NCAA Division III Men’s Champs: Day 3 Finals

By Brian Savard

OXFORD, Ohio, March 22. DENISON'S John Geissinger found himself in a position all too familiar for the Big Red on the final day of the Men's Division III Championships.

Kenyon, who placed just sixth this morning in the 400 freestyle relay, pounded out a 45.17 opening leadoff through Blair Withington. They strung together two more swift legs before Josh Mitchell, the 100 freestyle champion, faced off against one of the most feared relay snipers in Division III in Geissinger. Geissinger dove in .13 seconds behind Mitchell.

Geissinger turned at 20.54 while Mitchell turned at 20.50. The Lord and Big Red faithful stood on their feet, watching to see if Geissinger could chase down Mitchell like David Curtis did to Kegan Borland last night in the 800 freestyle relay.

Mitchell looked up at the scoreboard to find that his Lord relay successfully held off Denison, winning in 2:58.80.

With that win, Kenyon finished the meet with 635 points, claiming an unprecedented 29th consecutive national title. There was never any doubt throughout the course of the three-day championship meet that the Lords would finish any less than first.

An interesting battle had ensued for second throughout the meet. Johns Hopkins finished second after day one, but Denison stole away the second-place spot after day two. The Blue Jays reclaimed second at the end of the meet, staving off Denison with 330 points. Denison finished up third with 314.5 points.

Emory picked up 261 points and finished fourth while Williams came away with the fifth-highest point total (211).

1650 freestyle

Borland added his name to a long list of consecutive Lord 1650 freestyle winners dating back to 1991 when he won a back-and-forth battle against Emory's Keith Diggs with a time of 15:31.96. Diggs couldn't manage to muster up enough the sprint speed at the end of the race as Borland took total control for the final 200 of the event, settling for second with a 15:33.71. Emory's Skylar Davis, who swam in the second heat earlier in the afternoon, moved into the third-place spot with his 15:35.30 time. Davis' teammate, Nick Lake, earned a fourth-place finish for Emory with a 15:35.59 swim, which stood just .29 seconds slower than Davis' afternoon swim.

200 backstroke

Sophomore John Thomas of Johns Hopkins was on record-setting pace for the first 150 of the 200 backstroke, but he fell just short of the record in the end, touching the wall at 1:47.43. Leandro Montiero of Kenyon's 2002 record (1:47.21) survived another year. Tom Irgens, who finished 10th in the 200 backstroke last year, touched second in 1:50.11. Kevin Kewin of Union trimmed almost half a second off of his morning swim, claiming third in 1:50.53. Nick Ostreim of Clairmont-Mudd-Scripps and Adam Petro from Wabash touched at simultaneously in the consolation final heat at 1:51.76, sharing the ninth-place honor.

100 freestyle

Mitchell notched the second win of the nightcap for the Lords, blasting out a 44.37 100 freestyle. James Born of Kenyon still owns the event record, which is the oldest Division III record in the books, with a 43.65 time that he swam back in 1985. Mitchell came a long way in his years of competing in the 100 freestyle at NCAAs, as he tied for second last year (44.93) and placed 34th in 2006 with a 47.09 time.

Andrew Lardiere of New York came out of lane two to take second in 44.75, which bettered his 13th-place showing in the 100 freestyle at the 2007 meet. John Geissinger of Denison slammed the touchpad third in 44.81.Withington from Kenyon set himself apart from the rest of a tenacious consolation final heat in the final 15 meters of the race, taking the consolation final win in 45.20.

200 breaststroke

The 200 breaststroke started out with the swimmers being pulled back after the start due to a flinch on the block by one of the competitors. None of the swimmers made it past their pullouts as all of them heard the buzzer going off, signaling a restart. No swimmers were disqualified.

Pavel Buyanov of Staten Island just missed cracking the two-minute barrier, touching in 2:00.01 for first place. Buyanov came from behind, using a 30.93 split in the last 50 to defeat the top seed, Nelson Westby of St. Olaf. Alexander Stoyel of Kenyon also passed by Westby on the final 50, posting a time of 2:00.70. Westby took third with a 2:01.09. Stephen Schrank of Carthage passed Luther's Michael Pettengill on the final 50 in the consolation finals, winning the heat in 2:03.34.

200 butterfly

Matthew Harris from Kenyon surprised the 200 butterfly field, coming out of lane two to win in 1:48.44. Harris came off of the wall fifth at the 100 mark, but he muscled out a 27.87 third 50 followed by a 28.23 final 50 to win his second gold medal of the meet. John Dillon of Middlebury, who was the top qualifier in the event this morning, placed second with a time of 1:48.74. Chris Millen of Williams, who placed second in the event last year, took third with a 1:49.59 time.

Colin Kleinguetl of Johns Hopkins was the outside smoke in the consolation final heat. Kleinguetl barely inched into the evening swim, swimming just .10 seconds faster than the 17th-fastest competitor this morning. He blew past his heat from lane eight, recording a 1:50.34 standard.

3-meter diving

Kai Robinson of Amherst won the 3-meter competition with a 535.55 score. Nicholas Halbach from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy scored a 504.05 and took second while Greg Lloyd from New Jersey placed third with a 487.65 score.

400 freestyle relay

Withington, Harris, Ergens and Mitchell combined talents in the 400 freestyle relay, clocking an event-winning 2:58.80 for Kenyon. Denison took second with a 2:59.40 while Johns Hopkins stopped the clock third at 3:00.64.

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