Meet Results
A tremendous three-day effort by the Wabash College swimming team provided a third-place finish for the Little Giants at the 2013 Calvin College Winter Invitational over the weekend.
The Little Giants finished behind men’s champion Grand Valley State (1,320 points) and host Calvin College (583), but scored 560.5 points to place ahead of Kalamazoo College, a top-20 finishing team at the NCAA National Championship meet the past two seasons. Kalamazoo scored a total of 500 points.
Zechariah Banks turned in the first NCAA “B” cut time of the season for Wabash with a time of 57.54 in the prelims of the 100 breaststroke Friday. He topped that time in the finals, completing the event in 57.50 to finish sixth overall. Banks added a sixth-place finish in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:06.65, also below the NCAA “B” cut time.
Jack Belford nearly topped the school record in the 400-yard individual medley. He finished second overall with a time of 4:08.51, trailing the all-time school mark of 4:07.57 set in 1996 by Grant Comer. Belford turned in a sub-4:09 in the prelims with a time of 4:08.67 to earn his spot in the finals. Adam Barnes grabbed seventh place in the 400 IM finals, finishing in 4:22.93 to cut over nine seconds off his best effort to this point of the season in that event. Andy Chorpenning added a tenth-place finish with a season-best time of 4:26.13.
Belford finished seventh in the 200 butterfly finals, touching the wall in 1:55.46. He turned in a season-best time of 1:54.66 in the prelims to advance to the evening finals. Carter Adams added the top finish for the team in the finals of the 200 fly, taking sixth place at 1:54.95. Adams also finished sixth in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:58.45 after setting a season-best time in the prelims of 1:58.27. He took eighth place in the 100 butterfly with a time of 52.26. Steve Batchelder took tenth place in the 200 IM with season-best effort of 1:59.44.
Belford also picked up a fifth-place finish in the finals of the 500 free, posting a time of 4:40.25 to cut 8.6 seconds off his previous season-best time heading into the invitational.
Aaron Troyer captured second place in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:54.86, trimming eight seconds off his season-best effort. He also scored a fourth-place finish in the 100 backstroke with a time of 52.58. He set a season-best mark in the prelims by finishing in 52.46 to win his heat. Jake Childress added a sixth-place finish in the finals, touching the wall in 52.83 for his personal best time this year.
Elliot Johns grabbed fourth place in the finals of the 200 freestyle with a season-best time of 1:42.69. He scored a sixth-place finish in the 100 freestyle finals with a time of 46.43.
Wabash closed out the meet with a fourth-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay Saturday evening. Troyer, Johns, Banks, and Chris McGue combined for a time of 3:08.39. Troyer, Banks, Adams, and Johns finished fifth in the 400 medley relay (3:26.79). Johns, McGue, Troyer, and Batchelder added a fifth-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay (1:25.65), while Childress, Banks, Adams, and McGue combined for a time of 1:35.16 to finish fifth in the 200 medley relay.
The Little Giants will prepare for their annual trip to Florida over the winter break before competing against Washington University – St. Louis January 8 at 7 p.m. at home.
This release was provided to SwimSwam courtesy of Wabash Swimming and Diving.
