Robert Barry posted an 'A' cut time of 50.65 in the 100 backstroke on Friday at the Miami Invitational.

The Denison men's swimming team moved into third place out of seven teams at the Miami Invitational and the Big Red divers made a huge impact at the Calvin Invitational in Grand Rapids, Mich thanks to a record-breaking performance from freshman Gabe Dixson (New Albany, Ohio/New Albany).

Dixson led a charge of four Big Red divers who all finished in the top-eight in the men's one-meter dive finals.  He did it in style by breaking the oldest record in the Denison swimming and diving record book.  In 1978 Denison's Carl Hohengarte posted a score of 461.13.  That score has stood as the men's one-meter 11-dive record for 31-years, until tonight's performance by Dixson who posted an NCAA qualifying score of 466.25.

Dixson was followed by junior Cody Smith (Ardmore, Pa./Haverford) who placed fifth with a score of 421.75.  First-year Jared Scheck (Pittsburgh, Pa./Shady Side) tallied a score of 406.90 for sixth place and sophomore Phil Meyer (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park and River Forest)  locked up eighth place with  a score of 393.45.  The DU men will compete in the three-meter dive on Saturday at Calvin.

About 300 miles south in Oxford, the Denison men got an NCAA automatic qualifying swim from sophomore Robert Barry (Richmond, Va./St. Christopher's School) in the 100 backstroke.  Barry, who is already the school's record-holder in the event, touched in 50.65 seconds to place third in the event. 

While Barry's time in the 100 backstroke was the lone 'A' cut time, the Big Red did log five provisional qualifying times on Friday night.  Sophomore Dan Thurston (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron) was a part of three of those times.  In the 200 freestyle he touched in 1:40.97 to place fifth.  He also landed in fifth place in the 400 individual medley with his time of 4:05.61.

Thurston also anchored the Big Red's 400 medley relay team along with Barry, Jake Lewing (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury), and Matt Edgin (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington).  The foursome landed in fourth place with a time of 3:24.90.

The remaining two 'B' cut times went to Lewing, who placed fifth in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 58.32 and Kyle Chabot (Washington, Mich./Stoney Creek), who landed in 11th place in the 100 backstroke with a time of 52.75.

Other top finishes for DU on Friday night went to freshman Shawn Parkhurst (Oswego, N.Y./Mexico Academy) who took ninth in the 200 butterfly (1:55.39) and Mike Barczak (Beverly Hills, Mich./Brother Rice) who took seventh in the 50 freestyle (21.53).

The swimming team will return to the pool on Saturday at 9 a.m. for preliminaries.  Finals will begin at 6 p.m.  The men's divers will close out the Calvin Invitational with the three-meter competiton tomorrow evening.

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