GRANVILLE, Ohio (December 2, 2023) – With just 22 points separating the top-three men's teams entering the final day of competition, the No. 6 Denison University men's swimming team moved up one spot to place second overall with 1,748 points at the Fifth Annual Denison Invitational. The No. 1-ranked team in NCAA Division II, the University of Indianapolis, was the team champion with 1,941 points. Denison also finished 101 points in front of the No. 1 ranked team in NCAA Division III, Emory University, in third place with 1,647 points.

After earning a combined 25 NCAA Division III National "B" cuts during the first two days of the invitational, the Big Red racked up 10 more National "B" cut times during the finals and prelims on Saturday.

To start the final session of the meet, Lucas Conrads won the 1650 freestyle with a "B" cut time of 15:31.56. It was the only event win of the meet for the Big Red, who in all put three swimmers in the top-five and four in the top-eight of the 1650 freestyle as Luke Landis was third with a "B" cut time himself of 15:41.32 while Tyler Distenfeld was fifth at 15:52.76 and Sam Myaard was eighth at 16:00.99.

Denison's effort in the 1650 freestyle put the Big Red in first place in the team standings for the time being with 1,313 points, 54 points over UIndy (1,259) and 83 points in front of Emory (1,230).

In the 200 backstroke finals, Devin Testin finished ninth with a "B" cut time of 1:49.01 while Nicholas Settembrine was second in the B final (11th overall) at 1:50.3 and Connor Brown was fourth in the B final (13th overall) at 1:52.11. James Pastore (1:53.19), Luke Swiggett (1:54.50) and Shea Card (1:55.58) finished in order between 16th and 18th place overall as Denison remained in first place with 1,412 points, 26 points in front of UIndy (1,386) and 47 points in front of Emory (1,365).

Then in the 100 freestyle, Christian Narcelles finished 17th overall (8th in the B final) at 46.55 seconds while Ryan Foreback (46.53) was 22nd overall (4th in the C final) and Cameron Noble (46.61) was 23rd overall (5th in the C final). Unfortunately, UIndy (1,629) passed Denison (1,440) for first place in the standings following the 100 freestyle.

Denison put five swimmers into the finals (top-9) in the 200 breaststroke as in the prelims, Patrick Daly (1:59.37) was second, Elijah Venos (2:00.81) was fourth, Gavin Jones (2:01.21) was sixth, Liam Nelson (2:02.08) was seventh and Teak Rommaneekochchakorn (2:03.00) was ninth. Then in the finals, the five swimmers finished in the top-eight as Venos was third with a "B" cut time of 1:59.14 while Daly was right behind him in fourth with a "B" cut of 1:59.62. Jones (2:01.81), Rommaneekochchakorn (2:02.40) and Nelson (2:02.45) then finished in order between sixth and eighth place, but Denison was only able to pull to within 165 points (1,760-1,595) of UIndy for first place.

In the final individual event of the meet, the 200 butterfly, Max Soja finished sixth with a "B" cut of 1:50.13 while Dylan Escano was seventh at 1:50.70 and Max Lough was ninth at 1:51.65.

The 400 freestyle relay ended the night at Daly, Testin, Foreback and Venos finished fourth at 3:02.48 while Distenfeld, Narcelles, Richie Stewart and Christian McIntire were seventh at 3:04.57.

In all for the meet, Denison accumulated 35 NCAA Division III National "B" cuts across 11 individual student-athletes and one relay group. In addition, Conrads, Daly and Jones each set a "B" cut in three different events.

Two pool records fell in the prelims on Saturday as WashU's Alec McCormick broke his own pool record in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:44.56. In the 100 freestyle, UIndy's Joao Silva set a pool record with a time of 43.78 seconds, breaking the previous record of 43.81 seconds set by Emory's Trey Kolleck in 2018. It was the second pool record this weekend for Silva after also breaking the record in the 50 freestyle on Thursday. Later on in the 200 backstroke finals, Cedric Buessing from UIndy broke the record that McCormick set earlier in the day with a time of 1:43.37. It was Buessing's third pool record of the meet after doing so in the 400IM on Friday and the 200 IM on Thursday, and was the fifth pool record in all this weekend for UIndy.

NCAA Division III National "B" cuts:
Lucas Conrads – 1650 freestyle – 15:31.56
Luke Landis – 1650 freestyle – 15:41.32
Devin Testin – 200 backstroke finals – 1:49.01
Elijah Venos – 200 breaststroke finals – 1:59.14
Elijah Venos – 200 breaststroke prelims – 2:00.81
Patrick Daly – 200 breaststroke finals – 1:59.62
Patrick Daly – 200 breaststroke prelims – 1:59.37
Gavin Jones – 200 breaststroke prelims – 2:01.21
Max Soja – 200 butterfly finals – 1:50.13
Max Soja – 200 butterfly prelims – 1:47.74

Fifth Annual Denison Invitational Saturday Final Results
Fifth Annual Denison Invitational Saturday Prelim Results
Fifth Annual Denison Invitational Combined Results