Denison Men Blow Out Kenyon, Women Fall Short in D3 Powerhouse Dual

Kenyon vs Denison

• Saturday, November 11th
• Gambier, OH
• Short course yards
• Results – Men
• Results – Women

Team Scores

Men

• Denison: 186
• Kenyon: 112

Women

• Kenyon: 154
• Denison: 146

Denison’s men rolled to a convincing victory, while Kenyon’s women held on for the win in a high profile division 3 dual meet on Saturday, Novemeber 11th. Denison’s men won 12 of 16 events, and Kenyon’s women won 9 of 16.

3 of the 4 winning relays at the meet earned #1 national rankings for Division 3 this season. Denison’s women’s 200 medley relay (1:44.14), men’s 200 medley (1:31.85), and Kenyon’s women’s 400 free relay (3:29.15) all sit at the top of the national rankings going into the invites over the next few weeks. Denison’s Men’s 400 free relay won in a time of 3:03.36, which currently ranks #2.

Kenyon Freshman Crile Hart pulled off back-to-back wins, taking the women’s 100 fly (56.23) in the fastest D3 time this season, and the 200 IM in 2:07.68, which currently ranks 4th in the nation for D3. Hart also won the 100 back with a 56.40, which earned her the #2 spot in the national rankings.

Kt Kustritz, Stuart Hohm, Zach Wagner, Bebe Wang, and Tim Hagemeister also picked up individual #1 national rankings. You can see the event winners and any new top-10 rankings below.

Event Winners:

Men

• 200 medley relay: Denison (Clear, Foster-Smith, Fox, Wagner), 1:31.85 – #1
• 1000 free: Matthew Hedman (Denison), 9:30.68 – #2
• 200 free: Stuart Hohm (Denison), 1:40.45 – #1
• 100 back: Ben Baturka (Kenyon), 50.78 – #2
• 100 breast: Tiernan Foster-Smith (Denison), 57.99
• 200 fly: Mitch Williams (Denison), 1:51.52 – #3
• 50 free: Kenny Fox (Denison), 21.06 – #10
• 100 free: Zach Wagner (Denison), 46.06 – #5
• 200 back: Bebe Wang (Denison), 1:49.56 – #1
• 200 breast: Ryan Stevenson (Denison), 2:06.94 – #4
• 500 free: Tim Hagemeister (Kenyon), 4:34.08 – #1
• 100 fly: Kenny Fox (Dension), 49.54 – #2
• 200 IM: Bebe Wang (Denison), 1:54.08 – #4
• 400 free relay: Denison (Hohm, Fox, Senior, Wagner), 3:03.36 – #2
• 1 meter diving: Ryder Sammons (Kenyon), 280.50
• 3 meter diving: Ryder Sammons (Kenyon), 247.95

Women

• 200 medley relay: Denison (Kirby, Kustritz, Hopkins, Nutter), 1:44.14 – #1
• 1000 free: Scout Wilkins (Kenyon), 10:31.13
• 200 free: Kendall Vanderhoof (Kenyon), 1:54.88
• 100 back: Crile Hart (Kenyon), 56.40 – #2
• 100 breast: Kt Kustritz (Denison), 1:02.15 – Would be #1, but she already holds #1 with a 1:01.51
• 200 fly: Halli Garza (Denison), 2:05.78 – #2
• 50 free: Hannah Orbach-Mandel (Kenyon), 24.08
• 100 free: Hannah Orbach-Mandel (Kenyon), 51.72
• 200 back: Casey Kirby (Denison), 2:04.35
• 200 breast: Kt Kustritz (Denison), 2:17.48 – #1
• 500 free: Kendall Vanderhoof (Kenyon), 5:07.82
• 100 fly: Crile Hart (Kenyon), 56.23 – #1
• 200 IM: Crile Hart (Kenyon), 2:07.68 – #4
• 400 free relay: Kenyon (Toscos, Mirus, German, Orbach-Mandel), 3:29.15 – #1
• 1 meter diving: Allison Fitzgerald (Denison), 256.20
• 3 meter diving: Allison Fitzgerald (Denison), 265.35

Press Release – Denison Men:

GAMBIER, Ohio–  Denison won 12 of 16 events en route to a 186-112 victory over rival Kenyon College on Saturday at the James A. Steen Aquatics Center.

The Big Red landed two NCAA ‘B’ cuts against the Lords.  Sophomore Bebe Wang won the 200 backstroke with a qualifying season-best time of 1:49.56.  Jason Wesseling (1:54.82) and John Stauffer (1:54.95) followed in second and third place, respectively.

Wang was a two-time winner as he also took first in the 200 IM in 1:54.08.  Ryan Stevenson was the runner-up in the event with a time of 1:55.18.  Wang closed out his day with a second-place showing in the 100 backstroke in 51.47.  Wesseling touched third in 52.05.

DU’s second ‘B’ cut came in the final event, the 400 freestyle relay when Stuart Hohm, Kenny Fox, Kymani Senior and Zach Wagner combined for a time of 3:03.36 to win the event.

Fox was a three-time winner for DU as he touched first in the 50 free in 21.06 and won the 100 fly in 49.54.  In the 50 free, Denison went 1-2-3 as Senior touched second in 21.07 and Wagner was third in 21.11.  Senior also logged a third-place finish in the 100 fly in 50.79.

Sophomore Mitch Williams won the 200 fly and narrowly missed a ‘B’ cut with his time of 1:51.52.  The NCAA’s provisional qualifying time in the event is 1:51.06.  Aaron Saccurato placed third in the 200 fly with a time of 1:52.98.

The curtain was pulled on the meet with a victory in the 200 medley relay by Carson Clear, Tiernan Foster-Smith, Fox and Wagner in 1:31.85.  Foster-Smith returned to win the 100 breaststroke in 57.99 and Ball touched second in 58.76.

In the 200 free, Hohm also flirted with a ‘B’ cut after a victory and a season-best time of 1:40.45.  Hohm returned in the 100 free with a second-place time of 46.42.  Wagner won the 100 free with a season-best time of 46.06.

Matt Hedman took home the top honors in the 1000 free in 9:30.68 and was third in the 500 free after touching in 4:37.29.

Denison’s winners were rounded out by Stevenson in the 200 breaststroke in 2:06.94.  Ball followed in second place with a time of 2:10.45.

In diving, Liam McCullogh placed third on both boards. He posted a six-dive score of 170.47 on the 1-meter and a score of 133.57 on the 3-meter.

Denison returns to action on Nov. 30 when they travel to Oxford, Ohio for the three-day championship format Miami Invitational.

Press Release – Denison Women:

GAMBIER, Ohio – Denison women’s swimming and diving suffered a 154-146 loss to Kenyon College on Saturday at the James A. Steen Aquatics Center in Gambier.

The Big Red held a 142-141 advantage before the final race of the day in the 400 freestyle relay. Denison’s Gabriella Nutter, Casey Kirby, Mia Chiappe and KT Kustritz finished in second place with a time of 3:30.02, but Kenyon took the lead and the victory after Zoe Toscos, Emmerson Mirus, Celina German and Hannah Orbach-Mandel posted a winning time of 3:29.15.

Despite the loss, DU totaled seven victories on the afternoon, led by three wins from Kustritz and Allison Fitzgerald‘s two diving victories. Kustritz opened the women’s event with a win in the 200 medley relay alongside Kirby, Nutter and Maddie Hopkins, logging a ‘B’ cut time of 1:44.14.

Kustritz then racked up wins and ‘B’ cut times in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, clocking in at 1:02.15 in the 100 and then finishing with a season-best time of 2:17.48 in the 200. Kate Mesaros finished right behind Kustritz in both events, securing season-bests in the 100 with a 1:04.46 and in the 200 with a 2:24.16. Her time in the 100 breast was also an NCAA ‘B’ cut time.

In the 100 backstroke, Kirby recorded a ‘B’ cut time of 56.70 to finish in second and then won the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:04.35. Both were season-best times for Kirby. Senior Halli Garza enjoyed a win in the 200 butterfly, clocking in at a season-best 2:05.78, also a ‘B’ cut time. She also recorded her best time of the season in the 200 IM, finishing in second with a 2:10.23. Zoe Whelan and Eva Jorn finished in second and third behind Garza in the 200 butterfly, logging season-best times of 2:06.88 and 2:07.61, respectively.

Hopkins then earned her top time of the year in the 100 butterfly with a ‘B’ cut time of 56.69 and finished in fifth in the 50 freestyle with a 24.61. Nutter took third in the 50 free, touching the wall in 24.35, and then placed fourth in the 100 free, checking in at 53.24.

In the diving events, Fitzgerald swept the field with victories in the 1-meter and 3-meter boards. On the 1-meter dive, Fitzgerald posted a six-dive score of 256.20 and then totaled a 265.35 through six dives on the 3-meter board. Both totals classified as provisional qualifying scores for the NCAA Regional.

The Big Red will return to action on Thursday, Nov. 30 when they travel to Oxford, Ohio for Miami University’s three-day invitational.

Press Release – Kenyon Men:

GAMBIER, Ohio – The Denison University Big Red came into the Steen Aquatic Center on Saturday morning and controlled, from start to finish, its annual dual match with the host Kenyon College Lords. Denison claimed victory in 12 of 16 events and rolled to a 186-112 victory.

The loss for the Lords dropped their early-season, dual-meet record to 0-3, with the other two losses delivered by NCAA Division I Big Ten teams. The loss was also Kenyon’s fourth in its last six dual meets with Denison, dating back to the 2012-13 season.

Kenyon’s only multiple-event winner was junior diver Ryder Sammons. He won the 1-meter competition with 280.50 points and then claimed first in the 3-meter event with a score of 247.95 points. Senior Josh Yuen-Schat took the runner-up spot in those same events by posting respective scores of 244.80 and 217.42.

In swimming events, sophomore Ben Baturka and freshman Tim Hagemeister were Kenyon’s only winners. Baturka was the fastest in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 50.78. Hagemeister later won the 500-yard freestyle by clocking in at 4:34.08. Earlier in the meet, Hagemeister tacked on a second-place showing in the 200-yard freestyle, an event he finished in 1:41.19.

Other runner-up, individual-event finishes for the Lords included Jon Zimdars in the 200-yard butterfly (1:52.96), David Fitch in the 100-yard butterfly (50.23) and Connor Rumpit in both the 500- and 1,000-yard freestyle (4:36.19 and 9:30.73).

Press Release – Kenyon Women:

GAMBIER, Ohio – In the final race of the afternoon, the Kenyon Ladies won the 400-yard freestyle relay and in turn earned a 154-146 dual-meet win against rival Denison University on Saturday at James A. Steen Aquatics Center.

Trailing by a point (142-141), the quartet of Zoe Toscos, Emmerson Mirus, Celina German and Hannah Orbach-Mandel touched the wall in 3:29.15, notched 11 points for Kenyon and jumped ahead for good against Denison.

That was one of nine event wins on the day for the Ladies who returned to Division III competition after taking on Division I Michigan State University and The Ohio State University in the last two weeks.

Scout Wilkins registered Kenyon’s first top finish during the 1,000-yard freestyle posting a time of 10:31.13. Teammate Marysol Arce added a runner-up spot during the same event.

During the Ladies’ third event, sophomore Kendall Vanderhoof claimed first with a 1:54.88 mark in the 200 free. Freshman Crile Hart followed that up with another top mark. In the 100 backstroke, she tallied nine points with a time of 56.40.

A couple of events later, Orbach-Mandel and Mirus claimed first and second, respectively, in the 50 free. During the 100 free, Orbach-Mandel won again in 51.72 and was followed by Princess Vilan Ferguson-Nguyen and Toscos who finished in second and third place, respectively.

Vanderhoof registered another winning time during the 500 free event touching the wall in 5:07.82. Wilkins added a runner-up spot in the race while Arce came in third.

The Ladies added two more victories before the final event in the 100-yard butterfly and 200-yard individual medley. Hart won both of those events and claimed a trio of top finishes by meet’s end.

Rounding out Kenyon’s best marks included a runner-up finish in the 200-yard medley relay from Summer Otazu, Makena Markert, Hart and Orbach-Mandel; a second-place performance from Madeline Carlson in the 1-meter diving event and Caitlin Foley‘s second-place mark in the 200 backstroke. Markert also added third-place spots in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke races.

Next on the schedule for the Ladies is a trip to Columbus for the Ohio State Invitational starting on November 17.