CANTON,Ohio - The Wabash College Little Giants suffered a devastating blow in the opening Thursday night event of the NCAC swim finals but an amazing performance by a freshman turned the swimmers' spirits around.

Wabash swam to a third-place finish in the 200 free relay only to be disqualified after the race for an early start, costing them 54 points in team standings.

But the boost came from, arguably, an unlikely source. Sophomore Brent Graham who entered the "B" finals of the 500 free with the slowest time of the eight swimmers finished second in his heat and smashed the Wabash College school record with a 4:42 swim. The record of 4:45 had stood since 1980.

We'll update the blog late tonight with full opening round results and photos.