By Justin Jennings

If you looked at the results from Saturday night you would probably say it was much the same as the night before.  Kenyon’s still on top, a new record that many thought couldn’t be broken was, and for the most part there were no real odds on favorites to the meet.  Well… you should have been here to see it because the results on paper don’t do the electrifying atmosphere of the meet any favors.

Kenyon swept the medley relays after tonight to best Johns Hopkins again, winning the event in a new pool record 1:29.16.  Despite a blistering lead-off of 22.79 by Hopkins’ John Thomas Kenyon found themselves down early.  Much like this morning, they raced right back to the lead with a breaststroke spit from Collin Ohning of 24.85 that topped the field.  It was lights out from there when Matthew Harris jumped in for a 21.55 fly leg followed by Josh Mitchell’s 19.40 and JHU never had a chance clinching second in a 1:30.32.  The College of New Jersey raced up to third with a 1:31.70 jumping over the competition from a 5 seed to round out the top three.  Only 6/100 of a second separated 4, 5, and 6 with Williams, Denison, and St. Olaf finishing in that order.  Notably in those races was Nelson Westby’s 50 fly split of 21.30.  The 200 IM champion out swam the entire field on his way to helping St. Olaf to a fifth place finish.  Rounding out the top eight was Kalamazoo (seventh) and Emory (eighth).  DePauw University after finishing sixth in the 200 freestyle relay yesterday won the consolation heat in a time of 1:33.27

Remember that cushion of 7/10 that Ted Marschall had after this mornings swim?  Well national champion Keith Diggs made a swimming statement of that’s just not enough on his way to the winning time of 3:54.80 just 81/100 of a second off the national record.  It was a tight race the whole way through with Marschall taking the lead after the first 50 and not relinquishing it until the first 50 of the freestyle leg.  Diggs methodically chipped away at the lead 50 by 50 before finally taking over in the freestyle and never giving up.  Marschall Diggs, Diggs Marschall that’s how the race was split one on top of the other until Marschall just ran out of gas in the freestyle finishing with a time of 3:56.58. Diggs came back with a 27.52 and 26.37 to bring home the top prize.  Kenyon’s Kegan Borland’s 3:57.96 was good enough for third with  Beyer (WashU), Sorrell (Kenyon), Millen (Williams), Sellon (Denison), and Lake (Emory) rounding out the top eight.  Dustin Schneider’s time of 4:00.16 took top prize in the in the consolation heat.

Junior swimmer from Kenyon College Matthew Harris won the 100 yard butterfly with the second best swim in D-III history.  His 47.94 puts him atop of the podium ahead of Stevens Point’s Chase Gross.  Gross was out to the early lead with a 22.42 while Harris found himself in sixth place battling back.  It’s a position that obviously fits Harris because his second half split of 25.04 bested the field by over a half a second.  Denison’s Lowell Byers who was out second with a spit of 22.50 takes third with a 48.57.  A race that was shaping up to be as close as it gets in 1-8 was over with the first 50 after Harris began the charge.  Kenyon’s Nat Carruthers and Middlebury’s John Dillon rounded out the top five with all improving over seed.  Forsman (TCNJ), Scott (Williams), and Alexander (DePauw) finished sixth, seventh, and eighth in that order.  Linfield College crowned the consolation champion with Dominic Rieniets taking ninth.

All Denison in the 200 freestyle as fellow juniors David Curtis swapped spots with John Geissinger to win the event.  MCB you’re safe for one more year with Curtis’ winning time of 1:37.83.  Unlike this morning Curtis was off like a light in the middle of a thunderstorm leading from start to finish.  Geissinger started to charge back after the first 50 but couldn’t outpace Curtis on any leg.  After the top two spots it was a battle of two’s when Amherst’s Alex Fraser touched out Suny Oswego’s Greg Doyle by 9/100 for third and fourth place.  Then in the race for fifth and sixth Emory’s Scarborough reached just far enough to take the third place finisher in the 500 freestyle, Matt Stewart, by 1/10.  Lardiere (New York) and Brown (Coast Guard) rounded out the field of eight.  The fastest man in D-III history, Alex Sweet (Washington & Lee), proved the importance of “doing it in the morning” as his time of 1:39.10 would have been good enough for third tonight.   Instead he’ll have to settle for ninth respectably.

Joshua Boss stand up and take a bow because your 54.69 record in the 100 breaststroke lasted one year shy of a decade.  It only took a short 54.50 seconds for Mr. Boss to find himself third on the all-time list.  No, that isn’t a mistake not one but two breaststrokers tonight passed the D-III legend just like that.  When tonight’s top seed from St. Olaf, Nelson Westby, looked up at his time he had to be elated to see that he beat the nine year old record by .19 seconds after this being his ninth swim of the meet. Then I’m sure he scanned a little further to the right to realize he came just 1/100 shy of making it the new national record. Pavel Buyanov the Russian express from Staten Island, who at 25 is just a freshman, out touched the junior to stand atop the podium and all of Division III with a winning time of 54.49.  Westby broke out to an early lead with a split of 25.67 and made every yard of his race seem as effortless as a fat kid eating cake.  But Buyanov came charging back like a debutant on a spending spree with a blistering 28.62 to out touch his opponent and finish his third event of the meet in record setting pace.  When Buyanov finished you could hear a collective groan from the crowd who'd hoped to see an American win out.  They both made the race for third seem like TCNJ’s Myles O’Connor lapped Kenyon’s David Lazarus when he out touched him by .19 of a second.  Racz (M.I.T), Keeley, Fedderly (both JHU), and Bonewell (Williams) rounded out to the eight places to finish out the field.  Ohio Wesleyan’s David Gatz took the consolation heat with a time of 56.33.

St. Olaf Head Coach Dave Hauk, who in his own career placed no lower than second at the national meet finishing with 7 national titles and 5 runner-ups. Had this to say when asked which was harder watching Westby finish second or finishing second yourself?  “It’s so much harder to watch this because I knew when I did my best or I knew what it was that I did wrong.  I had no control over his [Westby] swim and it was just hard to see”.  Hauk added, “but you have to keep things in perspective, it was his lifetime best by two seconds”.

Kenyon went 1, 3, 6 led by Josh Mitchell who fought back after the first 50 of the 100 back to eventually take the win.  After falling behind to JHU’s John Thomas, Mitchell said catch me if you can on his way to a 48.68 just 8/100 shy of the national record.  Not wanting to be shown up Thomas said you lead I’ll follow as he came home in a 25.21 for a 48.95.  Both were under 50 seconds in the morning and both trying to out do each other were under 49 tonight.  After that it was a battle of threes as Kenyon’s Irgens, St. Olaf’s Meyer, and Kalamazoo’s Ellis finished 3, 4, 5 in that order all in 50.’s.  Then it was the battle of 51’s to round out the top eight with Mpitos (Kenyon), Fai (Occidental), and Johnson (Hamilton) in that order.  Alfred’s Matt Baker took the consolation heat in a time of 51.14.

In the psych sheet the 800 freestyle relay didn’t even look close.  With a three and a half second lead over second seeded Johns Hopkins anyone that hasn’t been around swimming for a while would have pulled a Bill Belichick, and in the words of Eli Manning on the Letterman show “tried to beat the traffic”.  But folks, that’s why we swim the races.  Since you’re Denison you’ve got the national runner-up leading off and the national champion in the anchor slot you might as well put one in the win column.  The only problem is that someone forgot to tell Kenyon.  After Geissinger’s lead-off 1:39.5, Kenyon’s Tom Irgens took the lead for the Lords.  With Dustin Schneider’s 1:40.53, 3.4 seconds faster than Chris Sellon, Kenyon had a commanding lead over their conference rival.  But as stated before, when you have the runner-up leading off and the champion on anchor all bets are off.  Denison’s David Curtis jumps in with the task of reeling in the fourth place finisher in the 500 freestyle yesterday, Kegan Borland.  It took Curtis all the way to the third 50 to catch-up but after that it was all Denison as Curtis brings it home in a 1:37.03 to finish the relay in a time of 6:40.73 just .38 faster than Kenyon’s 6:41.11.  Much like the rest of the night the battles for third through eighth were just as close.  Washington University tops number two seed Johns Hopkins by .15 for third place.  Amherst takes Gustavus Adolphus by .08 for fifth.  And Williams over Washington and Lee by .57 good enough for seventh.

It was a night that promised fast swimming, great races, and a lot of jockeying for spots.  Just 22.5 points separate Johns Hopkins from Denison.  And with a new king in the 100 Breaststroke, the racing that is left should prove to be an exciting conclusion to the 2008 Division III National Championships.  As Denison Head Coach Gregg Parini put it when asked about the depth of this year’s meet, he said “this meet is like a river, it’s fast, deep, and pickin up speed as we go.”  Signing off from the college home of Pittsburgh Steelers Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, catch back up with you for tomorrows exciting conclusion to the D-III Nationals Championships here in Oxford..