Kenyon Wins 28th Straight Division III Team Swimming Title

Separated itself from next competitor, Denison, by 219 points

March 18, 2007

By Jong Lee

Special to CSTV.com

HOUSTON - Another notch on the belt for Kenyon.

It's nearly been three decades since Kenyon College lost the NCAA Division Three Swimming and Diving Championships and it didn't stop Saturday.

Kenyon won their 28th straight team title and one-uped themselves from last season with a 66-point margin of victory compared to 2006.

Kenyon separated themselves from the next competitor, Denison University, by 219 points.

"We never count the numbers. Every year is a new year and every year brings new challenges," Steen said.

Kenyon sophomore Eric Dunn completed his three day swept of individual events he was in, and blew away the field in the 1650-yard freestyle clocking in at 15:24.81, more than six seconds faster than second place.

"The start of the first day, I didn't know how well I was going to do because I was having a rough season," Dunn said. "I was out most of January with a knee issue.

"I came in not expecting anything and that helped me ease up more and I've had more fun with it, and that's what really got me through the meet. So I started out doing really well, kind of disappointed with my mile, but other than that it was a great experience overall."

The only other event Kenyon took on the third day was the 200-yard breaststroke. Joseph Gosselar came in first, followed by teammates Davis Zarins and Alexander Stoyel coming in second and third.

In the 100-yard freestyle, Caleb Courage won the race clocking in at 44.36, and finished 0.57 seconds in front of senior Ryan Trunk of Westminster College and junior Joshua Mitchell of Kenyon.

"That (finishing first) was good. I know Ryan Trunk, he tied for second, and I swim with him through the years. I was really happy for them, and it was a great feeling to be up there where I wanted to be again," Courage said.

Carnegie Mellon's David Krzeminski may have been the most excited of any swimmer at the championships. Krzeminski finished with a time of 1:49.54 and said after four years of hard work, it has finally paid off.

"I swam my race and I came out on top. Everything just fell into place for me, and it was a great race all across the board. It's a dream come true. It's an unbelievable experience. Too bad more kids can't experience this because it's the most fulfilling thing you can do - this is great," Krzeminski said.

For the second straight night, the Denison relay team took the final event of the night. Denison just beat out Kenyon by 0.29 seconds in the 400-yard freestyle relay, and held onto second place in the championships.

"Oh my gosh, that (400-yard freestyle relay) was huge. That was great, I mean what a wonderful way to cap off the meet for us," said Gregg Parini, Denison head coach. "We came a little bit short on our team goals, but I'm very pleased with our guys. We just did a heck of a job with everything going against us tonight, and we had a real challenge as far as holding up for second place. They just did a great job tonight."

Denison also took home 200-yard backstroke. Adam Ulrich posted a time of 1:48.00, improving his preliminary time by almost two seconds.

"(Ulrich) has had an uphill battle all the way, because he has chronic shoulder problems. He's been close so many times in his sophomore year, his junior year and finally to win it on his last swim of his career - what a wonderful way to go out," Parini said.

On the diving side, the Dohring brothers finished first and second in the 3-meters.

Jon Dohring started the finals with 18.6 points away from brother junior Robert Dohring.

In the fourth round of the competition, Jon Dohring completed a 70-point dive to boost himself into first place.

"That (70 point dive) was the dive I did right after I messed up, and it was probably the best one I've ever done - it felt great," Jon said.

With that dive, Jon sealed himself another victory at the championships, and Robert came away with another second-place finish.

"Going into this (the 3-meter diving) I was up 20 points going from preliminaries to finals, and I was expecting to do better than I did. I'm still happy with second place, and I'm not going to complain," Robert said.

Awards for swimming coach of the year and swimmer of the year went to Kenyon. Jim Steen and Dunn received honors.

Occidental took home diving coach of year and diver of the year. Head coach Roland King and Jon Dohring took home the awards.

"It's an honor, but it's about the boys. They worked so hard, and I didn't earn it, they earned it for me," King said.