Pain. That would be the word to sum up this past week of Wabash Swimming. As Coach Weitz put it, “When football players hurt, you know it’s because they got tackled. But when swimmers hurt, it’s because they did it to themselves. And somewhere along the line, you discover that football players are smarter than swimmers.” (Come on, it’s a joke! Loosen up and laugh!)

I think a necessary experience of every college swimmer is the joy of willfully getting out of bed at 5:30a.m., walking across campus like a zombie, working out, and still functioning throughout the day like you had a full night’s rest. Compounded over a period of weeks, some harder than others, it can take a toll on the individual. Well, this may be going out on a limb for the entire team, but this week was one of those weeks - painful. 

In addition to the pain, this week’s double-duel meet was elevated to a much higher status than usual. Not only was it our only meet with a conference team, but it was also swimmingworldmagazine.com’s featured ‘Meet of the Week’, broadcast live over the internet for the world to see. Take that on top of being tired and sore, and what you had was the opportunity for the character of a Wabash man to shine—regardless of who ‘wins’.

Let’s define very quickly what winning in swimming means: Touching the wall before your opponent. Any way you look at it, this was a meet of hard fought chases. Here are the races where the win was decided by less than a one-tenth of a second: The 200 Freestyle, where junior Craig Vetor, of whom led the first one-hundred and ninety-nine yards, was edged out by two one-hundredths. The second was the 50 Freestyle, where junior Robert Fozkos was edged out by a mere four one-hundredths of a second. (Across the board we had valiant races, but these were the closest.)

For those who are not familiar with swimming, here is where a few evident truths make themselves painfully clear: Winners are not necessarily better. When places are determined by less than a tenth of a second, you really can’t hang your head in shame. And when races fall that close, it came down to who wanted it more.

Now this last fact does not suggest that we, as a team, did not want the victory as bad as the other teams. In fact, if you were to add up the score and just look at diving, Wittenberg had a 32 point edge from the start—meaning we would have beat them if there was no diving. (Imagine starting a football game where the other team had a two-touchdown lead before the game even started!) Two things. First, I am not complaining: What we have is what we have. Our current diver was out this meet due to injury, so we just had to make due and step it up. Winning is a team effort! Second, what’s done is done. Okay, they had a slight edge, big deal. We went out there as a team, and as a team, gave our best effort regardless of the outcome. This meet was a mere battle whereas the NCAC Championships is the war. Sometimes at the end of the day, losing can do more for your ego than winning ever can. Bottom line, it was a great meet and I can’t complain at all.

Before ending this note, I just want to point out a few quick things. First, was the surprise win by Paul Beuscher, who out touched Evan Rhinesmith in the 200 Breaststroke by a margin of three tenths. (This is Paul’s first college individual win.) Second, is Logan Falley, who pulled off a difficult series of events: The 1000 Freestyle, the 500 Freestyle, and the 200 Butterfly. That is pretty impressive if you ask me. Lastly, is our bus. Despite its tendency to shut down randomly due to electrical issues, we still had much fun and arrived safely from point A to point B.

All in all, it made for a fun night. After a year on the Wabash Swimming and Diving Team, I must say that I feel honored and privileged to be amongst such a fine group of men. This week may have been painful, but at the end of Saturday’s practice, nothing beat the satisfaction of knowing that we gave it our all. Sometimes the best team bonding (including both coach and swimmer) comes with the joking around immediately following practice.

With another week behind us the season moves ever forward. Next week will bring the two important dates for the Wabash Swimming and Diving Team. The first is our duel meet with DePauw. Second is the Monon Bell Game, where the swim team will be present to cheer on the Wabash Football team to victory. GO WABASH!

Adam Current '11