By Brian Savard<\/p>\n
OXFORD, Ohio, March 20. "DO not think there are no crocodiles because the water is calm," reads the Kenyon team banner at the diving well end of the Corwin M. Nixon Natatorium.<\/p>\n
The main focus of the banner is a temple with a sun in the lower end of the background with an array of oranges and yellows as if the sun was either fading or intensifying.<\/p>\n
The Lords made it known on the first day that this sun far from represents a sun setting on the Kenyon dynasty, which is unparalleled in any of the three NCAA divisions in any sport.<\/p>\n
200 freestyle relay<\/b><\/p>\n
Kenyon started things off with the quartet of Blair Withington, Joshua Mitchell, Matthew Harris and Marc Christian, clocking a first-place 1:20.70 in the 200 freestyle relay, which was the fastest time swum in the past three years at the Division III level. Denison took second in the event with a 1:21.36 time while the men from John's Hopkins rounded out the top three, touching third. St. Olaf won the consolation final heat with a 1:23.86.<\/p>\n
500 freestyle<\/b><\/p>\n
David Curtis of Denison swam under record pace for the first half of the 20-lap freestyle event, and he finished up his final 250 just slower than Elliot Rushton of Kenyon's 2005 record swim (4:22.95) with a 4:23.61 time. Curtis' swim set a pool record. <\/p>\n
Curtis said that his 500 swim was his best-ever short course yard time.<\/p>\n
"I knew going into the race that I was going for the record," Curtis said. "I had wanted to go out fast."<\/p>\n
Curtis unleashed a 49.47 100 split and a 1:42.39 200 split, putting himself far in front of the field early in the race.<\/p>\n
"Toward the end of the race, I could faintly hear people cheering," Curtis said. "It definitely helped."<\/p>\n
Alexander Rantz from Kenyon emerged out of a close-knit pack of seven fighting for second, clocking a 4:28.93. Matt Stewart of Gustavus Adolphus took third (4:29.84). Tom Irgens from Kenyon earned the consolation final win in the event with a 4:31.71.<\/p>\n
200 IM<\/b><\/p>\n
St. Olaf's Nelson Westby successfully defended his title in the event with a scorching 1:48.54 swim in finals. He split a 22.61 in his butterfly, clocked a 27.79 in his backstroke, turned out a 30.84 breaststroke and then brought the race home in a 27.30 freestyle. Gary Simon of Clairmont-Mudd-Scripps' 1998 record of 1:46.97 remained unscathed. Ted Marschall of Carleton went under 27 seconds in the freestyle leg, ensuring a second-place berth (1:50.06). Blair Withington of Kenyon placed third with a 1:51.47. Alexander Stoyel from Kenyon came out of lane one in the consolation finals to take ninth place overall with a 1:51.83.<\/p>\n
50 freestyle<\/b><\/p>\n
The first NCAA record of the meet came when Alex Sweet of Washington & Lee improved upon his 19.99 morning swim with a 19.85 time in finals. His swim eclipsed the 1999 record of 19.90 set by Aaron Cole of Denison. Joshua Mitchell, who fell just short of breaking the 20-second barrier, clocked a second-place 20.01 time. Tim Whitbeck from Grove City pounded the wall third with a time of 20.23. In the consolation final heat, Andrew Lardiere dropped .3 off of his morning performance in a heat-winning time of 20.46. <\/p>\n
1-meter diving<\/b><\/p>\n
Kai Robinson from Amherst beat out the diving competition with a 499.75 score. Jacob Chadderdon of Wisconsin-Oshkosh nabbed the second-place spot in the event with a 465.90 score while Bryan Carlisle from Rowan earned third with a 451.20 score.<\/p>\n
400 medley relay<\/b><\/p>\n
Kenyon entered finals as the third-seeded relay, but the Lords' quartet of Mitchell, Stoyel, Harris and Christian punched in with a time of 3:17.44. Despite a 43.83 comeback effort from Brad Test, the top-seeded Johns Hopkins relay took second (3:18.43). Denison, with the help of relay sprint threat Peter Geissinger, outlasted St. Olaf for third with a 3:20.59 time.<\/p>\n
Team scores<\/b><\/p>\n
Kenyon stands well out in front at the end of the first day with a point total of 201. There is a back-and-forth battle for second, as Johns Hopkins is in second with 110 points. Denison currently has the third-place spot with 105 points.<\/p>\n
Day two's jam-packed menu includes the 200 medley relay, the 400 IM, the 100 butterfly, the 200 freestyle, the 100 breaststroke, the 100 backstroke and the 3-meter diving trials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Brian Savard OXFORD, Ohio, March 20. "DO not think there are no crocodiles because the water is calm," reads the Kenyon team banner at the diving well end of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n