Just a few days after being ranked 13th in the first CollegeSwimming.com coaches poll the Wabash swim team proved its ranking was for real, finishing third out of nine teams at the TYR/CollegeSwimming.com Classic hosted by Carthage College.
The Little Giants posted 24 top-10 finishes at the two-day, championship-style event.
Sophomore All-American Adam Petro (left) led the way for Wabash. He had three individual top-five finishes and was part of the Little Giants' second-place 200 medley relay team. He joined Zach Phillips, Evan Rhinesmith, and Blaine Cooper-Surma to finish in 1:36.37. Petro, Phillips, Rhinesmith, and Jordon Blackwell took third place in the 400 medley relay, finishing in 3:32.20.
Petro was second in the 200 fly, an event that was three Wabash swimmers make the championship event. The sophomore took second with a time of 1:55.47 in the finals, while teammate David Birrer was eighth after trimming more than a second off his prelim time. Birrer touched the wall in 1:57.17. Robert Fozkos added a ninth-place finish (2:01.50).
The 100 butterfly, another event where three Wabash swimmers hit the blocks in the championships, also saw Petro finish second in the finals (52.02). Freshman Adam Current cut over a second off his finals time to earn fifth (52.40), while Vaughn took ninth (53.47). Petro's final top-five performance came in the 200 backstroke. He touched in 1:55.61 to finish fifth in the finals. Vaughn took eighth with a time of 2:00.09.
Rhinesmith (right) added a second in the 100 breaststroke in addition to his work on the relay teams. His finishing time of 59.60 in the finals was nearly 4/10ths of a second faster than his prelim time. He also took ninth place in the 200 breaststroke (2:17.79).
Phillips had to swim one extra race to earn fifth in the 100 backstroke. The freshman posted a time of 53.97 in the finals, then had to compete against Saint Cloud's Justin Nelson in a swim-off to earn 25 points for the Little Giant team. Vaughn took tenth in event (54.97), as well.
Craig Vetor was fifth in the 100 free (47.95), with Cooper-Surma finishing eighth (48.43). Vaughan added a seventh in the 200 IM (1:59.70), while Peter Hewitt finished eighth (2:01.30). Fozkos took seventh in the 50 free (21.96). Elijah Sanders was eighth in the 400 IM (4:16.76).
The Little Giants added a fourth place finish in the final relay of the meet, the 400 free. Blackwell, Vetor, Cooper-Surma, and Nick Rockefeller finished with a time of 3:13.23. Wabash opened the meet with a fifth and a sixth in the 200 free relay. Blackwell, Cooper-Surma, Matt Routh, and Philip Towne were less than a second faster (1:27.61) than teammates Steve Zajac, Rockefeller, Jordan Extine, and Phillips (1:28.32). The team of Vetor, Blackwell, Petro, and Sanders added a sixth in the 800 free relay (7:09.62).
Wabash scored a total of 1,065.5 points. Saint Cloud won the meet with a total of 1,131.5 points. Carthage was second (1,115.5).
While the swimmers were competing in Wisconsin, the Wabash divers were at home for their annual invitational. Cole Hatcher (left) took third place in one-meter competition, scoring a total of 361.15 points. Tom Schiltz was eight (264.55), while Tyler Foster took tenth (242.45). Hatcher finished fourth on the three-meter board with a score of 318.10, while Foster finished fifth (297.05).
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