Wabash closed the 2009 North Coast Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championship meet Saturday evening with another school record and final All-Conference effort while finish fourth overall in the team scoring.
Two days after senior Jordon Blackwell (right) set a new school record in a 100-yard freestyle time trial, he shattered the new mark in the finals of the same event Saturday night on the way to a fifth-place finish. Blackwell touched the wall in 46.13 seconds, nearly 2/10ths of a second faster than his previous record-setting time of 46.3. Blackwell's time also earned an NCAA "B" cut. (View photos from the meet here.)
Eric Vaughn produced the final record-setting swim of the weekend for Wabash, breaking the school mark in the 100 butterfly with a time of 50.53. His time broke the record of 50.67 set by Steve Turk at the 1991 NCAA Championships.
Blackwell joined Chris Kermin, Blaine Cooper-Surma, and Craig Vetor in the final event of the meet, the 400 freestyle relay. The quartet finished third with a time of 3:06.66 to earn All-NCAC honors while missing the school record of 3:06.63 by an eyelash. Their mark was good enough to reach the NCAA "B" cut.
Vetor joined Blackwell in the finals of the 100 free, finishing 12th with a time of 46.74. Cooper-Surma added an 18th-place finish with a time of 48.22. Kermin was 20th in the finals (48.38).
David Birrer competed in the "A" final of the 200 butterfly, finishing fifth with a time of 1:54.88. Adam Current took 12th place (1:58.22). Robert Fozkos was 13th (1:58.26), while Logan Falley finished 19th (2:01.62).
Three Little Giants advanced to the finals of the 200 breaststroke. Evan Rhinesmith posted the best finish for Wabash, taking 9th place with a time of 2:09.88. Paul Buescher finished 16th (2:18.04). Jordan Extine was 20th (2:18.77).
Eric Vaughn scored 10th-place points for the Little Giants in the 200 backstroke, finishing the race with a time of 1:54.86. Pete Hewitt grabbed 17th place (1:59.59), while Steve Zajac was 24th (2:06.07).
The finals began earlier in the afternoon with the 1650 freestyle. Elijah Sanders was the top finisher for the Little Giants, finishing with a time of 16:52.52 to take 11th place. Brian Graham finished 12th (16:59.82). Chad Woods was 14th (17:06.59).
The Little Giants scored a total of 782.5 points over the three days of competition. Denison ended the 11-year run of first place finishes by Kenyon College in the championship. The Big Red won the team competition with 1,794.5 points to 1,419 for Kenyon. Wittenberg was third with 903.5 points. Wooster (671.5), Allegheny (659), Oberlin (476), Ohio Wesleyan (348), and Hiram (311) rounded out the final results.