Courtesy: North Coast Athletic Conference
Day 1 Recap | Day 1 Results | Photo Gallery | Video Recap
GRANVILLE, OH — The Denison women and Kenyon men lead the 2020 NCAC Swimming & Diving Championships on Wednesday after the first night of competition at the Trumbull Aquatics Center on the campus of Denison University. The Lords accumulated 153 total points after a one-two finish in the diving well and a second-place finish in the 800 free relay, while the Big Red women sit in first with 70 points thanks to a first-place finish in the 800 free relay.
Wabash is second overall in the men’s standings after night one with 133 points, followed by Wooster (109), Allegheny (82), Oberlin (76), Denison (70), DePauw (60), Ohio Wesleyan (56), Wittenberg (48) and Hiram (0). On the women’s side, Kenyon sits in second with 62 points, followed by DePauw (60), Ohio Wesleyan (58), Oberlin (56), Wittenberg (54), Hiram (52), Allegheny (0) and Wooster (0).
The 2020 meet opened up with a conference record falling in the men’s 800 free relay. The Denison team of junior Drake Horton (Madison, WI/James Madison Memorial) and seniors Matt McHugh (Charlottesville, VA/St. Anne’s Belfield), PJ Desmet (Shelby Twp., MI/De La Salle Collegiate) and Eric Gerlach (Naperville, IL/Naperville Central) touched the wall first with an NCAA “B” cut standard with a winning time of 6:32.10. Their time was almost one second faster than the NCAC’s previous meet record of 6:33.03 set last season by another Big Red team that included Horton and McHugh. In women’s action, the Denison quartet of junior Mia Chiappe (Hinsdale, IL/Hinsdale Central), freshman Tara Culibrk (Kruševac, Serbia/International School of Savremena), and seniors Caroline Colville (Pittsburgh, PA/Shady Side Academy) and Hannah Rusinko (North Huntingdon, PA/Norwin) also surpassed the NCAA “B” cut standard with a winning time of 7:23.41, which was five seconds faster than their seed time.
In the diving well on Wednesday night, Kenyon freshmen Drew Albrecht (Aurora, OH/Aurora) and Mason Fishell (Murrysville, PA/Franklin Regional) logged a one-two finish on the three-meter board. Albrecht earned the league title after scoring 500.05 points, while Fishell recorded a score of 425.35 for second. Wooster sophomore Eric Jacques (Columbus, OH/Wellington) rounded out the list of All-NCAC performers in the men’s three-meter competition by finishing third overall with 363.85 points.
Visit the championship website for complete results from day one: (NCAC Championship Site)
The 2020 NCAC Swimming & Diving Championships continue through Saturday evening. Preliminary events start at 9:30 a.m., while finals begin at 6:00 p.m.
No preview or coverage of the women’s NESCAC meet? Arguably the deepest women’s conference in D3
I think when you get beyond the big guns, it’s up to the schools, coaches or SIDs to get their teams coverage. I’ve sent in articles to SwimSwam about meets, and they’ve covered the meets/posted the write-ups.
I am surprised that there was no mention of Crile Hart’s amazing anchor leg on the women’s 800 Free Relay of a 1:46.99 to come up only .02 seconds short of catching Denison. Pretty amazing!!!!
Wow! Thanks for pointing that out!