GRANVILLE, Ohio — Sophomore Ryan West closed the 2026 North Coast Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships with a title-winning swim Saturday night, capturing the 200-yard backstroke to highlight Wabash College's performance at the Trumbull Aquatics Center on the campus of Denison University.
West surged to the conference crown in the championship final of the 200-yard backstroke, touching first in 1:46.42 to break his own school record of 1:47.56 and earn all-conference honors.
Ryan West
As a team, Wabash finished fifth in the final men's standings with 1,030 points. Host Denison won the team title with 1,958.5 points, followed by Kenyon College (1,741.5), John Carroll University (1,192.5), and DePauw University (1,095). The College of Wooster placed sixth with 789.5 points, Oberlin College finished seventh with 786, Ohio Wesleyan University was eighth with 450, and Wittenberg University rounded out the field with 173 points.
Nicholas Plumb joined West in the A final of the 200-yard backstroke, finishing eighth in 1:51.38. Zach Baty placed 16th in 1:56.32, and Lucas Ferreira finished 21st in 1:59.34.
Plumb added an 11th-place finish in the B final of the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:56.43. Carter Ramsey placed 16th in the same event in 1:59.84, while Andres Tejada finished 18th in 2:03.24.
Wabash opened the final session with scoring swims in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Mason Gilliam placed sixth in 16:12.44, steadily moving up over the final 500 yards to secure championship-final points. William Renie finished 17th overall in 16:52.85, Aidan Gubbins took 20th in 17:07.20, Carter Ramsey placed 21st in 17:13.76, and Andres Tejada finished 23rd in 17:34.71.
In the 100-yard individual medley, Abbas Hakim captured 10th place in 54.15. Jace Cadwell placed 12th in 55.02, Owen Thomas finished 17th in 56.49, and Cooper Kowalski completed the scoring for Wabash with a 19th-place finish in 56.92.
Quinn Sweeney earned 11th place in the B final of the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 46.24, while John Allen added a 24th-place finish in 49.29.
Lew Sams advanced to the A final of the 200-yard breaststroke and finished eighth in 2:04.33. Dane Market, Hakim, and Kowalski placed 20th, 21st, and 22nd with times of 2:14.23, 2:14.91, and 2:15.78, respectively, while Gubbins added a 25th-place finish in 2:17.55.
The meet concluded with the 400-yard freestyle relay, where the quartet of Sweeney, Renie, Gilliam, and West combined for a time of 3:03.58 to finish sixth overall.
