2007-08 Men’s Season Review
The 2007-08 Carthage College men’s swimming team, coached by Greg Earhart (58-15, 7 years), compiled an 8-4 dual-meet record, won the Wisconsin Private College Championship for the eighth time and won the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Swimming Championship. The Red Men, swimming at their home Koenitzer Aquatic Center, won their second CCIW title in three years and second overall with 1,025 points, followed by Wheaton College (Ill.) second at 742, the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology third at 521.50, Illinois Wesleyan University fourth at 365.50, Millikin University fifth at 232.50, Augustana College (Ill.) sixth at 154.50 and North Central College seventh with 101 points.
Carthage’s Bryce Davis (Sr., Mequon, Wis./Homestead) was named the CCIW “Most Valuable Swimmer” for winning three individual events and being part of three first-place relay teams. Davis won the 50 freestyle (20.89), the 100 freestyle (45.95) and the 100 butterfly (50:31) and was part of conference-champion relay teams in the 200 freestyle, the 200 medley and the 400 medley. Carthage had three other swimmers win three events each. Paul Busse (So., Library Park, Ill./La Grange-Lyons Township) took first place in the 200 freestyle (1:43.24), the 500 freestyle (4:38.50) and the 1,650 freestyle (16:08.66). Kyle Drake (So., Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie Valley) won the 100 backstroke (53.07), the 200 backstroke (1:52.42) and the 400 individual medley (4:08.97). Stephen Schranck (Sr., Alton, Ill./Marquette Catholic) took first place in the 100 breaststroke (57.55), the 200 breaststroke (2:06.21) and the 200 individual medley (1:55.36).
Andy Bax (Sr., Naperville, Ill./Aurora-Waubonsie Valley) was second in the 50 freestyle (21.18), as was Bob Pellican (So., Arlington Heights, Ill./Hersey) in the 200 backstroke (1:58.49). Nathan Ripley (Jr., Middleton, Wis.) was third in both the 100 freestyle (47.67) and the 200 freestyle (1:44.95). Chris Varner (So., Wildwood, Mo./Eureka) finished third in both the 100 backstroke (54.10) and the 200 backstroke (1:58.60). Bryan Pelka (Sr., Elgin, Ill./Elgin Academy) took third place in the 1,650 freestyle (16:23.56). The Red Men also picked up wins from Bryce Davis, Blake Bendix (So., St. Cloud, Minn./Tech), Nathan Ripley and Andy Bax in both the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, their 800 freestyle relay team of Ripley, Schranck, Drake and Busse and their 400 medley relay squad of Varner, Schranck, Davis and Ripley.
“I wasn’t surprised at winning the CCIW championship,” said Carthage coach Greg Earhart. “We thought we would do that. The question in my mind, going in, was whether or not we would perform up to our level of expectations. We knew we had the talent to win, so the challenge was to keep our team hungry enough to perform at their highest level. We swam very well at the conference championship. We didn’t just break records—we shattered a few of them. Winning the CCIW title is like being the toughest kid in sixth grade. It’s pretty cool, but there’s another grade school down the road that’s tougher. Just as important, to me, is performing well at the national level. A pretty high portion of our team has expectations of qualifying for the national championship. We have four guys who are within two-tenths of a second of qualifying for the NCAA Division III Men’s Swimming Championship. Believe it or not, those two-tenths of a second could be the difference between us finishing sixth in the nation or 26th.”
Carthage tied for 32nd place at the 2008 NCAA Division III Men’s Swimming Championship. The College of Wooster was the host school for the championship, which was conducted at Miami University’s Corwin M. Nixon Aquatic Center in Oxford, Ohio. Carthage’s Stephen Schranck finished ninth in the 200 breaststroke (2:03.34), 13th in the 400 individual medley (4:05.28) and 24th in the 100 breaststroke. Bryce Davis finished 24th in the 100 butterfly (50.82), 33rd in the 50 freestyle (21.36) and 39th in the 100 freestyle (47.16), while Kyle Drake finished 16th in the 200 backstroke (1:52.62), 18th in the 400 individual medley (4:07.05) and 25th in the 100 backstroke (52.88). Schrank and Drake both earned College Swimming Coaches Association of America honorable mention All-America honors, Schrank in both the 200 breaststroke and the 400 individual medley and Drake in the 200 backstroke.
The 2008 Wisconsin Private College Swimming Championship was conducted at the Koenitzer Aquatic Center. Carthage won the six-team event with 345 points, followed by Carroll College (Wis.) second at 87, Lawrence University third at 81, the Marquette University club team fourth at 61, Ripon College fifth at 57 and Beloit College sixth with 54 points. The state title was the eighth for the Red Men since 1998 and their sixth in a row.
Carthage collected wins at the state meet Paul Busse in the 500 freestyle (meet-record 4:47.27), Kyle Drake in the 200 individual medley (2:02.71), Chris Varner in the 100 backstroke (57:09), Blake Bendix in the 200 freestyle (1:50.77), Nathan Ripley in the 100 freestyle (meet-record 48.72), Andy Bax in the 100 butterfly (53.03), Bob Pellican in the 200 backstroke (2:02.94), Tom Stowe (So., Freeport, Ill.) in the 400 individual medley (4:33.89) and Alex Van Huis (Jr., Winneconne, Wis.) in the 1,650 freestyle (16:58.06).