Cody Smith placed 5th in the 3-meter dive, helping Denison to a 2nd place finish at the 2008 Miami Invitational.

After capturing first place in each of the past two trips to the predominantly Division I Miami Invitational, the Big Red men's swimming and diving squad found themselves in second place after the smoke cleared on Saturday night in Oxford, Ohio.

Overall the Big Red scored 1,604 points, trailing first place Oakland University by 284.5 points.  Third place went to Miami (1427 pts) who was followed by Wright State in fourth (1409 pts), Cincinnati in fifth (1113 pts) and Emory University in sixth (1009 pts).

Saturday's top finish for DU came in the 500 freestyle where David Curtis (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) led a group of five swimmers who all placed in the top-15.  Curtis took third place in 4:33.40 and was followed closely by first-year Dan Thurston (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron) in fourth with a time of 4:33.88.  Andy Catlin (Owego, N.Y./Owego Free Academy), Austin Vierra (Placerville, Calif./Ponderosa) and Casey Browning (Grosse Pointe, Mich./South) took positions 13-15 in the consolation final.

Senior freestyler John Geissinger (Darien, Conn./Lawrenceville) turned in a fourth place swim in the 100 free with an NCAA provisional time of 45.23 seconds.  He also swam along with Robert Barry (Richmond, Va./St. Christopher's), Jake Lewing (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) and Matt Wright (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) on DU's fifth place 200 medley relay team.  The foursome touched in 1:33.56 which was also a provisional qualifying time.  Following Geissinger in the 100 freestyle was Andrew Krawchyk (Chapel Hill, N.C./East Chapel Hill) and Jon Behnke (Orinda, Calif./Miramonte) to placed 12th and 15th, respectively. 

Another stacked event for the Big Red was the 200 backstroke which saw four swimmers place in the top-14.  Barry led the team with a seventh place performance and a time of 1:55.28.  First-year Peter Keeler (Milan, Mich./Pioneer) was 12th in 1:55.49 while Charlie Grodecki (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) and Charles Baldwin (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Twp.) trailed in positions 13-14.

The men's three-meter dive competition saw sophomore Cody Smith (Ardmore, Pa./Haverford) place fifth with 280.35 points.  Freshman Phil Meyer (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park & River Forest) was sixth with a score of 235.95 and Russ Bornschein (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) placed eighth.

Other top finishers for Denison on Saturday night included a 14th place finish for Wright in the 100 fly.  A 16th place swim for Lewing in the 200 breaststroke and a 14th place finish for Thurston in the 200 IM.

The 400 free relay duties were handled by Keeler, Catlin, Callan Heterich (Denver, Colo./Regis Jesuit) and Mike Barczak (Beverly Hills, Mich./Brother Rice).  The team touched in 3:03.69 which was good enough for fifth place and solidified Denison's runner-up overall finish.

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