In this year’s North Coast Atlantic Conference (NCAC) Swimming and Diving Championship meet hosted by Denison University, Wabash proudly walked away from the four-day competition after achieving third place. In true Wabash fashion, the Little Giants fought hard and accomplished much during that time. There was no shortage of broken records and goals achieved. Among the successes, one senior that stood out was Ethan Johns ’25.
“EJ [Johns] has had tremendous performances this year in all of his events,” said Head Swimming and Diving Coach Will Bernhardt. “He earned all lifetime best times by the end of the season. That is really hard to do and he managed to drop significant amounts of time in all of his events. It was a wonderful year and I am so happy for him to “retire” on those swims.”
At the NCAC championship, Johns recorded season best times in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle. Since then, Johns improved his 200-yard freestyle time in Wabash’s Last Chance meet. As a team, Wabash has improved over the course of Johns’ career.
“In this year’s conference championship we put ourselves in our own tier,” said Johns. “We came into each session with passion, filling the atmosphere of the meet and drowning out every other team, including Denison and Kenyon. We stood out way ahead of Wooster, Oberlin and DePauw, teams who were our focus in previous years. While we are still behind Kenyon, we are as close to them as these teams are to us.”
This separation represents the growth that Wabash swimming & diving has been undergoing. Second by second, the team has put more swimmers in more competitive positions to earn points.
“What set us apart was the depth of our roster and the mentality we carried into the meet,” said Johns. “Over the course of the meet we were consistently getting guys into the B finals rather than the C final and this difference became evident. Wooster, Oberlin and DePauw did not have the same depth and as a result we outscored them significantly.”
Johns himself has built an impressive resume during his time swimming for Wabash. Through hard work in the pool as well as the weight room, Johns improved tremendously this season.
“He took every aspect of his training seriously this season and it paid dividends in the end,” said Bernhardt. “I believe his plan with the trainers to increase his flexibility really added to his phenomenal performance in the pool. From freshman year until now, he constantly raised his level of competitiveness and never relented when the training got tough. He fought for every single time drop that he achieved this year.”
A dependable swimmer, Johns was elected by his teammates as a team captain when he was only a sophomore. He has held that position since then.
“I have never had a three-year captain before because so many sophomores just haven’t developed enough as leaders,” said Bernhardt. “But he had the trust of his teammates and our staff. Each year, I would say that he became a stronger leader with each season. He was the guy that gave fiery pre-meet locker rooms speeches and really got our guys locked in for great meets.”
John’s is more than just a great swimmer, however. He is also a great student.
“Ethan is our best student on the team and leads the overall GPA out of everyone,” said Coach Bernhardt. “I am proud that he led our team not only in the pool but showed them the way in the classroom as well. Over his three years as captain, we have constantly raised our team GPA to some of the highest averages in our programs history with the last four semesters being above a 3.45.”
Johns hasn’t always been the great student athlete that he is today. He has gone through much development over his four years at Wabash.
“As a leader, I’ve seen Ethan grow in his confidence over the past four years,” said Bernhardt. “As a sophomore captain, he was still trying to figure it all out. We were becoming a closer team and getting stronger culturally. He adjusted his leadership style as he saw the roles that needed to be filled within the team. He is very sharp and he really helped develop team standards and our pillars of success. I cannot say it enough, but our team is in such a better place now than when he came into it because of his leadership and that of his other captains that invested so much time, effort and dedication to mold our team into one of the best in program history.”
Creating a strong culture has been a major focus for the swim team. Graduating only one senior from last year’s team, this season the team has been more connected than ever.
“Over my four years we worked incredibly hard to create an uplifting, motivating, and energetic culture,” said Johns. “It took everyone to buy in to make this happen and while not everyone bought in right away, everyone is well on board now.”
“He has spent hours outside of the pool with guys on homework, tutoring, life conversations, etc,” said Bernhardt. “I am truly grateful for his sacrifices and dedication to our team. It was such fun getting to work with him for his collegiate career and very rewarding as a coach to see him go out on such a high note! He is so much more than just a fast swimmer that holds some records. He is the embodiment of everything that this institution stands for and proclaims can happen when you come to Wabash.”
“Wabash molded me into the swimmer I am today,” said Johns. “I came in as a freshman and dropped time at an astonishing rate because the coaching staff invested time into fixing my technique and creating a specified training regiment to fit my needs. This continued effort paid off over the years and it showed in my final season.”
The improvement didn’t end with times in the pool. Through the swim team, Johns has developed as a leader and as a person.
“Serving as a captain of this team has been my most rewarding experience at Wabash,” said Johns. “As a freshman I was seen as a leader by example but now I have developed the skills to lead in active, concrete ways to help our team.”
Despite the enormous success the Johns has found in both the pool and classroom, these are not the things that he will remember most from his time at Wabash.
“My relationship with my coaches and teammates have defined my experience at the College,” said Johns. “I am excited to see how these connections continue to grow because I know the bonds that have formed are ones that last a lifetime.”
As a final message to the Wabash community, Johns would like to encourage readers to try attending a swim meet or even joining the team.
“This team brings energy and makes swim meets fun, worthwhile experiences,” said Johns. “Also if you are looking to get more out of your Wabash experience, consider joining the team as a diver. No diver on our roster dove before coming to Wabash and [each] has made a huge impact on the team. You could be next.”