A solid team effort helped the Wabash swimming team take fourth at the TYR/Collegeswimming.com Classic at Carthage College over the weekend.
The Little Giants put at least two swimmers in the 10 finals spots in 11 of 14 individual events, including 4 in the 200 butterfly. David Birrer finished third overall with a time of 1:58.45. Teammate Adam Current touched 4/100th of a second later in fourth place (1:58.49). Logan Falley took ninth place (2:01.71), with Robert Fozkos grabbing tenth (2:02.45).
Eric Vaughn added a third-place finish in the 200 backstroke, touching the wall in 1:57.08. Nick Rockefeller was seventh in the event with a time of 2:00.30.
Craig Vetor posted his fastest time of the season in the preliminaries of the 200 free, advancing to the finals after finishing in 1:44.07. He went on to finish fifth in the finals (1:46.79), while Jordon Blackwell was sixth (1:47.10) and Chad Woods was seventh (1:48.70). Vetor was also fifth in the 100 free (47.12). Christopher Kermin finished tenth in the finals with a time of 48.79. Vetor added an eighth-place finish in the 200 individual medley (2:00.54), just behind Vaughn in seventh (1:59.94).
Evan Rhinesmith finished fifth in the 100 breasstroke (59.73), while Jordan Extine took tenth place (1:02.43). Fozkos took seventh in the 50 free (22:12), finishing just ahead of Blackwell in eighth (22.13). Current added an eighth-place finish in the 100 fly (53.33) with Vaughn finishing 10th (54.66). Rockefeller was eighth in the 100 backstroke (55.12), while Vaughn touched in ninth place (57.00).
Falley scored eighth-place points in the 500 free (4:54.81), as did Elijah Sanders in the 1650 free (17:38.44). Woods was tenth in the 500 free (4:54.93).
Wabash grabbed two top-six finishes in the 400 medley relay. The Little Giant quartet of Vaughn, Rhinesmith, Current, and Vetor finished fifth with a time of 3:35.80, while Rockefeller, Paul Buescher, Birrer, and Blackwell took sixth (3:37.33). The 200 freestyle relay team of Vetor, Blackwell, Fozkos, and Kermin trimmed a second off their seed time, grabbing fifth place after touching in 1:26.32. Vaughn, Rhinesmith, Current and Fozkos were seventh in the 200 medley relay (1:38.23). Blackwell, Vetor, Blaine Cooper-Surma, and Rockefeller completed the team scoring with a tenth-place finish in the 400 free relay (3:19.42.)
Wabash scored a total of 723 points, trailing host school Carthage with 1,075, Saint Cloud State (1,007), and St. Olaf (847). Lincoln (502), Illinois Tech (351), and Lake Forest (38) rounded out the team scoring.