GRANVILLE, Ohio (February 9, 2023) – The Denison University men's swimming & diving team put together a strong second-night performance to jump up to first place at the 2023 North Coast Athletic Conference Championships. Denison has totaled 691 points through seven of 21 events while Kenyon College sits in second place with 651 points. Third place belongs to Wabash College with 359.5 points while the College of Wooster sits in fourth at 343.5 points.

Denison started off the night by finishing 2-6 in the 500 freestyle as Tyler Distenfeld (4:28.63), Eric Chimes (4:29.35), Sam Myaard (4:29.99), Lucas Conrads (4:30.33) and Christian McIntire (4:31.59) all earned an NCAA Division III National "B" cut time and helped the Big Red take a 292-225 lead over Kenyon after the first individual swimming final of this year's championship.

Then in the 200 IM, the 2022 NCAC Newcomer of the Year, Patrick Daly, brought home Denison's first conference title of 2023 with a National "B" cut time of 1:48.42 while right behind him in second place, also with a "B" cut time, was Gavin Jones at 1:49.27. That helped push Denison's lead to 106 points (439-333) over the Owls before Richie Stewart (20.86 seconds) and Aidan Lane (21.04 seconds) finished in seventh and eighth place, respectively, in the 50 freestyle.

On the 1-meter diving board, Denison earned a pair of all-conference honors and three NCAA Division III provisional regional qualifying scores as Nick Fogle (484.20) finished in second place as a freshman, followed by Brendan Downey (466.55) in third place and Kristian Kowalski (462.75) in fourth. The winner from Kenyon was Israel Zavaleta, who finished with a score of 586.60 in the finals, which was overshadowed by his NCAA Division III National Record score of 610.20 in the prelims.

In the final event of the night, Richie Kurlich, Daly, Stewart and Lane finished in second place in the 200 freestyle relay with a "B" cut time of 1:21.30 while Kenyon was first at 1:19.21.

Also of note, in the time trials following the morning session, Kurlich set a new NCAC record in the 100 breaststroke with a "B" cut time of 53.93 seconds.

Denison returns to the Trumbull Aquatics Center on Friday, February 10, for day three of the 2023 North Coast Athletic Conference Championships with preliminaries starting at 9:30 a.m. followed by finals at 6 p.m. Day 3 of the conference meet will feature the 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and the 400 medley relay.
 
NCAC Championships:
Patrick Daly –200 IM – 1:48.42
 
All-NCAC Performances (Top-3):
Tyler Distenfeld – second place in the 500 freestyle – 4:28.63
Eric Chimes – third place in the 500 freestyle – 4:29.35
Patrick Daly – first place in the 200 IM – 1:48.42
Gavin Jones – second place in the 200 IM – 1:49.27
Nick Fogle – second place in the 1-meter dive – 484.20
Brendan Downey – third place in the 1-meter dive – 466.55
Richie Kurlich, Patrick Daly, Richie Stewart, Aidan Lane – second place in the 200 freestyle relay – 1:21.30
 
NCAA Division III National "B" cuts:
Tyler Distenfeld – 500 freestyle finals – 4:28.63
Tyler Distenfeld – 500 freestyle prelims – 4:29.55
Eric Chimes – 500 freestyle finals – 4:29.35
Eric Chimes – 500 freestyle prelims – 4:31.27
Sam Myaard – 500 freestyle finals – 4:29.99
Lucas Conrads – 500 freestyle finals – 4:30.33
Lucas Conrads – 500 freestyle prelims – 4:29.48
Christian McIntire – 500 freestyle finals – 4:31.59
Patrick Daly – 200 IM finals – 1:48.42
Gavin Jones – 200 IM finals – 1:49.27
Gavin Jones – 200 IM prelims – 1:50.13
Nick Fogle – 1-meter diving finals – 484.20
Nick Fogle – 1-meter diving prelims – 479.60
Brendan Downey – 1-meter diving finals – 466.55
Brendan Downey – 1-meter diving prelims – 444.85
Kristian Kowalski – 1-meter diving finals – 462.75
Kristian Kowalski – 1-meter diving prelims – 465.70
Richie Kurlich, Patrick Daly, Richie Stewart, Aidan Lane – 200 freestyle relay – 1:21.30
Richie Kurlich – 100 breaststroke time trial – 53.93
Luke Landis – 500 freestyle time trial – 4:32.29
 
Day Two Results