All-NCAC Swimming and Diving Teams
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The Denison men and women successfully won their fourth consecutive North Coast Athletic Conference swimming & diving championships at the 28th annual event, hosted by Hiram at the C.T. Branin Natatorium, Feb. 15-18. The Denison men won nine events en route to earning 1,665 points to top the Lords for the fourth-straight year. In addition to the event wins, the Big Red picked up 29 top-five finishes, earned automatic national championship qualifying standards in 11 races, set one NCAC record and one pool record. Kenyon earned second place with 1,546 points after winning 11 races and posting 23 top-five finishes, followed by DePauw (987), Wabash (637), Allegheny (635), Oberlin (525), Wittenberg (511), Wooster (473), Ohio Wesleyan (424) and Hiram (190).
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Kenyon senior David Somers (North Potomac, MD/Quince Orchard) {left} was tabbed the 2012 Men’s Swimmer of the Year after posting six event wins, six NCAA ‘A’ cuts, two meet records and one pool record. Individually, he won the 50 freestyle (20.12), 100 butterfly (49.28) and the 100 free (44.06) all with national championship automatic qualifying times; he also set the conference record in the 50 free in the preliminary session with a time of 19.83. He was also a member of three winning relay teams, including the 200 free relay which set both league and pool records and automatically qualified for the national championships with a time of 1:18.77. Somers was a member of the 200 medley relay squad which touched first in a national championship automatic qualifying time of 1:30.65. Finally, he was a member of the 400 free relay which brought the 2012 meet to a close with an NCAA ‘A’ cut time of 2:55.02.
Denison junior Gabe Dixson (New Albany, OH/New Albany) {right} was named the Men’s Diver of the Year for the second consecutive season after sweeping both diving events with NCAA qualifying scores. He won the one-meter competition with a score of (545.80) and the three-meter with a pool- and meet-record score of 568.80. Dixson erased the second-oldest mark in the NCAC men’s record book as Allegheny graduate Doug Tucker’s score of 541.20 stood as the league’s benchmark since 1991.
Kenyon head coach Jim Steen {left} was recognized as the men’s Swimming Coach of the Year, while Wooster’s Rob Harrington was named the women’s Swimming coach of the Year for the first time after leading the Fighting Scots to a third-place finish with 947 points. Steen, in his 37th year at Kenyon, collected his fifth male coach of the year award and 13th overall.
Denison’s Jason Glorius {right} was named the men’s Diving Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season, while Allegheny’s Fred Evanoff earned women’s Diving Coach of the Year honors.