Owls open Invitational with pool, TPSC relay record 

GAMBIER, Ohio — Kenyon College played host to its annual three-day Total Performance Swim Camps Invitational, and the Owls men’s swimming and diving team compiled 569.5 points over five events, pacing the eight-team field after day one.

The Owls came out on top in three of five events and bookended the evening with relay wins while adding one individual first-place finish. The other two individual wins were split between Carnegie Mellon University and West Chester University, who rounded out the Invitational’s top three teams. CMU compiled 427 points, while WCU, an NCAA Division II institution, tallied 409.5 points.

All six Kenyon Individuals who cleared an NCAA ‘B’ cut threshold during the morning’s prelims repeated the feat in the finals, and both Owls relay quartets posted times below the ‘B’ cut cutoff.

Kenyon’s highlight of the night came in the first final event, the 200-yard freestyle relay. The Owls ‘A’ team of Djordje Dragojlovic, Aleksa Dobric, Marko Krtinic, and Daniel Brooks completed the circuit in 1:19.68, which is the best DIII time of the season. The time also set a record for both the TPSC and Kenyon’s James A. Steen Aquatic Center, besting the mark of 1:19.77 set by a University of Pennsylvania quartet in 2015.

After Max Nonnenmacher (4:29.10) and Roman Savage (4:29.29) earned ‘B’ cuts in the 500-yard freestyle that saw West Chester swimmers take the top two spots, Kenyon got back to its winning ways in the 200-yard individual medley. Noah Hargrove paced the field with a time of 1:48.67, which is better than the ‘B’ cut threshold of 1:50.64.

Carnegie Mellon’s DJ Lloyd topped the 50-yard freestyle standings in the finals, and his time of 20.15 seconds tied Dobric’s time in the prelims, which is the best DIII mark this season. Dobric (20.22), Dragojlovic (20.23), and Brooks (20.25) went 2-3-4 for the Owls in the event, good for three more ‘B’ cuts.

The Owls ended the night with another win when the team of Yurii Kosian, Noel Tumbasz, Krtinic, and Dobric took the top spot in the 400-yard medley relay. Their time of 3:14.08 cleared second place by over a second and is the fastest time of a DIII team this season.

Kenyon will look to maintain and extend its lead when teams reconvene for preliminary heats at 10:30 a.m. and finals at 6:00 p.m. on Friday.