Men's Swimming
Men's Swimming & Diving: Denison Defends Miami Invitational Crown
John Geissinger won the 100 freestyle and helped the Big Red to the 2007 Miami Invitational Championship.
Date: December 1, 2007
Location: OXFORD, Ohio
John Geissinger (Darien, Conn./Lawrenceville School) captured the individual championship in the 100 freestyle and the Denison men's swimming & diving team held off Oakland University to capture their second consecutive Miami University Invitational Championship on Saturday night in Oxford, Ohio.
Denison racked up 1,512 points over the three-day meet to outdistance Oakland by 57.5 points. Emory University placed third with 1309 points and host, Miami was fourth with 1,144 points.
The men finished Saturday with three NCAA automatic qualifying times and five provisional qualifying swims. Geissinger led Denison with his 44.75 second swim which won the 100 freestyle. Five Big Red swimmers placed in the top-16 in that event. Jon Behnke (Orinda, Calif./Miramonte) was seventh followed by Lowell Byers (Chappaqua, N.Y./Horace Greeley) in eighth and David Curtis (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) in 12th and Matt Wright (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) placing 16th.
Curtis came back in the 500 freestyle with an "A" cut time of 4:31.42 which landed him in third place. Teammate Ben Terry (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Twp.) placed eighth in the event in 4:41.06 while Wes Bubb (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) and Casey Browning (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich./Grosse Pointe South) were 17th and 18th, respectively.
DU's final automatic qualifying swim came in the last event, the 400 free relay. Curtis, Geissinger, Behnke and Byers teamed up for a runner-up finish and an outstanding time of 3:02.35.
Jumping back earlier in the evening, Charlie Grodecki (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) led DU in the 200 backstroke with a fifth place performance that highlighted five, top-18 performances. Charlie Baldwin (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township) placed 12th followed by Alex Hurst (Beverly, Mass./Beverly) in 15th, Chris Sellon (Lawrence, Kan./Free State) in 17th and Kyle Chabot (Washington, Mich./Stoney Creek) in 18th.
John Nameth (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic), Andy Brabson (Boonsboro, Md./Boonsboro) and Andrew Krawchyk (Chapel Hill, N.C./East Chapel Hill) led the red and white in the 200 breastroke as Nameth placed eighth with a time of 2:08.07. In the B-final, Brabson turned in an even better time of 2:07.94 to place 11th. Krawchyk finished in 17th.
Rounding out the top performances was Byers who placed sixth in the 200 fly, touching in 50.35 seconds. In addition, Brabson, Sellon and Jake Lewing (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) placed 14 through 16m respectively in the 200 IM.
Denison, the top-ranked team in NCAA Division III swimming, will break from competition until January 11 when they travel to Athens, Ohio for a dual meet with Ohio University.