Wabash cruised to two victories in the pool Friday night, defeating both Illinois Wesleyan and Transylvania in a double-dual meet. The Little Giants scored a 191-44 victory over IWU while claiming a 188-52 win over Transylvania University.
The Little Giants dominated throughout the meet. The quartet of Tony Caldwell, Robert Dent, Kyle Weaver, and Jordon Blackwell took first place in the opening event, the 200-yard medley relay, with a time of 1:39.57. Craig Vetor was second in 1000 freestyle (10:26.83), with teammate Michael Belanger right behind in third (11:05.81).
Freshman Elijah Sanders led the way in a three-place sweep in the 200 free. The rookie touched first in 1:49.92, ahead of teammates Matt Routh (1:50.65) in second and Blaine Cooper-Surma (1:51.57) in third. Newcomer Nick Rockefeller made it back-to-back 1-2-3 finishes. He led the way in the 50 free with a winning time of 22.81. Nate Robbins took second for the Little Giants with a time of 23.30, whil Steve Zajac was third (23.53).
Brent Graham won the 200 individual medley, touching first in 2:04.29. Kyle O'Keefe was third with a time of 2:07.10. The Little Giants took the top-three spots in the 100 butterfly. Adam Petro won the event (53.05), with Weaver (54.61) and Routh (56.66) right behind in second and third. Two freshmen captured the the top-two spots in the 100 free. Robert Fozkos won the race in 50.91, with Zajac finishing second (52.54).
Caldwell and Blackwell each added individual first place finishes in addition to their relay effort. Caldwell won the 100 back (54.73), finishing ahead of teammate Pat Laughlin (56.45) in second place. Blackwell won the 500 free with a time of 5:01.08.
Dent and O'Keefe took first and second in the last individual race, the 100 breaststroke. Dent won with a time of 1:02.30, with O'Keefe in second at 1:02.77. The Little Giants closed the swimming portion of the night with a victory by Philip Towne, Robbins, Fozkos, and Cooper-Surma in the 200 free relay (1:29.92).
Rob Fenoglio swept the diving events Friday evening. He won the one-meter competition with a total of 242.65 points, while capturing first place on the three-meter board with 207.10 points.
"I thought we swam very smart today," head coach Peter Casares said after the meet. "It was obvious most of our swimmers had a plan of attack for each of their races, and more times than not they executed that plan well.
"Our divers continue to improve each week. I'm continually impressed by some of the depth that is showing up in our relays. We still have a lot of work to do if we are going to consider competing with some of the top teams in our conference, but I believe we are headed in the right direction for now."
Wabash will continue down that path Saturday afternoon when the Little Giants compete at Carthage College in a dual meet at 1 p.m.