Wabash freshman Michael Belanger (Crawfordsville, IN/Crawfordsville) won the 1650-yard freestyle and took second in the 500 free to lead the Little Giants to a third place team finish in the 2004 Wabash Invitational.
Belanger opened the individual races Friday night by winning the 1650 free with a time of 16:49.73, just 19 seconds off of the meet record. He came back Saturday to earn a second place finish in the 500 (4:52.11), one second behind Olivet’s Brian Jaffe. Belanger also swam the lead leg of the Wabash 800 freestyle relay team that took fourth place Friday night with a time of 7:30.50. He joined Brad Williams (Columbus, IN/Columbus North), Michael Hewitt (Greenwood, IN/Center Grove), and Ben Hewitt (Greenwood, IN/Center Grove) to score 30 of the Little Giants’ 405 points. Belanger’s final individual points came with an eighth-place finish in the 200 free (1:51.18).
Matt Perkins (Indianapolis, IN/Brownsburg) took second in the 100-yard butterfly (53.91), along with Kyle Weaver (Portland, IN/Jay County) with a 10th-place finish (55.37), and Michael Hewitt’s 12th place (55.84). Hewitt added a fifth place finish in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:05.64.
Ben Hewitt took eighth in the 400 individual medley (4:27.80) and sixth in the 200 breaststroke. Teammate Colin Fahey (Indianapolis, IN/Bishop Chatard) finished seventh in the 200 breaststroke (2:19.78). Fahey also had a sixth place finish in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:02.22, finishing just ahead of Ben Hewitt in eighth place (1:03.67).
Weaver took fifth in the 50 free (22.52), along with a seventh place finish by Fahey (22.60), and an eighth place finish by Perkins (22.72).
The Little Giants had a third place finish in the 200 medley relay. Chad Damitz (Kokomo, IN/Kokomo), Fahey, Weaver, and Perkins combined for a time of 1:39.20. The Little Giants finished fourth in the final relay of the meet, the 200 free. Perkins, Damitz, Fahey, and Weaver touched in 1:28.94.
Howard Bailey (Moss Point, MS/Moss Point) took sixth in the one-meter diving competition Friday night with a total of 163.10. Clayton Craig (Morristown, IN/Morristown) was seventh (161.90). Craig added a fifth place finish on the three-meter board (164.20).
Wheaton won the men's team competition with 584 points. The University of Indianapolis was second (466), followed by Wabash with 405 points. DePauw (358), Olivet (356), Carthage (306), University of the South (216), Transylvania (197), Vincennes (101), and IUPUI (34) rounded out the team scoring.
The Little Giants will participate in the DePauw Invitational December 3-4. The divers will participate in the Wabash Diving Invitational, scheduled for the same dates at the Class of 1950 Natatorium.