Wednesday morning the Wabash swimming and diving team headed to Canton, Ohio to begin the NCAC Swimming and Diving Championship. The team had a dual meet record of 5-1 and used that to help pump themselves up for the huge task at hand: taking on Kenyon and Denison, the top two swimming teams in the nation.
On Thursday, the team started off the meet with a bang as the 200 freestyle relay team of Kyle Weaver ’07, Philip Towne ’10, Tony Caldwell ’07, and Blaine Cooper-Surma ’09 placed third in the even. Unfortunately, the relay team was disqualified due to a false start.
Since Wabash always fights, the Tankers brushed that off their shoulders and moved forward with the 500 freestyle. Brent Graham ‘09 didn’t swim his best during the prelims (4:56.60), but when finals came around, he stepped up and this resulted in a personal best (4:42.15), a second place finish, and a new Wabash College school record. Then, to make things even more eventful, freshman Elijah Sanders, swam the 500 free as well and beat the school record with a time of 4:43.88, but it was not enough to top Graham’s performance. The original 500 freestyle record was held by John Murphy at 4:45.15 and that was set in 1980.
In the 50 freestyle, seven swimmers scored for the team. Senior Kyle Weaver qualified for the finals, but was unfortunately ill during the finals, but still managed to grab an eight place finish with a time of :22.
The final event of the night, the 400 medley relay, only proved to be another powerhouse for the Tankers. The relay team consisting of Tony Caldwell, Robert Dent ’10, Adam Petro ’10, and Kyle Weaver was able to steal third place and qualify for the National “B” cut. Caldwell’s time of :52.65 in the 100 breaststroke qualified him for a National “B” cut in that event, as well.
On Friday, all 22 swimmers who participated in the prelims made it back for the finals. "The highlight of the day was having 22 possible swims scoring this morning scoring and having all 22 come back tonight, that’s the first time that’s happened since I’ve been here," Coach Peter Casares said. Starting the meet out in a great way was the 200 medley relay consisting of Pat Laughlin ’10, Jordan Extine ’09, Robert Fozkos ’10, and Philip Towne. The relay team swam a 1:39.04 in the prelims and was able to swim even faster in the finals granting them a second place finish with a final time of 1:34.71. This swim gave the relay Tankers another National “B” cut.
Before the night was over, the Wabash diving team had to its part to contribute to the night’s amazing events. Friday’s diving event was the 3 meter board and Rob Fenoglio ’09 was the top scoring diver for Wabash. He was seated in sixth place during the prelims and was able to hold at sixth place during finals. His top dive was a forward 3.5 somersault, a dive that no other diver had, and was given 6’s and 6.5’s on it.
"We did have some spectacular swims from Adam Petro and Tony Caldwell, both relays did great, and Rob Fenoglio’s diving was wonderful. Casares said. "Our depth is one of our keys and we can get better at improving at night."
Saturday was the final day of the conference and the excitement was swelling more and more. The Tankers opened the final night with an amazing swim in the 200 backstroke by having three swimmers finish in the top eight. Adam Petro finished in fifth place with a final time of 1:56.51, Tony Caldwell glided into sixth place with a final time of 1:56.86, and Pat Laughlin nabbed an eighth place finish with a final time of 1:58.96. Adam Petro also had a fifth place finish in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:55.24.
When the 100 freestyle rolled around, Jordon Blackwell ‘09, Phillip Towne, Blaine Cooper-Surma, Kyle Weaver, and Nick Rockefeller ’10 all scored in the event. Blackwell finished in eight with a time of 47.46 and Towne scored a sixteenth place finish with a time of 48.88.
In the 1 meter diving event, Robert Fenoglio moved up from his eighth place in prelims to finish in sixth place and finished with a score of 312.40. Tom Schiltz ’08, fighting an injured shoulder, was able to come in at thirteenth place with a final score of 255.55 in the prelims.
In the end, Kenyon College was able to continue its stronghold over the conference with its 28th straight win with a final score of 1643. That is the longest winning streak in the history of any college sport. Denison came in second place with a final score of 1514. Casares was hoping to come in at over 1000 points this year, but the team ultimately finished with 998. The disqualification on the first night, had it not happened, the team would have ended up with 1052. Casares didn’t let that affect his buoyant demeanor, by saying that the 998 score was “the perfect number” because it would only fuel the team to perform even better next year.
The Wabash swimming and diving team has never crossed the 1000 point mark and the team continues to score more points every year. Last year’s total was 974.5. The Tankers are already preparing for the Last Chance Meet this weekend at Kenyon to try to get a few more National cuts and will only continue to get better as time goes on.