Evan Rhinesmith shattered the Wabash 100-yard breaststroke record Friday in the prelims of the 2009 DePauw Swimming Invitational. The junior's time of 57.13 nearly earned him an automatic qualification for the 2010 NCAA Division III National Championship meet.
Rhinesmith's time in the preliminary round of the two-day meet at DePauw broke his own mark of 57.43 set at last year's Boilermaker Invite. Rhinesmith went on to win the 100 breaststroke with a time of 57.46 in Friday evening's finals, one of two first-place finishes in the finals. He also took the top spot in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:57.42. Teammate Peter Hewitt took eighth place in the race with a time of 2:08.61. Rhinesmith was joined by Paul Buescher in the top-eight spots in the 100 breaststroke. Buescher finished fifth overall (1:02.78).
The Little Giants posted a new school record and broke the DePauw record while winning the 400-medley relay. The quartet of Eric Vaughn, Rhinesmith, David Birrer, and Craig Vetor won the event with a time of 3:27.42. The time not only set two records, but was also fast enough to score a provisional "B" cut time for the NCAA Nationals.
Wabash scored eight other top-eight finishes. Birrer took third place in the 200 butterfly (1:55.18), while Adam Current grabbed sixth place (2:00.36). Vetor was fourth in the 100 free, finishing in 47.19.
Hewitt and Vaughn competed in the "A" final of the 200 backstroke. Hewitt took fifth place with a time of 2:01.61. Vaughn was eighth (2:08.05). Logan Rice took fifth place in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:54.55. Chad Woods finished sixth in the 500 free (5:00.18).
The Little Giant 800 free relay team of Vetor, Alex Beck, Chris Kermin, and Matt Routh completed the first night of competition with a third-place finish (7:19.92).
Wabash finished the first night with 359 team points, trailing first place Wittenberg with 367 points. DePauw was third (338 points).
The two-day meet concludes on Saturday.