Kenyon Continues Dominance After Day Two

Lords hold 128.5-point lead over Denison at Division III Championships

March 17, 2007

By Jong Lee

Special to CSTV.com

HOUSTON - For the second straight day, Kenyon College displayed shear dominance in the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships.

After 13 events, Kenyon has a 128.5-point lead over Denison. Kenyon extended their 29-point lead from day one and put up a total of 373.50 points through two days.

Kenyon took four of the seven events in day two, including the first event, the 200-yard medley relay. The 200-yard team beat St. Olaf College, the second-place team, by almost more than a second.

In the second event of the night, sophomore Eric Dunn captured his second individual title in as many days, clocking in at 3:57.41, but Dunn doesn't make it a big deal.

"My swims are doing well for the team, and I'm really happy that I'm able to help out. But overall I've contributed very little to the points that we have. So as happy as I am for myself, I'm more proud for the rest of the guys on the team," Dunn said.

It looked like Kenyon would take three straight events, but Williams College sophomore Norman Scott denied Kenyon of that opportunity in the 100-yard butterfly.

Scott finished with a time of 49.05, .21 faster than what he swam in the preliminaries, outlasting Kenyon sophomore Matthew Harris by .22.

"It was unbelievable," Scott said. "You don't expect it at all. I just thought, off the last 25 (yards) home, go out and try and get second or third and don't let the other guys past me, but I never expected to come in first.

"I kept everything the same, and in the last 25 (yards) I just thought I had to stay under water longer, because that's my strength, so might as well use it."

Denison sophomore David Curtis finished second in the preliminaries in the 200-yard freestyle, .01 behind Williams College senior Steve Spinelli. But Curtis put some separation from the rest of the competitors, finishing more than a second faster than second place, and 1.42 in front of Spinelli. Denison head coach Gregg Parini said Curtis put in some great work.

"Great swim (for Curtis). For a young man that just struggled last year and for him to go out a win the 200-freestyle with all the pressure on him,...and with everybody looking at him to win a national championship, it was his race to lose," Parini said. "It says a lot about him as a swimmer, and it's our first individual champion since 2000, so we're quite pleased."

Kenyon got back to their winning ways in the 100-yard breaststroke and 100-yard backstroke. Senior Joseph Gosselar finished with a time of 55.66 in the breaststroke, beating the competition by .50, and junior Joshua Mitchell was the only swimmer to clock less than 50.00 in the backstroke.

"Great swims. Mitchell just came out of nowhere in the breaststroke. He was a 53 (second) backstroker last year, and he suddenly discovered how to swim," Steen said.

In the final event of the evening, the Denison 800-yard freestyle relay team took the 800-yard crown to cap off the night.

Denison came into the event with the best time in the preliminaries and parlayed it into a victory, clocking in at 6:39.44.

"It feels good (to win the 800-yard freestyle relay). We posted a really fast time early on, and it was our race to lose. So for the guys to step up and swim like they did,...it's a great way to cap off the night for us," Parini said.

The final day of the NCAA Division Three Swimming and Diving Championships will begin with the preliminaries at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center at the University of Houston. The finals will begin 6:30 p.m. with the last heat of the 1,650-yard freestyle.