Men's Swimming
Men's Swimming & Diving: Curtis captures 500 Free title as DU opens 2008 nationals
David Curtis captured Denison's first national championship of 2008 in the 500 freestyle on Thursday night.
Date: March 20, 2008
Location: OXFORD, Ohio
David Curtis (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) captured a national championship in the 500 freestyle as Denison opened up competition at the 2008 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships from the Corwin M. Nixon Aquatic Center in Oxford, Ohio.
Denison trails second-place Johns Hopkins by five points heading into the second day. The Big Red totaled 105 points while Johns Hopkins amassed 110. Kenyon College leads with 201 points. Fourth place belongs to Emory University who has 75 points.
After a second-place finish in the 500 free in 2007 and a third place showing in 2006, Curtis locked up the fifth national title of his career with a swim that took 4:23.61. His previous wins at nationals came in two 800 free relays and in last year's 400 free relay and 200 freestyle.
The opening event of this year's national meet was the 200 free relay which saw the Big Red foursome of Curtis, John Geissinger (Darien, Conn./Lawrenceville School), Jon Behnke (Orinda, Calif./Miramonte) and Lowell Byers (Chappaqua, N.Y./Horace Greeley) place second with a time of 1:21.36. Kenyon was the winner of the event with a time of 1:20.70. Geissinger and Byers led Denison with splits of 20.04 and 20.09, respectively.
The men's 50 freestyle saw a longstanding record by a Denison legend fall. Washington & Lee senior Alex Sweet turned in a blazing time of 19.85 to break the NCAA Division III record of 19.90 set by Denison's Aaron Cole in 1999. The Big Red's top performer in the event was Geissinger who bounced back from a preliminary time of 20.87 with a 20.51 which placed him 10th overall. Benhnke missed the finals but placed 21st with his prelim time of 21.02.
Senior diver Stephen Julka (Madison, Wis./Memorial) missed the finals of the men's one-meter springboard by only three points but easily won the consolation round with a six-dive score of 448.40. The total broke his own Denison record and also picked up nine points toward the Denison cause. Julka will also compete in the three-meter competition on Friday.
No Denison swimmers qualified for the finals or consolation in the 200 individual medley but junior Chris Sellon (Lawrence, Kan./Free State) and freshman Jake Lewing (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) placed 26th and 27th to lead a number of Denison swimmers in the event. Sellon touched in 1:54.67 and Lewing followed in 1:54.72.
The last event of the night was the 400 medley relay and Denison gained some momentum heading into Friday with their performance. They came into the meet ranked eighth with a qualifying time of 3:25.03. They posted a 3:23.75 in preliminaries and trimmed over three seconds off their morning time, resulting in a third place finish. Behnke, John Nemeth (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic), Byers and Geissinger made up the relay team who finished behind only Kenyon and Johns Hopkins with their time of 3:20.59.
Eight events will take place on Friday, highlighted by the 100 butterfly, the 200 freestyle and the 800 free relay. Byers enters the 100 fly with the nation's fastest time while Curtis owns the top-time and is the defending champ in the 200 free. Both men will gun for their third straight title in the 800 free relay.