Wabash prepares to compete this week at the annual North Coast Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships. The four-day competition takes place at Denison University in Granville, Ohio begins today and runs through Saturday evening.
 
The Little Giants face two Division III powerhouses in Kenyon College and the host Big Red team from Denison University. Those two teams rank first and second in the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America top-25 poll and together have won all the previous conference titles. Denison has claimed 11 consecutive championships including last year's crown.
 
Wabash and the remaining six teams may be battling for third place overall, but the Little Giants' long term plan is to make the conference championship a three-team competition.
 
"We talk about the conference meet all year," Wabash head coach Will Bernhardt said. "We will never shy away from competition that on paper might be better than us. That's why we compete against the University of Chicago and Division I teams from the University of Illinois-Chicago and Ball State. Last year we competed against the University of Indianapolis, the top-ranked Division II team in the nation. Our team knows my general training and racing philosophies that if you're not competing against people who are better than you, you won't be able to step up and get better.
 
"We talk about the conference meet from day one of the season. We talk about bridging the gap, trying to cut into that several hundred-point space between Denison and Kenyon and the third-place team in the conference standings. We are making strides each day to make certain what we're trying to do in preparation for the conference is an effort to start chipping away at that space. We also want to continually distance ourselves from the other teams in the conference and start catching those other two teams at the top. Obviously, Kenyon and Denison are two of the top-three teams in the country. We have guys who can compete with the top talent on both of those teams."
 
Wabash was one of four teams to score more than 1,000 points in last year's championship meet. The Little Giants scored a total of 1,093.5 points to finish in fourth place 30 points back of DePauw University in third place.
 
"Any time you can score over 1,000 points in our conference, you put your team in position to be one of the top three or four teams in the final results," Bernhardt said. "We need to get used to being above 1,000 points in this meet each season and never look back at it. Last year we were over 1,000 points even with one unfortunate circumstance in a relay. I think we had the most 'A' finalists among any other school other than Kenyon or Denison last year. That's where we want to be. To continually raise our program standards, we have to get more 'A' finalists and need to shift our culture from 'C' final/'B' final mentality to an 'A' final/'B' final focus and not really look at the seeds."
 
Jan Dziadek is one of the 'A' finalists from last season. He owns the NCAC's top time in the 100-yard individual medley heading into this year's championship meet. He finished the 100 IM in 51.48 at the Gail Moll Pebworth Invitational in November to set the high-water mark in the conference. Dziadek was the only swimmer from a school other than Denison or Kenyon to earn all-conference honors after placing second in the 100 IM at the 2019 meet. Dziadek also owns a top-eight time of 50.67 in the 100-yard backstroke heading into this year's competition.
 
Wesley Slaughter is another Wabash swimmer to keep an eye on as a possible all-conference performer. The junior turned in the fourth-fastest time in the 50-yard breaststroke this season by an NCAC swimmer of 26.31. Slaughter's 100-yard breaststroke time of 56.83 ranks sixth best in the NCAC this season. He is also one seven individuals with an NCAA Division III "B" cut time in the 50-yard freestyle. Slaughter swam a 20.60 at the Pebworth Invite for the seventh-fastest time in the event by an NCAC swimmer this season. Slaughter also ranks in the top-10 in the 100 freestyle with a time of 45.31.
 
Senior Hunter Jones produced the eighth-best time in the 200 breaststroke at 2:06.21. Tanner Carver ranks among the top-six divers on both the one- and three-meter boards. The men will open competition on Wednesday night on the three-meter board. The one-meter event takes place on Friday.
 
All five Wabash relay teams are ranked in the top-three among conference teams this season. The Little Giants recorded the third-fastest time in the conference in Wednesday evening's opening event, the 800 freestyle relay. The best Wabash effort in that event this season has been 7:01.52. Wabash completed the 200 freestyle relay in 1:23.85 to rank third among NCAC schools entering the championship meet. The Little Giants' 400 freestyle relay time of 3:05.00 also sits third in the conference rankings. Wabash also ranks third in the 200 medley relay (1:33.43) and the 400 medley relay (3:25.39).
 
"Wes Slaughter has been one of our top performers all year," Bernhardt said. "Hunter Jones has also been a key competitor for the team again this year. He didn't show as well mid-season as he normally would due to a few medical reasons. He has the opportunity to really do some damage at the conference meet. Daren Glore switched to the distance events this year. Last year he was more individual medley and breaststroke based. This year he is more distance freestyle based. He could have the potential to score a large portion of points in those events. We have divers who should also perform well. They can make a huge impact on the team scoring. I think all of our freshmen can really step up and have a good meet. We have a lot of sleeper freshmen coming out of high school because they were good performers but had never really been in a lifting program or trained for specific events. I think they can surprise a few people."
 
Complete meet information along with links to live results and live video are available at the meet central page on the NCAC web site at http://www.northcoast.org/sports/swimdive/2019-20/releases/NCAC-Central.