Denison won the Division III men's swimming championship by essentially 32 hundredths of a second. Denison athletics file photo

After competing in the closest finish in the history of the NCAA Division III men's swimming and diving championship, Denison made history. The Big Red, who trailed by 35 points entering Saturday's finals, rallied on the fourth and final night to complete a one-point upset of 31-time defending national champion, Kenyon.

Denison completed the 20-event championship with 500.5 points while Kenyon finished with 499.5 points. The old saying "every point counts" has never been more true than it was on this night.

Trailing by just four points heading into the men's three-meter dive competition, the Big Red set their hopes on the shoulders of senior Cody Smith and sophomore Gabe Dixson. After strong showings in Thursday's one-meter final, Dixson and Smith matched their outstanding preliminary dive showing with fourth and fifth place finishes, respectively.

With their swimming brethren watching with bated breath, Dixson and Smith's dives only got better as the pressure built into their final two dives. Dixson ended with 541.35 points and Smith totaled 535.75 points. Both scores were career highs and their finishes awarded Denison with 29 points which went unanswered in the event by Kenyon.

That sent the Big Red into the 400 free relay with a nine-point lead. Assuming a Kenyon victory (they were seeded first after preliminaries), Denison had to finish no worse than third place. In a spine-tingling, raucous atmosphere it was freshman Spencer Fronk who held off Emory's Justin Leemis by 32 hundredths of a second for third-place. Fronk closed out the relay in 44.18 which was the second-fastest split among the anchors. With all eyes going to the scoreboard, that third-place finish sent the Denison team into a frenzy as the 14 members of the Big Red squad realized their goal of a championship was complete. Also swimming strong in the 400 free relay was freshman Carlos Maciel, junior Mike Barczak and Andrew Krawchyk.

The entire night played out like two evenly matched prize fighters who took their shots until the final round. Three favored the Lords while three events favored the Big Red.

"The whole experience was just incredibly intense for both teams," said coach Gregg Parini. "This was the closest meet in the history of college swimming at any level and every swim, every stroke, every hundredth of a second mattered." 

The backstroke events were very kind to Denison all week. On Friday they piled up 56.5 points in the 100 backstroke while being paced by Robert Barry's first place swim. Tonight they tallied 54 points while taking a 49-point bite out of Kenyon's lead.

Quinn Bartlett won his first national championship with a time of 1:46.85 and Barry followed in second with 1:47.29. Freshman Sean Chabot took eighth and Mike DeSantis ended up 11th. Following the event Denison trailed the Lords by only four points with three events to go.

One event earlier, Kenyon threw its first punch by placing second, third and seventh in the 100 freestyle. For the Big Red, Barczak touched in sixth place in 45.09 while Fronk posted an outstanding time of 44.94 in the consolation heat which placed him 10th overall.

Denison set the tone early in the night when freshman standout Al Weik won the 1650 freestyle by shattering the national record of 15:14.55 set by Kenyon's Elliott Rushton in 2004. Weik covered the mile long swim in 15:06.47 to run away with the title. Following in ninth place was junior Dan Thurston who finished in 15:43.20. For the event, Denison gained seven points on the Lords' lead.

In the 200 breaststroke, junior Jake Lewing came through with a critical victory in the consolation heat. He touched in 2:01.46 to gain nine points for Denison. Two Kenyon swimmers finished in a tie for sixth in the championship final to tally 25 points.

"Jake really stepped it up for us in the breststroke," Parini said. "After a so-so swim in the prelims he really came through for us in typical Lewing fashion and got the momentum back on our side."

This marks the first time since 1979 that a team other than Kenyon College has left the national meet with the national championship. Kenyon's streak of 31 consecutive championships was the longest in college sports. 10 years ago, Parini's women's squad snapped Kenyon's 17-year streak of national championships. After seven runner-up finishes and six third-place finishes, 2011 proved to be the Big Red men's year to shine.

"We started this process 20-some years ago and it means a lot to everyone. We had alumni getting on planes to get here today and we filled an entire section of the natatorium with Denison alums. It's guys like Aaron Cole, who drove 20 hours to be here and Tom Richner, that planted the seed."