Junior Ryan Campbell is part of Wooster's school-record 400 and 800 freestyle relays, while individually, holding the program's top time in the 200 freestyle.

The College of Wooster men's swimming and diving team made up the ground needed to finish in the top four at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships for the first time in a decade this past winter. Now, veteran head coach Rob Harrington feels he has the depth to sustain that upward momentum, with a very talented junior class ranking at the forefront of the team's success.

"We have a core quartet of Ryan Campbell, Cameron Gelwicks, Max Koch, and Garrett Layde, who have been a tremendous group since their arrival as first-years," said Harrington. "They've really taken the record board by storm and each one has the potential to break records. It says a lot when you have three student-athletes in the same class year on multiple school-record relays together."

Harrington's referring to the 800 freestyle relay that Campbell, Gelwicks, Koch, and alumnus Conner Gelwicks broke at the 2016 NCAC meet with a time of 6:56.38, and the same quartet lowered their own school record to 6:49.56 last year. In the 400 freestyle relay, Campbell, the Gelwicks brothers, and Layde closed the 2017 league meet with a school-record time of 3:05.62, and in fact, it was that relay that gave Wooster its fourth-place finish as Wooster and Wabash College entered the final event tied in the team standings.

Individually, Cameron Gelwicks broke the school records in the 200 and 500 freestyles as a first-year, but neither record held up with Campbell (1:41.63) and Koch (4:37.36) moving into the top spots in the program annals last year, while Layde broke Wooster's 38-year-old school record in the 200 butterfly as a first-year.

While Campbell, Gelwicks, and Koch give Harrington plenty of firepower in the freestyle events, the Scots have plenty of other returnees to balance out the lineup, both at the conference championships and during the dual meet portion of the season. Junior Griffin Campbell is the top returning sprinter, and he found a niche in the 100 medley relay – a new event at last year's conference championships. Juniors Adam Chalek and Burke Poeting, and sophomore Tyler Hartman round out the key returnees among the sprinters. In the distance events, Ryan Campbell, Gelwicks, and Koch are complemented by senior Emmett Werthmann and sophomore Nicholas Hull.

In addition to their primary roles as freestyle sprint specialists, Griffin Campbell and Poeting project to factor heavily into the breaststroke events as well.

Harrington has a formidable one-two punch in the butterfly events come conference meet time in Layde and sophomore Trey Schopen. Harrington did note that he could foresee Layde adding the 400 individual medley to his repertoire given his "decent success in the 200 individual medley," while the Scots' mentor feels Schopen's "just shown the tip of the iceberg" with his performances, most notably a NCAA Div. III "B" cut in the 200 butterfly as a first-year.

The backstroke events are one area to keep an eye as the season progresses, per Harrington, who noted, "there's a huge gap to fill in the backstroke with Conner graduating."

Harrington will lean on rising sophomore Eli Samuelson to help fill that void. Samuelson turned in a productive NCAC Championships meet with his top showing coming via an 11th-place clip of 1:56.87 in the 200 backstroke. Junior Ric Reynolds "came on strong and surprised everyone," per Harrington, and he'll be counted out to produce key points in Wooster's deep lineup. Sophomore Hunter Pierson represents another key returnee in the backstroke events.

In the individual medley events, versatile junior Michael Crookshanks leads the way as a veteran contributor, while Layde factors in heavily here as well.

Seniors Luke Mierzejewski and Matthew Pech – Wooster's captains for the year – round out the returnees, and both provide key points and depth throughout Wooster's lineup.

Eight talented newcomers round out this year's roster. Wooster's first-year class is comprised of: Andrey Borodin, Wyatt Foss, Craig Klumpp, Kamron Knowlton, Jordan Oss, Dylan Phillipson, Jim Shanahan, and Jon Woodman.

"Time will tell with our first-years, as they adapt to the program and look to establish roles," said Harrington. "There's a lot of potential within this group."

Wooster's season opens with the Kenyon College relays on Oct. 14. The Scots will host five dual meets this season, and the annual three-day Wooster Invitational, set to take place Nov. 30 – Dec. 2.