Denison Sweeps Kenyon In NCAA Division III Battle Royale

GAMBIER, Ohio, November 2. IN one of the biggest NCAA Division III dual meets of every year, Denison swept Kenyon in both the men’s and women’s meets. The men’s meet proved to be extremely exciting, coming down to the last event with Denison trailing Kenyon. In the end, the men picked up a 153.5 to 146.5 triumph over Kenyon. The women had a slightly easier time of it with a 164-136 victory.

Denison Men’s Release
The Denison men’s swimming & diving team entered the meet’s final event, the 400 freestyle relay, trailing Kenyon by two points (142.5-140.5). Needing a victory in the event to clinch the dual meet win, Denison’s relay team of Carlos Maciel, Spencer Fronk, Sean Chabot, and Conrad Wuorinen posted a season-best time of 3:04.24 to win the race by just over one half of a second. Kenyon’s relay team touched in 3:04.91. Denison’s time is an NCAA qualifying time. It also clinched Denison’s second-consecutive dual meet victory over their rivals from Gambier.

On the day, Denison logged eight event victories and were paced by Chabot who was a part of three of those wins. Aside from swimming on the meet-clinching 400 free relay, Chabot opened the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay along with Damon Rosenburg, Andrew Rich, and Ryan Fleming. The foursome touched in 1:32.69.

Chabot would return to win the 100 backstroke with a ‘B’ cut time of 51.40. He would post another provisional time in the 200 back with a second-place finish and a time of 1:52.52.

An NCAA provisional qualifying time would also be posted by Rosenburg as he won the 100 breaststroke in 56.68, and Jack Lindell after his runner-up time of 4:02.73 in the 400 individual medley.

Connor Dignan swept the diving events, posting a score of 303.90 in the 3-meter board and 300.98 in the 1-meter. Ben Lewis was second in the 1-meter with a score of 273.80 and Connor Dorff was the runner-up on the 3-meter board tallying 288.15 points.

The winner of the 50 freestyle was Fleming who hit the wall in 21.15 seconds. Rich logged an individual win in the 100 butterfly, touching in 50.95 seconds while Fronk narrowly missed out on an individual win in the 100 freestyle as he was edged by 0.03 seconds by Austin Caldwell of Kenyon.

Denison moves to 4-2 in dual meet action and will take a one-month break from competition before returning at the Miami University Invitational on Dec. 5-7.

Kenyon Men’s Release
Despite being outscored 32-6 in two diving events, the Kenyon College Lords swimming and diving team nearly upended rival Denison University during Saturday’s dual meet at the James A. Steen Aquatic Center. Denison, however, got a win in the meet’s last event and escaped with a 153.5-146.5 victory.

Throughout the meet, Kenyon made up for that 26-point deficit in diving competition and headed in to the final event, the 400-yard freestyle, deadlocked 142.5-142.5 with Denison. Junior Austin Caldwell led off the relay for the Lords and built a slight lead, which vanished on the second leg as Denison’s Spencer Fronk put the Big Red ahead. Kenyon junior Wes Manz then won his leg of the race, but in the end Denison’s Conrad Wuorinen out-touched Kenyon’s Joey Duronio. The Big Red relay team finished with a time of 3:04.24 and Kenyon finished in 3:04.91.

Caldwell was superb for the Lords throughout the meet. He captured event wins in the 100-yard freestyle (46.39) and the 200-yard freestyle (1:41.63). Freshman Trevor Manz was equally impressive, winning the 200-yard breaststroke (2:05.84), the 400-yard individual medley (4:02.61) and placing second in the 100-yard breaststroke (57.16).

Senior Andrew Chevalier gave the Lords a big boost early in the meet with a win in the 1,000-yard freestyle, edging Denison’s Al Weik, the three-time defending champion in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Chevalier clocked in at 9:37.93, while Weik settled for second with a 9:38.88. Later in the meet, the Lords clipped Weik one more time. This time around it was Kenyon junior Joe Guilfoyle. He won the 500-yard freestyle in 4:43.03. Weik, the two-defending champion in the event, took second place with a time of 4:43.06.

Kenyon had two other event winners in freshman Ian Reardon and junior Harrison Curley. Reardon won the 200-yard butterfly (1:55.52) and Curley took the 200-yard backstroke (1:51.81).

Denison Women’s Release
The Denison women’s swimmers and divers picked up its biggest dual meet victory of the season as they dispatched Kenyon College, 164-136 on Saturday in Gambier, Ohio.

The Big Red posted nine victories at the meet and was led by Carolyn Kane who won four events and Molly Willingham who posted three victories. Both Willingham and Kane swam on the winning 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relays. The 200 medley relay kicked off the meet and along with Ashley Yearwood and Natalie Lugg, the team posted a time of 1:47.04 to lock up the win.

In the meet’s finale, the 400 free relay, Kane and Willingham teamed with Yearwood and Morgan Nuess for an NCAA qualifying time of 3:30.98. Willingham’s individual win came in the 200 freestyle where she touched first in 1:56.19. Carolyn Kane’s individual victories occurred in the 50 free where she edged teammate, Nuess with a time of 23.95 seconds. Nuess was second in 24.39 seconds. She also won the 100 free with a time of 52.53 seconds. Yearwood (53.52) and Willingham (53.64) followed in second and third place, respectively in the 100 free.

In the 500 freestyle, Campbell Costley picked up a victory with an NCAA provisional time of 5:02.95. She won the race by over six seconds.

Lucy Roth was a winner thanks to her time of 2:09.18 in the 200 backstroke and Krysta Garbarino finished first in the 100 butterfly after touching in 58.08 seconds. Denison’s final individual win came from Michelle Howell who bested teammate Taylor Johns in the 400 IM. Howell logged a time of 4:37.17 while Johns followed in 4:39.85.

In diving action, Denison got a second place performance from Sarah Lopez in the 1-meter board and a third place finish in the 3-meter. Lopez totaled 202.10 in the 1-meter and scored 154.40 in the 3-meter. Placing second in the 3-meter for DU was Carrie Bookheimer with a score of 177.38.

This marked Denison’s fifth-consecutive dual meet victory over Kenyon College in women’s swimming & diving. DU moves to 3-3 in dual meet action and will take a one-month break from competition before returning at the Miami University Invitational on Dec. 5-7.

Kenyon Women’s Release
Maria Zarka swept the diving events and both Katie Kaestner and Mariah Williamson took home a pair of wins, but the valiant effort still fell short in the women’s swimming and diving team’s dual meet with arch-rival Denison University. Behind two relay race wins and depth in their sprint event finishes, the Big Red pulled away from Kenyon College by a final score of 164-136.

Williamson posted her first win of the day in the 1,000-yard freestyle event by besting Denison’s Campbell Costley by 3.88 seconds. Her time of 10:21.01 earned her first-place honors and led nicely into her next event, the 200-yard butterfly. There, Williamson beat out Krysta Garbarino to the wall with a time of 2:07.17. She also took second place in the 500-yard freestyle (5:08.97).

Kaestner had an equally busy day in the pool after posting wins in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke events. In each, she beat out Denison’s Natalie Lugg with times of 1:05.09 and 2:23.73, respectively. Kaestner also added a second-place finish by serving as the second leg of the 400-yard freestyle relay team.

The day’s diving events belonged to Mariah Zarka, who swept up wins in both the one- and three-meter dives. In the one-meter competition, she blew away the field with a 37.10-point victory behind a final score of 239.20. She returned to the three-meter board and bettered her score, posting a second first-place finish behind a 295.00 point total. The next nearest competitor was Denison’s Carrie Bookheimer with a score of 177.38.

Denison started the day off with a win in the 200-yard medley relay, bettering the tandem of Megan Morris, Laura Duncan, Erika Jensen, and Haley Townsend by a mere 1.20 seconds. Williamson and Kaestner helped the Ladies pull away for a short-lived lead, but three straight victories in the pool helped the Big Red battle back into contention. They later created their distance by winning the final four pool events in the 500-yard freestyle, 100-yard fly, 400-yard individual medley relay, and the 400-yard freestyle relay.

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