GREENSBORO, N.C. (March 22, 2024) – Just like it did a year ago, the Denison University men's swimming & diving team rose up to eighth place in the team standings after day three at the NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championship.

The Big Red have totaled 130 points, trail seventh-place Carnegie Mellon University (131 points) by just one point, and are 13 points behind Calvin University (143) in sixth place. Denison leads Tufts University (111.5), which is 10th at this point for the second year in a row, by 18.5 points. Emory University holds the lead in the men's team standings with 327 points, followed by Kenyon College (272) in second, the University of Chicago (264) in third, Williams College (217.5) in fourth and New York University (208) in fifth.

In the first event of day three, Max Soja finished 13th with a time of 1:47.62 in the prelims of the 200 butterfly, but then in the B Final, he ended 16th with a time of 1:49.22, the same place he finished in at nationals last year.

Devin Testin tied for 27th in the 100 backstroke with a time of 50.18 seconds as Denison remained in 12th place with 79 points after the first two events of the day.

In the 100 breaststroke, Elijah Venos finished sixth in the prelims at 53.81 seconds while Patrick Daly was ninth at 54.16 seconds. Then in the A Final, Venos shattered the Denison varsity record and finished fourth overall with a time of 53.13 seconds to improve upon his seventh-place finish from last year.

Meanwhile, in the B Final, Daly was second (10th overall) at 54.07 seconds as the Big Red moved up to 10th place in the team standings with 101 points.

Putting together a great performance in the 1-meter dive was Nick Fogle, who scored 461.15 points to finish fifth in the prelims. He scored an outstanding 68.20 points on an inward 2 1/2 somersault tuck (405C) on his ninth dive and got 50.40 points from an inward 1 1/2 somersault pike (403B) on his 11th dive in the prelims. Then despite scoring 54.00 or better on three of his sixth dives in the finals, Fogle finished eighth with a score of 449.45 points. His 11 points, however, were enough to move Denison into eighth place in the team standings with 112 points.

Kenyon senior Israel Zavaleta claimed the sweep in the diving events. This is the third-consecutive season that Zavaleta swept the boards, making him the first male diver in Division III to collect six championships combined on both boards. He is also the second male diver to win at least three-consecutive titles in the 1-meter event.

Finally, in the 800 freestyle relay, Denison swam in the morning session but saw Sam Myaard, Christian McIntire, Gavin Jones and Tyler Distenfeld finish ninth overall with a time of 6:36.13.

Denison will close out the 2024 NCAA Division III Championship on Saturday with finals in the 1,650 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 200 breaststroke and the 400 freestyle relay. Preliminaries will start at 10 a.m. followed by finals at 6 p.m.
 
First Team All-Americans (Top-8):
Elijah Venos – 4th place in the 100 breaststroke – 53.13
Nick Fogle – 8th place on the 1-meter diving board – 449.45
 
Second Team All-Americans (Top-16):
Max Soja – 16th place in the 200 butterfly – 1:49.22
Patrick Daly – 10th place in the 100 breaststroke – 54.07
Sam Myaard, Christian McIntire, Gavin Jones and Tyler Distenfeld – 9th place in the 800 freestyle relay – 6:36.13
 
Day Three Results