Jack Belford capped a night of record-setting Wabash performances with a victory in the 500-yard freestyle at the 2015 North Coast Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships in Granville, Ohio.
Belford's effort helped Wabash to fourth place after two nights of competition at the four-day event.
The Wabash junior touched the wall first in 4:29.24 to break his own school record in the event and hit the NCAA "B" cut qualifying time. Belford's old mark was 4:29.61. His victory was the first by a Wabash swimmer since the 2011 championship meet. Joel Paquin finished 12th with a time of 4:41.73 in the 500 free. Arturo Granados captured 15th place (4:46.90).
The Little Giants opened Thursday night's round of finals with a fourth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Elliot Johns, Zechariah Banks, Steve Batchelder, and Chris McGue ste a new Wabash record with a time of 1:23.71, breaking the old mark of 1:24.10.
Banks added a ninth-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley by finishing in 1:53.57. He broke the Wabash record for the event in the morning prelims session by touching the wall in 1:52.90 to eclipse the record of 1:54.33 set by Carter Adams. Adams also competed in the finals of the 200 IM, finishing 15th with a time of 1:54.71. Batchelder captured 17th place (1:54.86), while Jake Childress took 18th place (1:57.51).
Johns produced the next school record for the Little Giants by finishing sixth at 20.68 in the finals of the 50 freestyle. He tied his own school record earlier in the day, qualifying for the finals with a time of 20.72.McGue scored an 18th-place finish (21.51). Wyatt Tarter took 20th place (21.85), while Josh Bleisch finished 25th (22.31) and Matt Schramm grabbed 27th place (22.55).
The Little Giants closed out Thursday night's finals by earning All-NCAC honors with a third-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay. Childress, Banks, Adams, and Johns combined for a school-record time of 3:20.24, shattering the previous record of 3:24.76 the same quartet set back in December.
Wabash sits in fourth place heading into the final two days of competition at the Trumbull Aquatic Center at Denison University with a total of 300.5 points. Denison leads the team scoring with 663 points, followed by Kenyon with 500.5. DePauw is third with 360 points. Oberlin (212), Ohio Wesleyan (184.5), Wooster (156), Wittenberg (155), Allegheny (95.5), and Hiram (92) round out the day two results.
Competition begins again Friday morning at 10 a.m. with finals scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m.