GRANVILLE, Ohio (December 1, 2023) – Heading into the final day of the meet on Saturday, only 22 points separate the top-three men's teams in the standings at the Fifth Annual Denison Invitational. No. 6 Denison University is third with 1,165 points while the No. 1-ranked team in NCAA Division II, the University of Indianapolis, is second with 1,185 points and the No. 1 ranked team in NCAA Division III, Emory University, is first with 1,187 points.

The night opened with the 200 medley relay as Denison finished back-to-back in sixth and seventh place. Shea Card, Elijah Venos, Richie Stewart and Patrick Daly finished sixth at 1:30.16 while Nicholas Settembrine, Liam Nelson, Christian Narcelles and Devin Testin were seventh at 1:30.36.

In the first individual final of the day, the 400 IM, Denison had three NCAA Division III National "B" cuts and put four swimmers in the top-seven as Lucas Conrads was third with a "B" cut time of 3:55.53 while Gavin Jones was fifth with a "B" cut of 3:58.22, Connor Brown was sixth with a "B" cut of 3:58.60 and Max Soja was seventh with a time of 4:00.83. Although still in third place, that allowed Denison to pull to within 61 points of Emory for first place. For UIndy, Cedric Buessing set his second pool record of the meet with an "A" cut time of 3:45.67, breaking the previous record of 3:51.20 by Kenyon College's Bryan Fitzgerald in 2022. Buessing had previously broken the pool record in the 200 IM on Thursday.

In the 100 butterfly, Nelson finished 14th overall and fifth in the B final at 50.45 seconds while Max Lough (50.58), Dylan Escano (50.75) and Stewart (51.30) finished in order between 16 and 18th place overall.

Tyler Distenfeld finished third with a "B" cut of 1:39.60 in the 200 freestyle finals while Christian McIntire was sixth at 1:40.48. In the B final, Sam Myaard was second (11th overall) at 1:41.70 while Cameron Noble was third (12th overall) at 1:41.75 and Ryan Foreback was fifth (14th overall) at 1:41.89.

Elijah Venos was fourth in the 100 breaststroke with a "B" cut of 54.32 seconds while Daly was seventh with a "B" cut of 54.81 seconds, Nelson was eighth at 55.65 seconds and Josh Thomas was ninth at 55.94 seconds. In the B final, Teak Rommaneekochchakorn was second (11th overall) at 56.63 seconds while Dauer (57.55) was 15th overall and Escano (58.00) was 18th overall. In the C final, Riccardo Ricciardi was first (19th overall) at 56.84 seconds.

In the final individual swim of the night, the 100 backstroke, Testin finished fourth with a time of 49.62 seconds while Settembrine was seventh at 49.84 seconds and Card was ninth at 50.76 seconds.

Entering the final event of day two, the 800 freestyle relay, only 20 points separated the top-three teams in the standings as Emory had 1,127 points, UIndy had 1,123 points and Denison had 1,107 points. Following the 800 freestyle relay, the order in the standings remained the same as Denison's group of Conrads, Distenfeld, Daly and McIntire finished fourth with a National "B" cut time of 6:40.85.

Denison will close out the invitational on Saturday, December 2, with preliminaries scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., followed by finals at 6 p.m.
 
NCAA Division III National "B" cuts:
Lucas Conrads – 400 IM finals – 3:55.53
Lucas Conrads – 400 IM prelims – 3:55.80
Gavin Jones – 400 IM finals – 3:58.22
Connor Brown – 400 IM finals – 3:58.60
Tyler Distenfeld – 200 freestyle finals – 1:39.60
Elijah Venos – 100 breaststroke finals – 54.32
Elijah Venos – 100 breaststroke prelims – 54.47
Patrick Daly – 100 breaststroke finals – 54.81
Patrick Daly – 100 breaststroke prelims – 55.02
Liam Nelson – 100 breaststroke prelims – 55.05
Lucas Conrads, Tyler Distenfeld, Patrick Daly and Christian McIntire – 800 freestyle relay finals – 6:40.85
 
Fifth Annual Denison Invitational Friday Final Results
Fifth Annual Denison Invitational Friday Prelim Results