John Geissinger won seven NCAC titles and set new meet records in all of those events helping DU to their first conference championship since 1997.

Thanks to 16 first-place performances and 13 meet records the Denison University men's swimming and diving team have ascended back to the top of the mountain in the North Coast Athletic Conference.

Denison led the three-day championship wire-to-wire and defeated rival Kenyon College 1,794.5-1,419 to secure their second conference championship in school history and their first since 1997.  While Denison may have had an 11-year drought between titles it's been a dogfight between the two neighboring schools since the league's inception in 1984-85.  Since that last win in '97 DU has come within 88 points or less of defeating the Lords on six occasions.  Tonight's 375.5 victory by Denison marked the largest margin of victory at the NCAC's since the Lords posted a 398 point win over the Big Red in 1994.

"It's been close here for a long time and to be successful you have to get out of that bridesmaid mentality," said head coach Gregg Parini.  "We come here to win and we have taken our first step toward nationals in Minnesota." 

Senior John Geissinger (Darien, Conn./Lawrenceville School) was named the Male Swimmer of the Year after racking up seven wins and obliterating the conference and school record in the 100 freestyle.  Geissinger posted a record time of 43.99 in preliminaries and he bested that in the finals by touching in 43.96.  That surpassed a 9 year-old record by former DU standout Aaron Cole. 

Geissinger's meet shaped up like this: seven championships, seven new NCAC records, six new Denison records and seven "A" cut swims. That ran his career total of conference crowns to 11.

Following Geissinger throughout the meet have been veteran-like performances by first-year Robert Barry (Richmond, Va./St. Christopher's).  He set a new meet record in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:49.20.  It broke Kenyon's Andrejs Duda's time of 1:49.87 set in 2005.  Following Barry was Charlie Grodecki (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) in third (1:51.98) and Andy Catlin (Oswego, N.Y./Oswego Free Academy) in seventh (1:55.90).

In the men's 200 breaststroke junior John Nemeth (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic) placed second but set new school and meet records in the process.  Denison's old mark of 2:02.21 set by Albert Bedenbaugh-Cortes in 2006, fell by the wayside in the finals after Nemeth's "A" cut time of 2:02.50.  The win and new NCAC record would go to Ohio Wesleyan's David Gatz who clocked in at 2:01.23.  Following Nemeth in third was Andy Brabson (Boonsboro, Md./Boonsboro) at 2:07.29.  Senior Chris Sellon (Lawrence, Kan./Free State) took fifth place with a 2:09.19 showing.

"The newcomers really made an impact," stated Parini.  "Nemeth's time drops have been impressive, Barczak's 45.59 in the 100 free was a great swim and Thurston and Bagley really showed up.  You also can't say enough about the diving corps. Steve (Ritter) has done a great job."

Senior David Curtis locked up his ninth career NCAC win when he touched in 1:51.66 in the 200 butterfly.  It marked his first career conference title in a butterfly event.  Rookie Dan Thurston (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron) tied for second with Kenyon's Luke Sullivan at 1:53.44.  Matt Wright (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) and Casey Browning (Grosse Pointe, Mich./Grosse Pointe South) placed sixth and seventh, respectively. 

The icing on the cake came in the 400 free relay when Chris Bagley (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice), Mike Barczak (Beverly Hills, Mich./Brother Rice), Curtis and Geissinger came together to break the record set by the Big Red at last year's championship.  After all of the impressive swims Geissinger still had enough left in the tank to post a 43.45 anchor split that resulted in a time of 2:59.53. 

In the 1-meter dive senior Russ Bornschein (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) posted a career best score of 442.95 in his 11 dives to earn his first conference championship.  Freshman Cody Smith (Ardmore, Pa./Haverford), the NCAC champ in the 3-meter dive followed in second with 419.80 and Phil Meyer (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park River Forest) took fourth place.  So far both Bornschein and Smith have reached their NCAA qualifying standard.

In the opening race of the night Kenyon College managed to gain a little ground, picking up 62 points in the 1650 free after taking four of the five top spots.  Freshman Austin Vierra (Placerville, Calif./Ponderosa) cracked the top-5 with a fourth place time of 15:57.28.  Browning was sixth in 16:22.46. 

In the post-meet awards Geissinger took home his first NCAC Swimmer of the Year plaque and Bornschein joined him with his first Diver of the Year award.  Parini picked up his fourth Coach of the Year trophy. 

Denison will return to action next weekend in search of more NCAA qualifying performances at the Kenyon Invitational.