Evan Hagedorn

Anna McGlade

The College of Wooster swimming and diving teams both sit in seventh-place following the first full day of competition at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships, which is again being hosted at Denison University's Trumbull Aquatics Center in Granville, Ohio.

Through six of 20 events in the preeminent swim conference in NCAA Div. III, Wooster's men's squad has 156 points, which puts it in a very tight pack with sixth-place Ohio Wesleyan University (184.5) and eighth-place Wittenberg University (155), however, the Fighting Scots' strongest events are still to come.

Their top individual scorer on Thursday was sophomore diver Aaron Salzman, who reached the finals on the three-meter board and wound up in ninth-place with a 364.80 score.

In the pool, Travis Burgess won the bonus heat of the 500 freestyle (4:56.12) for 19th-place, with teammate James Lorenzin touching the wall next (4:57.38). Aaron Brown sprinted the 50 free in 21.58 during the preliminaries and took 22nd overall (21.99), and in the 200 IM, Evan Hagedorn posted the third-fastest performance in school history in the morning (1:57.94) and later came in 26th (1:59.26).

Of Thursday's two relays, Wooster's top team consisted of Conner Gelwicks, Hagedorn, Brian Maddock, and Brown, as they swam to a 3:29.40 time in the 400 medley, good for sixth-place.

The Scots' women's team would probably be in fifth-place, had it not been for a disqualification in the 400 medley relay. They still have 163.5 points through six events and possess the talent to move up to the top-four by the end of the meet.

Wooster, which received a ninth-place effort from diver Theresa Spadola during Wednesday's one-meter (258.30), opened the swimming portion with a solid fifth-place from the 200 freestyle relay, consisting of Jillian Saccogna, Jamie Hibbs, Alexandra Desotelle, and Morgan Hughes, as they covered the race in 1:38.62.

All four of them were part of the finals in the 50 free, with Hughes and Saccogna qualifying for the consolation heat. Following a 24.62 in the prelims, Hughes hit 15th (24.75), and similarly, Saccogna went 24.67 in the morning, then 18th overall (25.30), while Hibbs finished 20th (24.91) and Desotelle tied for 26th (25.61).

The Scots also had multiple scorers in the 500 free and 200 IM. Anna McGlade earned 14th-place in the 500 free (5:08.36) and was complemented by teammates Sarah Padrutt in 23rd (5:19.40) and Caitlin Shea in 25th (5:19.94), and Colleen Kill won the bonus heat for 19th in the 200 IM (2:12.84), followed closely by Kaitlyn Fries in 21st (2:14.00) and Lena Smith in 22nd (2:16.58).

The NCAC Championships continue Friday and Saturday.