Denison University Wins National Title, Ends Rival's Historic 31-Year Streak

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Denison swimming and diving team celebrates after winning national championship. Photo by Ben K. Moser

GRANVILLE, OH (03/28/2011)(readMedia)-- After competing in the closest finish in the history of the NCAA Division III Men's Swimming & Diving Championships, Denison University has made history. The Big Red of Denison, who trailed by 35 points entering Saturday's finals, rallied on the fourth and final night to complete a one-point upset of 31-time defending national champion Kenyon College.

Denison finished the 20-event championship with 500.5 points while runner-up Kenyon Lords collected 499.5 points. The old saying "every point counts" has never been truer than it was on this night.

Trailing by 20 points heading into the final two events, the Big Red set their hopes on the shoulders of senior Cody Smith (Ardmore, Pa.) and sophomore Gabe Dixson (New Albany, Ohio) in the three-meter diving competition. After strong showings in Thursday's one-meter final, Dixson and Smith turned in an unprecedented performances with fourth and fifth place finishes, respectively.

With their swimming brethren watching with bated breath, Dixson and Smith's dives only got better as the pressure built into their final two dives. Dixson ended with 541.35 points and Smith totaled 535.75 points. Both scores were career highs and their finishes awarded Denison with 29 more points that went unanswered by Kenyon.

That sent the Big Red into the 400-yard freestyle relay, the final event of the grueling four-day meet, with a with a nine point lead. Assuming a first-place finish in the event by the top-seeded Kenyon team, Denison would need place no worse than third. In an electric and raucous atmosphere, it was first-year Spencer Fronk (Cherry Hills Village, Colo.) who held off Emory's Justin Leemis by 32 hundredths of a second to secure the needed third-place finish. Fronk closed out the relay with a 44.18 leg, the second-fastest split among all the anchors. With all eyes going to the scoreboard, that third-place finish sent the Denison team into a frenzy, as the 14 members of the Big Red squad, along with their fans and families, realized their goal of a national championship had been realized. Also contributing the clinching 400 free relay performance were first-year Carlos Maciel (Recife, Brazil), junior Mike Barczak (Beverly Hills, Mich.) and senior Andrew Krawchyk (Severna Park, Md.).

The entire night played out like two evenly matched prizefighters taking their best shots right up through the final round. Three events favored the Lords while three events gave the advantage to the Big Red.

"The whole experience was just incredibly intense for both teams," said head coach Gregg Parini." This was the closest meet in the history of college swimming at any level and every swim, every stroke, every hundredth of a second mattered."

The backstroke events were kind to Denison all week. On Friday, the Big Red piled up 56.5 points in the 100-yard backstroke while being paced by junior Robert Barry's (Richmond, Va.) first-place swim. On the final night, DU tallied 54 points and took a 49-point bite out of Kenyon's lead. Sophomore Quinn Bartlett (Berwyn, Pa.) won his first national championship with a time of 1:46.85 and Barry followed in second with 1:47.29. First-year Sean Chabot (Washington, Mich.) took eighth and Mike DeSantis (Beverly Hills, Mich.) ended up 11th. Following the event, DU trailed the Lords by only four points with three events to go.

One event earlier, Kenyon threw their first punch by placing second, third and seventh in the 100-yard freestyle. For the Big Red, Barczak touched in sixth place in 45.09 while Fronk posted an outstanding time of 44.94 in the consolation heat, which placed him 10th overall.

DU set the tone early in the final night when first-year standout Al Weik (Lebanon, Pa.) won the 1,650-yard freestyle by shattering the national record of 15:14.55 set by Kenyon's Elliott Rushton in 2004. Weik covered the distance in 15:06.47 to run away with the title. Following in ninth-place was junior Dan Thurston (Ann Arbor, Mich.), who finished in 15:43.20. For the event, DU gained seven points on the Lords lead.

In the 200-yard breaststroke, junior Jake Lewing (Yardley, Pa.) came through with a critical victory in the consolation heat. He touched in 2:01.46 to add nine points for DU. Two Kenyon swimmers finished in a tie for sixth in the championship final to tally 25 points.

"Jake really stepped it up for us in the breaststroke," stated Parini. "After a so-so swim in the prelims, he really came through for us in typical Lewing fashion and got the momentum back on our side."

This marks the first time since 1979 that a team other than Kenyon College has left the national meet with the national championship trophy. Kenyon's streak of 31 consecutive titles was the longest in college sports. Ten years ago, Parini's women's squad snapped Kenyon's women's 17-year national championship streak. After earning seven runner-up and six third-place finishes as a team over the last several years, 2011 proved to be the Big Red men's year to shine.

"We started this process 20-some years ago and it means a lot to everyone. We had alumni getting on planes to get here today, and we filled an entire section of the natatorium with Denison alums. It's guys like Aaron Cole, who drove 20 hours to be here, and Tommy Richner, who planted the seed."

That seed clearly received some major fertilization over the last 365 days.

"This team embraced the challenge, and it all started last spring. We finished second last year, but we lost by 400 points. You don't close a 400-point gap in one year without a major commitment from everyone," said Parini.

At the completion of the event, Parini was named the men's Division III Coach of the Year. This is the eighth National Coach of the Year recognition for Parini.

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