DANVILLE, Ky. — Wabash College won eight events Saturday afternoon in a swimming and diving double dual meet at Centre College, defeating Franklin College 186-113 while falling to the host Colonels 161-139. Ryan West led the Little Giants with two individual victories and a first-place relay performance in the team’s second road competition in as many days.
Wabash swept both relay events and collected six individual victories against the two opponents. West won the 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard individual medley, while Quinn Sweeney, Lew Sams and Ozzy Jankowski added individual first-place finishes.
“We had a very good weekend overall, but we learned a few lessons today,” Wabash head coach Will Bernhardt said. “It’s tough to compete on the road on back-to-back days, but our guys showed a lot of toughness and heart. We made a couple of mistakes that hurt our chances of beating Centre, but our team never gave up and competed to the end. I’m proud of our effort and look forward to getting back to work to prepare for midseason.”
West, Sams, Jankowski and Charlie Renie opened the meet with a victory in the 200-yard medley relay, combining for a time of 1:36.37 to finish one second ahead of Centre’s runner-up squad.
West added his first individual victory in the 200 backstroke, touching the wall in 1:55.96 to finish more than four seconds ahead of Centre’s Hamza Hosny. West returned to win the 200 individual medley in 2:01.53, three seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. He also took second in the 100 backstroke with a time of 52.97, while teammate Brody Page finished third in 55.79.
Sweeney captured the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:46.58, leading a one-two Wabash finish. William Renie followed in second place in 1:49.07, edging Centre’s Gavin Schoeling by seven-hundredths of a second. Sweeney also placed third in the 50 freestyle with a time of 22.16.
Sams won the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.13, finishing ahead of Franklin’s Will Chambley, who touched in 1:00.82. Sams added a third-place finish in the 200 breaststroke in 2:14.98 and placed fourth in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:06.29.
Jankowski added another individual victory for Wabash in the 100 butterfly, finishing in 50.62 to defeat Centre’s Tucker Wilson by more than two seconds. Page placed third in the event with a time of 54.49.
Mason Gilliam contributed a pair of runner-up finishes in the distance freestyle events. Gilliam took second in the 1,000 freestyle with a time of 10:10.63, followed by teammate Carter Ramsey in third place at 10:29.84. Gilliam also finished second in the 500 freestyle in 4:58.86, while Ramsey placed fourth in 5:05.45.
The Little Giants closed the competition with another relay victory. Jankowski, William Renie, Charlie Renie and Sweeney combined to win the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:12.73, finishing more than two seconds ahead of Centre’s second-place team. Sweeney anchored the winning relay with a 47.74-second split after Jankowski opened with a 47.13-second performance.
Michael Cruzado led the Wabash divers with a third-place finish on the 1-meter board, scoring 184.20 points. He added a fourth-place finish on the 3-meter board with 154.80 points. Liam Fuller finished fifth in both competitions, scoring 146.05 points on the 1-meter board and 134.65 on the 3-meter board. Farrukh Akhatjonov placed sixth in the 1-meter competition with 124.20 points.
Saturday’s meet completed a two-day road trip for the Little Giants, who defeated Transylvania University 183-55 Friday evening in Lexington, Kentucky.
Wabash returns to competition Nov. 20, when the Little Giants host the three-day Gail Moll Pebworth Invitational beginning at 10 a.m. at the Crawfordsville High School Aquatic Center.
