John Geissinger (left) and David Curtis (right) placed 1-2 in the 200 freestyle on Friday night. Denison leads Kenyon by 199.5 points heading into Saturday.

After a magical first night at the North Coast Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Championships it took a mix of old and new faces to keep the Big Red's hopes of a second conference championship alive.  Through 13 events DU leads Kenyon College by 199.5 points heading into Saturday's final day of competition.

It turned out to be a night where the rookies would take center stage for the Big Red as Dan Thurston (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron), Robert Barry (Richmond, Va./St. Christopher's) and Chris Bagley (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice) all locked up individual first place finishes.

Thurston got Denison back on the winners podium after his NCAC record-breaking performance in the 400 individual medley.  In morning preliminaries, Thurston broke the previous NCAC mark set by Kenyon's Brett Holcomb in 2001.  His time of 3:56.55 also set a new school record, held by Matt Trumbull since 1998.  It was Thurston's first NCAC championship after placing third in yesterday's 500 freestyle.  Senior Chris Sellon (Lawrence, Kan./Free State) , fresh off last night's win in the 200 IM, placed third in 4:01.54.  Jake Lewing (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury), Andy Brabson (Boonsboro, Md./Boonsboro) and Austin Vierra (Placerville, Calif./Ponderosa) would held down places six through eight.

On Thursday night Barry led off the 400 medley relay with a 49.88 split in the backstroke.  He nearly duplicated that stellar performance with his winning time of 50.19 tonight in the 100 backstroke.  That time edged out Kenyon's Russel Hunt from the conference record books and his time last night stole another varsity record away from Trumbull.  Following Barry in third place was first-year Mike Barczak (Beverly Hills, Mich./Brother Rice) in 50.76 seconds.  Jon Behnke (Orinda, Calif./Miramonte) was fourth (51.02) and Charlie Grodecki (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) took fifth (51.38).

Bagley, a sophomore transfer, is the remaining newcomer to come away with gold on Friday night.  He won the 100 butterfly with a time of 49.91.  Matt Wright (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier), who reached the finals with a 51.14 swim in preliminaries, took eighth.  Despite the victory Kenyon did manage to gain a little ground in the event, taking five of the top-9 places.

While the newcomers set the tone on the second day, a pair of grizzled veterans went toe-to-toe in the 200 freestyle for the Big Red.  Senior David Curtis (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) entered the meet looking for his third straight victory in the event.  John Geissinger (Darien, Conn./Lawrenceville School), who placed second in 2008 to Curtis, was looking for his second individual championship of the meet.  After his record-setting swim in prelims Geissinger would follow that with a new meet record of 1:37.33 to hold of Curtis who touched second in 1:38.45.  Both swims were "A" cut times for the Big Red.  Following Curtis in third was junior Andy Catlin (Oswego, N.Y./Oswego Free Academy) who touched in 1:42.25.  Andrew Krawchyk (Chapel Hill, N.C./East Chapel Hill) placed seventh in 1:44.77.

In the opening event of the night, the team of Barry, Nemeth, Bagley and Behnke finished second in the 200 medley relay. The group set a new meet record at 1:32.10 but it wasn't enough to beat the Lords who were led by Zachary Turk's 20.02 split in the anchor spot.

Denison would get revenge in the final race of the night as the 800 free relay team comprised of Thurston, Geissinger, Catlin and Curtis posted a meet record time of 6:39.05.  It obliterated the previous meet record by nine seconds and also broke the Denison school record that was set in 2007.

The 100 breaststroke had Nemeth take third overall with a strong "B" cut time of 56.80.  Lewing placed fourth in 57.25.

DU will close out the 2009 NCAC Championship from Canton, Ohio on Saturday.  Preliminaries begin at 10 a.m. and the finals of the 1650 freestyle will begin at 3:30 p.m. with the remaining six events to kick off at 6:30 p.m. Denison will head into the final day with 1,196 points. Kenyon is second with 996.5 and Wittenberg is third with 583.5.

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