GRANVILLE, Ohio (November 30, 2023) – The No. 6 Denison University men's swimming team sits in third place through five events at the Fifth Annual Denison Invitational.

Emory University, the No. 1-ranked team in NCAA Division III, leads the invitational with a day-one total of 569 points while the University of Indianapolis, the No. 1-ranked team in NCAA Division II, is second with 465 points, just 25 points in front of Denison (440 points) in third place. In fourth place with 327 points is the No. 8-ranked team in Division III, Washington University in St. Louis, followed by Emory & Henry College in fifth place with 114 points.

Between both the prelims and finals on Thursday, Denison totaled 14 individual event NCAA Division III National "B" cut times across eight student-athletes.

In the 200 freestyle relay finals, Denison's group of Gavin Jones, Devin Testin, Richie Stewart and Patrick Daly were fifth at 1:22.17 while Nicholas Settembrine, Emmett Harmon, Luke Dauer and Christian Narcelles were sixth at 1:23.17.

Denison took three of the top-five spots in the 500 freestyle prelims as Lucas Conrads (4:30.79) was third, Luke Landis (4:30.82) was fourth and Christian McIntire (4:31.89) was fifth. The Big Red were then even better in the finals, landing in three of the top-four spots in the A final while also winning the B final. In the A final, McIntire was second with a time of 4:29.27 while Conrads was right behind him in third place at 4:29.99 and Landis was fourth at 4:31.29. All three of Denison's times in the A final were good for an NCAA Division III National "B" cut. In the B final, Tyler Distenfeld was first with a "B" cut time of his own at 4:31.54. Those performances helped Denison move up to second place in the team standings with 211 points, trailing only Emory with 238 points.

Denison also earned three of the top-five spots in the 200 IM prelims as Patrick Daly (1:49.46) was third, Devin Testin (1:49.87) was fourth and Max Soja (1:49.90) was fifth. In the finals, however, Daly was fourth at 1:49.07, Soja was sixth at 1:50.30, Testin was seventh at 1:50.31, and Gavin Jones was ninth at 1:50.33. All four times for Denison in the A final were good for a National "B" cut, and Liam Nelson (1:51.01) added a second-place finish in the B final (11th overall) as the Big Red pulled into first place for the first time in the meet, 369-363, over Emory. UIndy's Cedric Buessing set a new pool record en route to his win with a time of 1:46.47, breaking the previous pool record set by Denison's Richie Kulich (1:47.10) in 2022.

However, in the final individual event of day one, the 50 freestyle, Denison did not put any swimmers in the A final and saw Stewart take fifth in the B final (14th overall) at 20.90 seconds. That pushed the Big Red back down to third place in the standings. Another UIndy swimmer set a pool record as Joao Silva won the race with a time of 19.75 records, breaking the previous record of 19.84 seconds by Emory's Nick Goudie in 2021.

The 400 medley relay closed out the night's finals as Settembrine, Nelson, Dylan Escano and Cameron Noble finished seventh at 3:20.34.

Denison returns to the Trumbull Aquatics Center on Friday, December 1, for preliminaries at 10 a.m. followed by finals at 6 p.m.
 
NCAA Division III National "B" cuts
Christian McIntire – 500 freestyle finals – 4:29.27
Lucas Conrads – 500 freestyle finals – 4:29.99
Lucas Conrads – 500 freestyle prelims – 4:30.79
Luke Landis – 500 freestyle finals – 4:31.29
Luke Landis – 500 freestyle prelims – 4:30.82
Tyler Distenfeld – 500 freestyle finals – 4:31.54
Patrick Daly – 200 IM finals – 1:49.07
Patrick Daly – 200 IM prelims – 1:49.46
Max Soja – 200 IM finals – 1:50.30
Max Soja – 200 IM prelims – 1:49.90
Devin Testin – 200 IM finals – 1:50.31
Devin Testin – 200 IM prelims – 1:49.87
Gavin Jones – 200 IM finals – 1:50.33
Gavin Jones – 200 IM prelims – 1:50.19
 
Fifth Annual Denison Invitational Thursday Final Results
Fifth Annual Denison Invitational Thursday Prelim Results