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| Wooster's Emma Fikse turned in a runner-up finish in the 500 freestyle, shaving nearly 15 seconds off of her seed time. |
A runner-up finish from first-year Emma Fikse in the 500 freestyle highlighted the first day of action at the annual Wooster Invitational held at Wooster High School's Ellen Shapiro Natatorium. The Fighting Scot women sit in fifth-place while the men are seventh at the three-day event.
Case Western Reserve University leads both the men's and women's field with 523 and 427 points respectively.
Fikse turned in an impressive 5:08.94 in the preliminary session on Thursday morning to turn in the sixth-fastest time in program history. Overall, the first-year shaved nearly 15 seconds off of her seed time. She would turn in a 5:09.56 in the finals.
On the men's side, junior Conner Gelwicks turned in the top performance of the night, breaking the College's 100 backstroke school record with a 51.05 split as the leadoff leg of the ninth-place 400 medley relay.
Wooster's depth was showcased in the 500 freestyle with sophomore Maggie Layde (5:14.15) and junior Anna McGlade (5:17.13) backing up Fikse with championship heat finishes of sixth- and eighth-place respectively.
First-year Cameron Gelwicks also turned in an impressive 500 free preliminary time on Thursday, turning in a 4:46.15, the sixth-fastest time on the men's side. He would later place 14th in the consolation heat.
Other top individual showings were turned in by senior Lena Smith's 11th-place time of 2:17.37 in the 200 individual medley, and senior Alexandra Desotelle's win in the bonus heat of the 50 free (25.07).
Wooster's relays were highlighted by a sixth-place outing in the 200 free with Desotelle and Layde teaming with first-year Abby Blinka and junior Jamie Hibbs touching at 1:40.29.
The Wooster Invitational continues Friday with preliminaries at 10 a.m. and the finals session at 6 p.m. Several of the Scots key events take place tomorrow, highlighted by the women's 400 IM where senior Sarah Litt carries the top seed time for the event.