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| Rob Harrington (center) was named the 2017 NCAC Women's Swimming Coach of the Year. |
Sophomores Griffin Campbell and Garrett Layde earned all-conference honors, while the men's 400 freestyle relay delivered the program's first top-four team finish in a decade, setting a school record in the process, as the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships wrapped up on Saturday evening at Denison University's Trumbull Aquatics Center. Wooster's women also placed fourth and have finished in the top four in nine of the last 10 years.
Wooster and Wabash College jockeyed back-and-forth throughout the night for fourth-place at one of Div. III's preeminent meets. The Fighting Scots began the night 29 points behind the Little Giants before overtaking Wabash during the 200 backstroke, only to fall back into fifth-place during the 200 breaststroke. Wooster reclaimed fourth-place during the 200 butterfly, but Wabash knotted the score between the two programs at 940 at the conclusion of the three-meter diving competition to setup a showdown in the meet's final event.
In the 400 freestyle relay, sophomore Cameron Gelwicks held off Wabash's Wyatt Tarter as classmates Ryan Campbell, Layde, and senior Conner Gelwicks teamed up to break a 17-year-old school record with a time of 3:05.62, 1.09 seconds faster than Wabash. In fact, Campbell's leadoff leg of 46.64 rates as the third-fastest 100 freestyle time in program history.
Earlier in the night, Griffin Campbell became the first men's swimmer to earn an all-conference certificate during the NCAC era in an individual medley event. The sophomore hit the wall at a school-record clip of 53.04 in the preliminaries of the inaugural 100 individual medley, and then lowered that time down to 52.84 in the finals en route to a third-place finish.
In the 200 butterfly, Layde, who saw his school record fall to Trey Schopen in the preliminary heats, rebounded with a third-place showing and "B" cut time of 1:52.43, becoming the second men's swimmer to earn an All-NCAC certificate in a butterfly event, and the first since Brandon DuGar in 2007.
In fact, Campbell and Layde's accomplishment marks just the second time where multiple men's individuals have earned All-NCAC certificates in the same year with the other coming back at the 1996 championships where Andrew Wunderly tied for first in the 50 freestyle, Eric Haschke took second on the one-meter diving board, and Ben Chalot was third in the 100 freestyle.
Notable, Wooster qualified two individuals in the championship heat of both events it had an all-conference honoree in. In the 200 butterfly, Schopen opened the day with a "B" cut and school-record time of 1:52.39 in the preliminary heats, before hitting the deck in sixth-place at 1:53.90 in the finals. Senior Avery Wilson capped his career on a high note in the 100 individual medley with the eighth-place time of 56.52.
Prior to the final session, sophomore Max Koch turned in a 16:17.18 in the grueling 1,650 freestyle, the second-fastest mark in program history. Koch's time held up for seventh-place after the top heat hit the water to start Saturday's nightcap.
Speaking of the 200 backstroke, Conner Gelwicks placed eighth in the championship heat with a 1:54.87 while first-years Eli Samuelson and Hunter Pierson touched at 1:56.87 and 2:01.35 for 11th- and 14th-place efforts respectively. Notable, Samuelson's time checked in at eighth on the program's all-time top-10 list.
Earlier in the night, Cameron Gelwicks and Ryan Campbell delivered another photo finish with each other with Gelwicks beating Campbell to the wall by .01 in the 100 freestyle one night after Campbell finished .05 ahead of Gelwicks while breaking the latter's school record in the 200 freestyle. In the 100 freestyle, the duo placed 14th and 15th respectively with times of 46.98 and 46.99.
Senior Aaron Salzman picked up an eighth-place finish on the 3-meter diving board with 319.80 points.
Wilson led a group of eight other student-athletes who scored in either a consolation final or a bonus heat on the night with an 11th-place time of 2:02.71 in the 200 butterfly.
On the women's side, head coach Rob Harrington picked up the NCAC Women's Coach of the Year honor, capping a banner meet that saw his Scots collect three "B" cuts, break three school records, qualify eight individuals in championship heats, and turn in three top-four relays. In fact, Wooster surpassed 1,000 points for the second straight year at the conference championships, with the Scots' 1,064 points ranking as the sixth-highest point haul in program history.
Saturday's record featured sophomore Annabelle Hopkins, who turned in a 1:01.94 in the prelims of the inaugural 100 individual medley championship event before settling for a 1:04.13 and ninth-place in the championship heat.
Classmate Emma Fikse checked in at 52.70 in the preliminaries of the 100 freestyle to qualify for her third championship heat start in as many nights, where she delivered a sixth-place effort at 52.65.
Wooster continued to excel in the 200 butterfly, where the Scots qualified a pair of student-athletes for the championship final for the second year in a row. Junior Maggie Layde led the charge with a fifth-place time of 2:09.17 that was backed up by sophomore Kalla Sturonas' seventh-place clip (2:11.97).
Sophomore Rachel Mandel delivered a strong sixth-place showing in the 200 breaststroke at 2:35.44 in her first championship heat start.
Wooster's 400 freestyle relay consisting of Fikse, senior Anna McGlade, first-year Avery Pearson, and senior Jamie Hibbs captured fourth at 3:34.50 to book-end the championships with fourth-place relays. Notable, Fikse's leadoff leg of 52.49 rates as the third-fastest 100 freestyle mark in program history.
Other Saturday performances of note included McGlade's 10th-place time of 18:02.30 in the grueling 1,650 freestyle, and first-year Alison Hsu's win in the consolation final of the 200 backstroke (2:09.41).
Sophomore Abby Blinka's 11th-place time of 1:03.92 led 12 other scoring performances for the women on Saturday.
Denison won its ninth-straight men's conference championship with 1,953 points, well ahead of runner-up Kenyon College's 1,750. On the women's side the Big Red took back the crown from the defending champion Ladies 1,988-1,769. DePauw University took third place with 1,141.5 men's points to couple with 1,108 on the women's side.
Wooster is slated to be back in action at next Saturday's Kenyon College Invitational.