The NCAA News - News and Features

March 17, 1997

Division III

Denison poses real threat to Kenyon

Event: 1997 Division III Men's Swimming and Diving Championships.

Overview: There is good news and bad news this year for teams hoping to stop Kenyon's streak of 17 consecutive championships. The good news is that Denison proved the Lords beatable in February by ending their streak of 43 consecutive conference championships. The bad news is that defeat may have been a wake-up call for Kenyon. If nothing else, Denison's victory puts Kenyon in an underdog role, at least according to Kenyon coach Jim Steen. "I'd have to put us behind Denison -- I don't know how you could look at it any other way," he said. "Denison has good depth and some good front-line performers, and we have a good team, too. It should set a good stage for nationals" ... Kenyon features Pedro Monteiro, regarded as one of the top short-course butterfly swimmers in the world. He'll go to the World Championships in April, which could present Steen with a tough choice about when to taper his prize swimmer. "We don't know quite where he'll be for nationals," Steen said. "But he's a very good competitor, whatever status he's in." Kenyon also has former champions Torsten Seifert, Matt Miller and Robin Blume-Kohout ... Denison returns senior captain Tom Richner, second in the 100-yard butterfly last year; defending 400-yard individual medley champion Matt Trumbull; and defending 500-yard freestyle champion Brendan Herlihy. Denison head coach Gregg Parini is a 1982 Kenyon graduate who swam for Steen and is now in his 10th season for the Big Red ... Other contenders include UC San Diego, which returns distance freestylers David Tudury and Tim McAteer and will add freshmen Jason Boettner and Matt Payne to the mix. Johns Hopkins and Union (New York) also should be strong.

Field: The maximum number of participants allowed is 209. All qualifiers who have met the "A" time standard will be admitted in the meet; those who have met the "B" time standard will be considered for the field. No team is allowed more than 18 competitors.

Dates and site: Wooster will host the championships March 20-22 at the Miami (Ohio) Recreational Sports Complex.

Information/results: The fax-on-demand telephone number is 770/399-3060 (passcode 1915); request numbers are 5207 for the list of qualifiers, 5208 for the first day's results, 5209 for the second day's results and 5210 for the final day's results. Individual and team results also will be available on the World Wide Web at www.ncaa.org. Championships results will be published in the March 31 issue of The NCAA News.