TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Wabash College captured seven individual swimming events and one relay Friday evening but came up short in a 156-144 loss to Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in the Little Giants' first dual meet of the 2026-27 season.
"The meet came down to the last relay," Wabash head coach Will Bernhardt said. "We needed to go 1-3 to win by one point, and they just touched us out.
"Our guys swam and dove well. I'm happy with their effort, but we just came up short."
Lew Sams and Ozzy Jankowski each won two individual events, while Nick Plumb added two victories to lead Wabash. Ryan West contributed another individual victory and helped the Little Giants open the competition with a first-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay.
Wabash started the meet with West, Sams, Jankowski and Quinn Sweeney combining to win the 200 medley relay in 1:36.86. The Little Giants finished more than three seconds ahead of Rose-Hulman's second-place relay team, which touched the wall in 1:40.51.
Plumb followed with a victory in the 1,000-yard freestyle, finishing in 10:29.74. Teammate Aidan Gubbins placed second in 10:45.17 to give Wabash the top two finishes in the distance event. Plumb later earned his second individual victory in the 200 backstroke, posting a winning time of 2:00.32. AJ Lawler finished third in 2:04.93, followed by Lucas Ferreira in fourth place in 2:05.06.
Sams swept the breaststroke events, winning the 100-yard race in 1:00.14 before claiming the 200 breaststroke in 2:10.66. His time in the 200 breaststroke was more than 10 seconds faster than the second-place finisher. Sams also earned a third-place finish in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:06.50. Cooper Kowalski added fifth-place finishes in both breaststroke events, finishing the 100 in 1:04.65 and the 200 in 2:22.39.
Jankowski collected his first individual victory in the 200 butterfly, touching the wall in 1:53.51 to finish nearly four seconds ahead of Rose-Hulman's Trevor Wiley. Jankowski completed his sweep of the butterfly events with a winning time of 49.97 in the 100-yard race, nearly three seconds faster than the runner-up. Carter Ramsey finished fourth in the 200 butterfly in 2:07.49, while Brody Page placed fourth in the 100 butterfly in 53.87.
West added a victory in the 200 individual medley, finishing in 1:58.91 to lead a Wabash effort that included Sams in third place and Christian Kropf in fifth at 2:09.69. West also took second place in the 100 backstroke with a time of 52.89, just 13-hundredths of a second behind Rose-Hulman's William Ho. Ferreira finished third in the event in 56.63.
The Little Giants earned several additional runner-up finishes throughout the competition. Will Renie placed second in the 200 freestyle in 1:49.79, followed by Mason Gilliam in fourth at 1:52.02. Sweeney earned second place in the 50 freestyle with a time of 22.15 and added a third-place finish in the 100 freestyle in 48.31.
Ramsey led Wabash in the 500 freestyle with a second-place time of 5:03.87, narrowly ahead of teammate Gilliam, who finished third in 5:04.25. Jacob Norman added a fourth-place finish in 5:14.57.
Michael Cruzado led the Wabash diving contingent with a fourth-place finish on the one-meter board, scoring 158.00 points. Cruzado added a third-place finish in the three-meter competition with 154.35 points. Alex Madeira finished fourth on the three-meter board with 137.45 points and sixth on the one-meter board with 125.95 points.
Rose-Hulman secured the team victory with a first-place finish in the final event, the 200 freestyle relay. The Engineers won in 1:27.52, while the Wabash quartet of Sweeney, Charlie Renie, Page and Jankowski finished second in 1:28.33. The Little Giants' team of Ferreira, Will Renie, Plumb and West placed third in 1:32.40.
Wabash returns to competition Saturday, Oct. 24, when the Little Giants open the home portion of their 2026-27 schedule with a double-dual meet against Davenport University and Lewis University. Competition begins at 1 p.m. at the Class of 1950 Natatorium in Crawfordsville.
The Little Giants will celebrate Senior Day before the meet, honoring the six members of the Wabash swimming and diving senior class for their contributions to the program.
