The 400-yard medley relay team of Eric Vaughn, Evan Rhinesmith, Adam Current, and Craig Vetor took third place Thursday night in the finals of the 2009 North Coast Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships to help Wabash to fifth place after the first day of the three-day competition.
The quartet received All-NCAC honors after posting an NCAA "B" cut time of 3:28.13 in the last event of Thursday evening's competition.
Denison leads the men's standings with 621 points, followed by defending champion Kenyon in second with 393.5 points. Wittenberg is third (297.5) and Allegheny is in fourth (207). Wabash scored 179 points in the first day with a total of 12 swimmers competing in Thursday's finals round. Wooster (168), Oberlin 132), Hiram (90), and Ohio Wesleyan (73) round out the final team scoring.
Robert Fozkos scored 13 points for the Little Giants with his finish in the 50-yard freestyle. Fozkos competed in the "B" final, finishing with a time of 21.56 to take 14th place. Jordon Blackwell was 19th in the "C" final with a time of 21.60.
Vetor also competed in the "B" final of the 200-yard individual medley, finishing 15th overall with a time of 1:58.88. Vaughn swam in the "C" final, finishing 17th (1:56.82), while teammate Evan Rhinesmith took 18th place (1:58.56). Pete Hewitt also scored in the "C" final of the 200 IM with a 22nd place finish (2:00.49).
Elijah Sanders was 16th in the 500 freestyle, touching the wall for the final time in 4:47.37. Chad Woods competed in the "C" final, finishing 17th with a time of 4:46.74. Brian Graham was just a few ticks of the clock behind in 19th place at 4:51.35. David Birrer completed the scoring in the 500 free for Wabash with his 24th-place finish with a time of 4:56.33.
The Little Giants started the evening session with a sixth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Fozkos, Blackwell, Vetor, and Blaine Cooper-Surma finished with a time of 1:25.16, three seconds faster than the preliminary time posted in the morning session by the Wabash squad.
Competition at the C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton, Ohio continues Friday morning with the preliminary round. The second day of finals takes place Friday evening. The meet concludes with two sessions Saturday.