GAMBIER, Ohio  – A new era of the Kenyon College swimming and diving program will be defined at the 2013 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships. The Lords' storied history will continue to be written this time by the penmanship of first-year head coach Jess Book and his experienced Kenyon squad. The Lords look to dethrone rival Denison University and reclaim a championship that has been theirs for 31 of the last 33 seasons.

The hunt for the program's 32nd national title begins Wednesday, March 20. The four-day national championship will be held at Conroe Natatorium in Shenandoah, Texas with action beginning at 10 a.m. each day.

No stranger to the national championship scene, Book, a former Kenyon All-American, has assembled a team of 15 qualifying swimmers. The Lords' relay teams have traditionally carried much of the weight in the program's historic championship run, but this year the Lords' sprinters will also heavily influence the outcome.

Leading the charge will be seniors Curtis Ramsey and Ian Stewart-Bates, who will serve as the No. 1 and 2 seeds, respectively, in the 100-yard freestyle. The two have combined for pieces of six different relay national championships dating back to 2010. Last year, Ramsey helped Kenyon collect a pair of relay national titles and set new NCAA records with wins in the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay. Individually, Ramsey is seeded first in the 100 freestyle and fourth in the 50-yard freestyle after earning conference championships in each event one month ago.

Stewart-Bates placed inside the top-10 in all five events he participated in last year, adding to his All-American career that now totals 16 awards. Since his freshman season, he's finished inside the top-10 in every event he has competed in at the national level and only has three finishes outside of fifth place.

The Lords will be challenged to defend their four relay national titles from a year ago. Eight-time All-American Jimmy Chapman returns as the team's most senior relay member and the lone returner from last year's 200-yard medley relay title-winning team. Junior Ian Richardson will have two relay title defenses on tap this week as part of last year's national champion 400 freestyle and 800-yard freestyle relay teams. His sprint skills were also noticed with a fourth-place finish in the 50 freestyle.

After a highly successful 2012 national championship run that included two top-five finishes, junior Andrew Chevalier will serve as a boost among the Lords distance swimmers. He enters this week as the top seed in the 400-yard individual medley and as the fourth seed in the 1,650 freestyle. Chevalier will be joined by Joe Guilfoyle, who took home the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) championship in the 500-yard freestyle and earned the No. 5 seed at the national level.

Rounding out Kenyon's notable performers is senior Nick Charriez. Competing in his third national championship, he enters the week as the No. 2 seed in the 200-yard butterfly.

Lords who are participating in their first national championships are junior Alex Beckwith, sophomore Austin Caldwell, and freshmen Ryan Funk, Percy Gates, Christian Josephson, and Mark Newell. Caldwell and Gates were part of the Lords' 800-yard freestyle relay team that shattered an NCAC Championship record along with teammates Richardson and Stewart-Bates.

Among the 236 swimmers, 48 teams will be vying for the title. In addition to Kenyon, teams to watch out for include two-time defending national champion Denison, which also claimed the NCAC championship in mid-February. This year's championship party has the potential to be crashed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Emory, and Williams. MIT will send 16 individuals to the championships, while Emory qualified 13 and Williams 11.