Owls take two more titles and NCAC runner-up spot

GRANVILLE, Ohio -- The Kenyon College Owls finished the four-day North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Men's Swimming and Diving Championship on Saturday night with two more event titles, 1,642 team points and the runner-up spot on the podium. For 40 years now, since the first conference championship was held in 1985, Kenyon has placed either first or second.

Host Denison University won the team title, its 14th overall and first since 2022, by chalking up a final score of 2,061.5 points. Behind Denison and Kenyon, the rest of the top-five teams in the nine-team competition were Wabash College in third place (1,339.5), Oberlin College in fourth (1,070) and The College of Wooster in fifth place (1,016).

After winning three event titles during Friday's session, the Owls came back with two more on Saturday. The first of those two came from first-year Charlie Green, who nailed down his first conference crown, taking the 200-yard backstroke title in a season-best time of 1:46.21. A few places back, Landon Suaverdez, also a Kenyon first-year, claimed sixth place in 1:49.67.

The second of the two Kenyon event titles came from junior Djordje Dragojlovic. For the third year in a row, he won the NCAC title in the 100-yard freestyle. Saturday night, he turned in a winning time of 43.14, which was not only a new Kenyon record, but an NCAC record. The previous Kenyon record was 43.16 set by Zack Turk in 2012 and the previous NCAC record was 43.51, which Dragojlovic established himself at last year's championship. His new best of 43.14 also stands as the fastest in NCAA Division III this season.

At the conclusion of the meet, it was announced that Dragojlovic was voted the 2025 NCAC Swimmer of the Year.

Back at the start of Saturday's session, things got going for the Owls with sophomore Roman Savage taking fourth place in the 1,650-yard freestyle. He clocked in at 15:55.74. Three finishes later, junior Nicholas Theodos touched in 16:22.57 to take seventh place.

Kenyon newcomer and member of the junior class, Kirill Sidorko claimed a top-three finish in the 100-yard individual medley to earn an all-conference honor. His third-place time was 50.73, just a bit shy of his season best (50.63). In the same event, Kenyon's next-best was first-year Leo Karnitz, who stopped the clock at 52.02 for fifth place.

In the 200-yard breaststroke, Kenyon's top finisher was sophomore Noel Tumbasz. He touched in 2:00.25 for third place, ahead of senior Philip Howard, who took seventh in 2:05.30. One event later, junior Ethan Manske landed in the runner-up spot for the 200-yard butterfly. His time of 1:48.44 was a season-best.

When the action shifted to the diving well, Kenyon first-year James Lackner tallied up a score of 378.90 and claimed fourth place in the three-meter competition.

The evening concluded with the 400-yard freestyle relay and Kenyon wrapped things up with another second-place showing. The Owls' foursome included Neil Abrahamson, Dragojlovic, Teo Jaworski, and Sidorko. They posted a 2:56.29, which was a season-best by more than four seconds.

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Players Mentioned

Djordje Dragojlovic: Junior

Philip Howard: Senior

Teo Jaworski: Junior

Ethan Manske: Junior

Roman Savage: Sophomore

Nicholas Theodos: Junior

Noel Tumbasz: Sophomore

Kirill Sidorko: Junior

Neil Abrahamson: First-Year

Charlie Green: First-Year

Players Mentioned

Djordje Dragojlovic
: Junior

Philip Howard
: Senior

Teo Jaworski
: Junior

Ethan Manske
: Junior

Roman Savage
: Sophomore

Nicholas Theodos
: Junior

Noel Tumbasz
: Sophomore

Kirill Sidorko
: Junior

Neil Abrahamson
: First-Year

Charlie Green
: First-Year