INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (March 17, 2022) – Denison University trails only one team at the midway point of the 2022 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championship. Through 10 events, Denison has amassed 171 points while Emory leads the team standings with 243 points. Johns Hopkins is in third place and only one point behind the Big Red with 170 points.

The day on Thursday started off with the prelims of the 200 freestyle relay as Denison's group of Trey Ike, Liam Picozzi, Chase Fisher and Kyle Verstandig finished fourth with a time of 1:20.08. Then in the finals, it went Ike, Picozzi, Fisher and Richie Kurlich as the Big Red again finished in fourth place, this time with a final time of 1:19.70.

In the first individual swim of the day, the 400 IM prelims, Eric Chimes qualified for the A Final with a seventh-place time of 3:55.10 while Lucas Conrads (3:58.52) qualified for the B Final in 16th. Chimes' effort to get into the A Final then paid off as he took home the bronze in third place with a final time of 3:54.45. Conrads, meanwhile, moved up to finish fifth in the B Final (13th overall) with a mark of 3:58.11.

Unfortunately, the Big Red did not have anybody advance to the finals in the 100 butterfly or the 200 freestyle as Emory expanded its lead to 219-145.

Denison's 400 medley team then tried to right the ship as Picozzi, Noah Houskeeper, Kurlich and Ike finished in first place in the prelims with a time of 3:14.22, beating out second-place Kenyon (3:14.37) by .15 seconds and setting up what was sure to be a great final race after each of the top-8 teams in the prelims posted 3:14s with only 51 hundredths of a second separating the first-place team to the eighth-place team.

However, in the finals of the 400 medley relay, despite swimming a new Denison varsity record time, the script flipped on the Big Red as they finished sixth with a time of 3:13.27 while Chicago won it at 3:11.99. Kenyon, meanwhile, finished second but was disqualified for an early start, moving them down to eighth place in the team standings.

Denison will return to the IU Natatorium on Friday to compete in the 200 butterfly, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke, 1-meter dive and the 800 free relay. Preliminaries begin at 10 a.m. with finals starting at 6 p.m.
 
All-Americans (Top-8):
Trey Ike, Liam Picozzi, Kyle Verstandig, Richie Kurlich – 4th place in the 200 freestyle relay – 1:19.70
Eric Chimes – 3rd place in the 400 IM – 3:54.45
Liam Picozzi, Noah Houskeeper, Richie Kurlich, Trey Ike – 6th place in the 400 medley relay – 3:13.27
 
Honorable Mention All-Americans (Top-16):
Lucas Conrads – 13th place in the 400 IM – 3.58.11
 
Day Two Results