Daly (1:49.06) finished right behind him in 12th place, moving Denison from eighth place all the way up to second place with 34 points, 13 points behind the leader at the time, Johns Hopkins.

Trey Ike finished third in the 50 freestyle prelims with a time of 19.94 seconds before bringing home Denison's second All-American finish of the night with a fourth-place time of 19.97 seconds in the finals, tightening Denison's gap behind Johns Hopkins down to just four points at 53-49.

On the 3-meter diving board, Liam Simmons finished eighth in the prelims with 463.25 points before jumping up all the way to third place to take home the bronze in the finals with 514.65 points.

Lastly, in the 200 medley relay prelims, Denison's group of Liam Picozzi, Houskeeper, Ethan Bevill and Ike finished sixth with a time of 1:28.51 before Kurlich stepped in for Bevill in the finals and helped the squad deliver a fourth-place finish with a new Denison varsity record time of 1:27.73. Unfortunately, Emory finished first with a time of 1:27.08 to take its six-point lead over the Big Red.

Denison will return to the IU Natatorium on Thursday, March 17, for Day 2 at the NCAA Division III Championships, where they will compete in the 200 free relay, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, and the 400 medley relay. Preliminaries begin at 10 a.m. followed by finals at 6 p.m.
 
All-Americans (Top-8):
Noah Houskeeper – fifth place in the 200 IM – 1:48.70
Trey Ike – fourth place in the 50 freestyle – 19.97
Liam Simmons – third place on the 3-meter diving board – 514.65
Liam Picozzi, Noah Houskeeper, Richie Kurlich, Trey Ike – fourth place in the 200 medley relay – 1:27.73
 
Honorable Mention All-Americans (Top-16):
Luke Landis – 11th place in the 500 freestyle – 4:26.98
Sam Myaard – 15th place in the 500 freestyle – 4:29.08
Lucas Conrads – 16th place in the 500 freestyle – 4:32.12
Richie Kurlich – 11th place in the 200 IM – 1:48.25
Patrick Daly – 12th place in the 200 IM – 1:49.06
 
Day One Results