Former Drury University swimmer Evan Petrich came forward last week with allegations that a team hazing ritual performed on him during his freshman season left him unable to continue his swimming career. Petrich says hazing that included being locked in a basement wearing nothing but a diaper, being forced to drink a glass of water that included a live goldfish and violent “chest rubs” ultimately left him with Conversion Disorder, PTSD and chest pains that ended his swimming career.
Petrich detailed his story in a Facebook post last week, recounting an “initiation week” hazing ritual carried out on freshmen swimmers by upperclassmen. Petrich says the events of the week started out “simple and nothing major,” but that “as the week wore on the events we had to do became weirder and more damaging all leading up to a final night that Saturday.”
Petrich, who was a freshman at Drury in the fall of 2015, writes this about the alleged hazing activities:
I do not know if I can ever forget the events and activities that I was forced to participate in. Having dodgeballs thrown at my exposed bottom, or being terrified in a cold, dark basement corner surrounded by my drunk classmates who had covered the floor with throw up and urine while punching holes in the wall and ceiling. All I had to protect me was the diaper and shoes that the upper classmen were gracious enough to allow us to keep on. This event is in past. The violent chest rub, the swallowing of a live goldfish while we wore hoods is all in the past. There is nothing that I can do about that horrific event that ended my swimming career.
Six months later, he says, doctors diagnosed him with Conversion Disorder, which is a “psychological disorder in which a person shows psychological distress in physical ways,” according to a KY3 report. In Petrich’s case, the physical symptoms are chest pains so severe he couldn’t continue swimming. Petrich also says he was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and recommended to increase his use of anti-depressants and talk to a psychologist.
After the diagnosis (about six months after the initiation week), Petrich says he went forward with his experience, reporting his hazing allegations to head coach Brian Reynolds. Petrich says Reynolds told him not to let it bother him, and Petrich also says Reynolds “failed his duty as a mandatory reporter.” Petrich says he didn’t trust Reynolds to address the situation and went to the dean of students the next day.
Ultimately, Drury suspended six swimmers for three meet each, fined each $300 and assigned them 20 hours each of community service. The school also says five non-swim team members were also punished in connection with the school’s investigation. It’s not known whether any punishments were handed down to the coaching staff, though Athletic Director Mark Fisher said he didn’t believe the swim team coaches knew about the hazing.
“I believe, if our coaches knew what was going on, they’d put a stop to it,” Fisher said in the KY3 coverage. “Our coaches are leaders, so they have an important role. They have to make sure all students within our programs are held to a higher standard. So they’re at the forefront to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Petrich says he was “heartbroken” that the punishment was “the bare minimum that the school would be required to do.” He also took issue with Fisher and Dean of Students Tijuana Julian recommending he transfer to another school if it would help his healing and allow him to continue his swimming career. Petrich called the recommendation “insulting” and characterized it as a protection for the University in getting him “out of their hair.” Fisher and Julian say that was not their intent.
“It’s important to know that, when we deal with students in a variety of issues that are struggling, part of our role is to offer options and brainstorm,” Julian said. “It was very apparent Evan loves swimming and wasn’t comfortable swimming at Drury. This was one of several options we talked about . . . for him.”
We’ve reached out to Drury head coach Brian Reynolds for comment, but have not received a response as of publication. We’ll update if Reynolds provides a comment.
This is the second hazing allegation in the last 8 years leveled at Drury. In 2009, hazing punishments blocked the team from making its annual training trip in Hawaii.
None of that is actually harming. Sure he feels degraded but if drinking a goldfish and getting a chest rub is enough to end a swimming career you shouldn’t be swimming in the first place.
Im a coach and have many swimmers who have attended Drury which is in our area. I have the utmost respect for Brian. My swimmers r there currently and during the previous hazing incident that he was disciplined for.
I used this incident to impress upon my swimmers that is wrong to haze or bully people. We talked about reaching out to kids and being supportive. I gave them four examples. Also included how a simple hello to a special needs student might be the only interaction they might have with someone outside teachers or family.
I love swimming and i love to win but sometimes it is the lessons we learn from sport that r more important
Whenever something likes like this happens, there are those who minimize it or claim it is innocent or “was much more rigorous in my say” or nonsense like that, but I have never before heard somebody say that the victim was a jerk who deserved it. If that is to be the standard for personal treatment of others, a number of these commentators had better start looking over their shoulders.
They said he was a jerk, but there was no connection to his personality and that “he deserved it.”
There’s been a lot of good information shared here, that either wasn’t in the news story or is being ignored by the witch hunters… To recap:
2015
walks on to Drury team
Attendance/attitude issues
Participates in optional initiation activities (along w/ other swimmers, none of which have jumped on his complaint bandwagon)
Meeting(s) w/ coach over attendance/attitude issues
Asked to leave the team
2016
Asks to return to team, is denied
Alleges hazing complaint from 2015. Funny, the timing of this.
Investigation
Consequences
2017… Read more »
Team is on training trip in Hawaii
Wow! An actual timeline, from someone not affiliated with Drury! Love that the non-affiliated feels free to put down those that have the courage to speak out against a shameful act, and defends those that really have no defense. Love the use of “optional initiation activity”. Back in the day, we just used to call it hazing.
Simply doing the work that the reporters SHOULD have done and laying out the facts that have been shared here, Evan’s original facebook post, etc. and trying to see the WHOLE picture, not JUST the side of someone who has been said to have had an inflated opinion of himself. Who has “no defense” here? He could have said NO at any time, and DID come forward (though I question his timing). He’s more than welcome to defend himself here, he doesn’t seem to mind the public eye.
Those that have no defense, you ask? That would be the individuals on a program that conduct an “optional initiation activity” that centers around humiliation, assault, and mass consumption of alcohol. Hazing? Yes, no? I tried. You and I are just going to have to disagree that the penalized behavior (and the athletes were penalized for HAZING, which you omitted from your investigation timeline, oops!) is actually a hazing event which should have no tolerance or part in college athletics. If the program was so above board on this, why didn’t the athletes appeal the penalty the minimal $300 fine and meet suspensions? Was it because they were in the wrong and knew it?
Um…. read the timeline again….. it says “Investigation, consequences”. I never said there wasn’t an incident. It’s people like you who rant and ignore the facts that have turned this into a witch hunt. It was investigated. There were consequences. Case closed.
So you condone the hazing behavior, then. Good to know! Here’s the only timeline that matters:
2009 – Team conducts a hazing event
2009-2010 – Team suspended for winter training for hazing.
2015 – Team conducts another hazing event (repeat offense)
2016 – Drury offers up a lesser penalty
Everything else is minor to this. Why would Drury come down relatively hard in 2009, and not now? Seems odd when repeat offenders usually get a tougher penalty. Not a witch hunt, just questioning why. Since you are the investigator, did you once ask why? If not, please refer to my initial sentence Woodward and Bernstein.
Why would Drury come down relatively hard in 2009, and not now, you ask? Probably for a whole myriad of details of which neither you nor I are privvy, nor will we ever be. I would imagine as part of the investigation that confidentiality agreements are signed. But at a guess, I would say that whatever happened in 2009 was to a more extreme degree than the 2015 incident. We will never know.
That’s why it’s infuriating that you are being judge and jury, when you don’t have the full facts that the investigation committee has.
Once again, have to call you out. Swammer, you make this too easy. If any hazing related incident happened, which by the account of the aforementioned swimmer, and by the suspensions, fines, etc., it did, that in most or all circumstances, the second offense is worse than the first. Now, since you are the investigator, and I am just the infuriating judge and jury, please ascertain why and provide a reasonable excuse, other than ‘we will never be privvy’. Otherwise, Drury has an agenda for condoning hazing behavior and should be held accountable.
Since neither you nor I know exactly what type of hazing went on in either event, how on earth can you assume that the 2nd was worse than the 1st? Presumably, because it is a “2nd offense” but you forget that it was NOT a 2nd offense for ANY of these young men, they were too young to be at Drury when the 1st incident happened. Nice try,.
Yeah, it was a nice try, for you. You truly think that a potential lesser second offense should call for a lesser punishment?!? Hahaha! That’s like giving a thief 10 years for stealing 50k, and giving the same thief probation for stealing 5K seven years later! Not reality my friend, well except maybe in your reality. Repeat offenders get the book thrown at them, and in this case the repeat offender is the swim program, run by Coach Reynolds. Yes, the kids there weren’t on the team in 2009 (well, except for one right now and that’s another topic). They definitely had another hazing ritual and definitely got off easy. Why? Who knows Sherlock! I give you credit though, it… Read more »
The hazing episodes in both cases were “allegedly” behind the coaches back. Even if he knew about it, it was done by the swim team seniors. Correct me if I’m wrong but generally speaking if you are an upper classman in 2009 you won’t be there in 2015. So why is the second group gonna get a bigger punishment?
No problem on correcting you when you’re wrong. Thanks for offering! You see, while the Drury youth was not there in 2009 (except for one!), they are all part of the same program under the same leadership. I am giving the coach the benefit of the doubt he didn’t know about the hazing. However, after the first incident, he should have been educating and making his team aware of what happened in 2009 and the consequences that occurred and what would occur if it happened again. If he did, and the team went against him anyways, what kind of leadership does Coach Reynolds really have? And why go light on that second group? Sounds like poor choices from the team,… Read more »
I’m pro hazing on a mild level but I just don’t get the appeal of making them wear diapers and chest rubs.
Here is a post that another swimmers parent put up on a local news story. Sure paints a different picture.
Whoa! Hold on! You do realize that not everything that is reported is true, don’t you? Here is the truth. Evan Petrich is the son of a Drury professor, so he gets FREE tuition. He used to swim for Springfield Aquatics under Coach Reynolds. As a SPA, and then a Drury swim parent, I can tell you that Evan was the kid nobody liked! He had an entitled attitude, thought too highly of his own abilities, and was in every way a spoiled little brat! When enrolled at Drury he CHOSE to be on the Drury Men’s Swimming &… Read more »
^^^^ THIS. Glad someone can shed a little light. I don’t know Evan, am not affiliated with Drury, but I have read his post, watched the interview, and read all the articles. My take? He was hoping to get their training trip cancelled. Cue to 5 months after the investigation, and he’s having to watch all the social media from the Drury training trip. He writes a rant about it on Facebook, gets some encouragement from his friends, and voila, his 15 minutes of fame. He has a terrible psychiatrist if this was recommended to help him move on.
yup that’s my take as well.
‘Evan now has a vendetta out for Coach Reynolds and made up this whole story about hazing.’
So does Drury always suspend swimmers, fine then and make them do community service, for doing absolutely nothing? Is it possible that Evan isn’t the one making up a story?
A couple of other points of clarification. Evan’s older brother swam on the team and participated in similar activities, hence the regimen should not have been unexpected for the younger Petrich. Evan filed his complaint nearly a year after the alleged hazing. His recollection of the meeting with Reynolds fails to mention that the meeting, called by Petrich, was to lobby to rejoin the team he had quit a year earlier. It wasn’t until he was denied that request that he filed his complaint. Further, in the case of hazings, college campuses by and large abide by a “preponderance of evidence” burden and not “innocent until proven guilty.” In this case evidence that undermined Petrich’s claims was squashed. In one… Read more »
This type of behavior has been going on for years. Drury alumni who have been commenting and defending the coaching staff you should take a long look at yourself in the mirror.
What type of behavior? Being excellent in the pool and in the classroom? Being successful after the college in life? Maybe you should take a look and realized that criticize outstanding humans its little self serving.
The type of behavior that Evan and his teammates went through and former swimmers who swam at Drury.
Are you referring to a 4 hours in the water and 1 in the gym on daily bases? I do not see anyone else complain about “type of behavior” which you are referring to. Do you?
Maybe you should read the entire article.
maybe you should stop assuming and realized that all the info in the article comes from one person who seems like to big the things out of proportion.
Sure – Did you have too many ‘chest rubs’ to the head? You sound like the same enablers in charge at Drury that pretty much endorsed this behavior (you know, assault and intimidation).
**NCAA Violation Alert — only permitted to train 4 hours a day; 20 hours a week. If what you are saying is truth, that’s 30 hours a week (or does the leadership there endorse breaking that as well?)
awww that’s ok mikeylikey, everything is going to be fine. Don’t be a sheep and Do not believe everything what you read. you can pay me later for this advice.
So, I shouldn’t believe that at the aforementioned hazing ritual, that assault and intimidation occurred? So, I shouldn’t believe your words that Drury goes well over the NCAA practice limits? No, I will believe that and you, thank you very much. So, how much do I owe you?
A lot sir but you will realize that when you grow up.
Now, now, no reason for name calling, Sure. No reason we can’t be civil about the misdeeds of Drury University. After all, we are not barbarians. Come to think of it, with assault and intimidation tactics – well, I am not a barbarian.
Yeah! Grow up! Go put on a diaper, get taken in a cold basement and grow up in the Drury way!!!
PTSD? Is this a joke? While team culture might be taken as cruel and not fun for everyone coming out with an allegation that you suffer from a mental disorder is ridiculous. Men and women everyday have hard times waking up due to putting their lives on the line over seas.
You’re in college. You’re an adult. You have a choice to do what you want. As a college swimmer I know you don’t sign up to go through “hazing” it’s a choice regardless of what you’ve been told. It’s time people grow up and realize just because they felt uncomfortable once the world isn’t meant to cater to them after that.
This happened to a tough team… Read more »
fully agree, nobody forced him to attend any extracurricular activities.
Arguing that because something has previously been acceptable that it should still be acceptable and stating that because he had an option makes this type of behavior acceptable? Sure…What happened that night was HAZING. Swimmers who want to go to Drury read the comments that are in this thread and ask yourself “Do you want to swim for Drury?”
All of the PTSD comments and other hazing comments are missing one main point. The “initiation” is optional and 99.9% of swimmers are looking forward to it! That guy is just blaming somebody else for his own mistake-he had an option not to attend or attend just parts which he would like to be involved in.
YOU’RE missing the point: what kind of initiation needs to go on that includes humiliation and battery? If someone needs to opt out of it, how bad is it in the first place, and how much does it go beyond the boundary of human decency? If the steps and rituals are secret, how bad are these secrets, and why are they secret? Maybe so decent society doesn’t cast judgement?
Why not something like, oh you know, skits (like first-timers on the US Olympic team: can you see Phelps and Ervin putting diapers on and chest thumping on Litherland or Wilimovsky?) or karaoke? Maybe a high ropes course or a challenge course? Maybe freshmen vs upperclassmen in Ultimate Frisbee or… Read more »
I presume you have been part of that initiation? I really like when self appointed ethic judges others based on shallow view and little information. Good on you mate! And thanks for using caps it is very under used feature of the keyboard.
I did not know that all secrets are bad until now.