An experienced group from last session and an exciting new group of freshman swimmers came together for Wabash Saturday to take third place at the North Coast Athletic Conference Relays.
Wabash, third at last year's NCAC Championship meet, scored 140 points in the meet. Denison won the event with 180 total points. Kenyon took second with 148 points. Wooster (94), Allegheny (78), Wittenberg (78), Oberlin (68), Hiram (34), and Ohio Wesleyan (8) rounded out the team scoring.
The Little Giants' top finish came in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Freshmen Jordon Blackwell (Veedersburg, IN/Crawfordsville), Blaine Cooper-Surma (Free Soil, MI/Ludington), and Jordan Extine (Muncie, IN/Yorktown) combined with junior Kyle Weaver (Portland, IN/Jay County) to finish with a time of 1:30.40. Wabash took fourth in the 500-yard freestyle relay. Cooper-Surma, Extine and Blackwell joined sophomore Michael Belanger (Crawfordsville, IN/Crawfordsville) to touch out in 4:25.16 after Cooper-Surma started with a opening leg of 23.34.
Wabash added fifth place finishes in the 200 breaststroke relay and the 1500-yard free relay . The 200 breaststroke team of Extine, Brent Graham (FR/Ft. Wayne, IN/Homestead), Jim Leuck (FR/Lafayette, IN/Jefferson), and Kyle O'Keefe (SO/Indianapolis, IN/Warren Central) took their fifth with a time of 2:00.46. Belanger, Blackwell, and Graham touched in 15:29.43 for their fifth place finish in the distance race.
Sophomore diver Clayton Craig (Morristown, IN/Indiana Academy) finished second on the one-meter board, scoring 276.05 points. He took third on the three-meter board (221.67).
The Little Giants swim at Illinois Wesleyan Friday, October 28.