Elijah Sanders picked up three individual victories in Friday night's dual swimming and diving meet between Wabash and Kalamazoo. Little Giant head coach Steve Barnes' new team could not overcome his former team as the Hornets took down Wabash 170-126.
Barnes, in his first season as the head coach of the Litlte Giant program, served as an assistant and interim head coach at Kalamazoo before taking over the reigns at Wabash. He saw senior Sanders pick up victories in the 1000 and 500 free and the 400 individual medley. Sanders won the 1000 free with a time of 10:21.51. Teammate Chad Woods was second (10:24.88), while Logan Falley took third (10:27.45). Sanders added a victory in the 500 free with a time of 4:53.00. Woods took third (5:00.59) just ahead of Falley in fifth place (5:06.83). Freshman Alex Beck was sixth (5:08.41).
Sanders' third victory came in the 400 IM, touching the wall first in 4:24.41. Evan Rhinesmith added a fourth-place finish with a time of 4:34.07, while Logan Rice took fifth place by finishing in 4:34.64.
Senior Craig Vetor was an individual winner in the 200 free, finishing with a time of 1:45.21. David Birrer won the 200 butterfly (2:01.29) with Falley finishing third (2:05.12), and Addam Current was fourth (2:09.10). Freshman diver Korrey Short won the one-meter board competition, scoring a total of 239.63, while teammate and fellow freshman Jake Schild took third place (168.68). Short was second in the three-meter competition (200.70) with Schild taking third place (159.15).
Rhinesmith added a second place in the 1000 breaststroke with a time of 1:00.29, and a second in the 200 breaststroke after finishing in 2:16.93. Paul Beuscher took fourth place in the 200 breast with a time of 2:25.83. Vetor was second in the 100 freestyle (47.68), Birrer scored a second place finish in the 100 fly (54.11), finishing just ahead of Current in third place (54.82).
Nick Rockefeller took third place int he 200 backstroke with the time of 2:07.04. Robert Fozkos was third in the 50 free (22.46), with Vetor finishing in fourth (22.49) and Chris Kermin taking fifth place (22.65).
The 400 freestyle relay team of Kermin, Back, Fozkos, and Vetor closed out the meet with a second place finish with a time of 3:18.02.
"Sanders had a really tough triple in those three events and really posted some great times,” Barnes said. “Vetor’s time in the 200 free was excellent, as well. Logan Rice had some limited training going into the meet, but really performed well in the 200 fly and 400 IM. Logan Falley’s triple was really tough too, but he came through well for us. Now we have to get some rest and be ready to it all again tomorrow.”
Wabash returns to action Saturday afternoon, crossing the state of Indiana to compete in a double-dual meet at Illinois Wesleyan University along with Rose-Hulman.