Craig Klumpp

Brooke Brown

The College of Wooster women's swimming & diving team capped off its best North Coast Athletic Conference Championships showing since 2012 with an All-NCAC performance in the 400-yard freestyle relay, while the men tallied three more "A" heat qualifiers on the fourth and final day of the 2018 NCAC Championships held at Denison University's Trumbull Aquatics Center in Granville, Ohio.

Overall, the Denison University men won their 10th-straight league title with 1,908 points, followed by Kenyon (1,797.5), DePauw (1,155), Wabash (1,154) and Wooster (872). On the women's side, Kenyon won the title with 1,953 points, followed by Denison (1,860), Wooster (1,225.5), DePauw (1,075.5) and Allegheny (981).

Wooster's women's 400 free relay consisting of junior Emma Fikse, first-year Lexi Riley-DiPaolo, senior Maggie Layde, and senior Sarah Padrutt earned the Fighting Scots' second All-NCAC relay claim of this year's championships with a third-place time of 3:33.80.

From that relay, Fikse, Layde, and Padrutt all competed in respective championship heats or recorded top-nine finishes on Saturday night, led by Layde's seventh-place showing in the 200 butterfly (2:11.05). In fact, Wooster turned in two more "A" heat times in the 200 fly, led by first-year Anne Bowers in eighth-place (2:11.05) and junior Kalla Sturonas in ninth-place (2:17.54).

Other "A" heat qualifiers on the women's side included a record-breaking performance from first-year Brooke Brown in the relatively new 100-yard IM event. Browne recorded a program-best 1:01.61 in the prelims, beating out the previous record held by junior Annabelle Hopkins by .33 seconds. In the finals, Browne touched the wall in ninth-place at 1:01.96.

Veteran freestylers Fikse and Padrutt went head-to-head in the 1,650 free, as Fikse edged the senior with a third-fastest program time of 17:38.42, good for eighth-place overall. Padrutt followed closely with a personal-best 17:42.74 to claim ninth overall and the sixth-fastest time at Wooster.

In diving, sophomore Cleo Potter rounded out the finals qualifiers in the 3-meter diving event with a ninth-place score of 233.70.

First-year Hannah Langer finished the 200 backstroke with the fifth-fastest time on the day, but a 2:10.09 time in prelims, which marked the then-eighth fastest time at Wooster , forced the first-year into the consolation final, where she touched at 2:07.61 for 10th overall and the fourth-fastest time at Wooster.

Continuing with the 200 back, sophomore Alison Hsu (2:11.73), sophomore Nell Kacmarek (2:13.19), and first-year Michelle Sayre (2:15.12) competed in the consolation final, logging respective finishes of 12th, 15th, and 18th. Of note, Wooster totaled 16 consolation heat competitors on Saturday.

Kacmarek and first-year Kera Sells competed in the 1,650 free "B" final, with Kacmarek's 11th-place time of 18:10.56 climbing into the program's top-10 list, followed by Sells' 13th-place clip of 18:32.89.

The Scots loaded up in the 100 IM, claiming five top-20 times including Browne's ninth-place finish. Rounding out the event's consolation heat in 13th- through 16th-place, respectively, were first-year Larissa Lamarca (1:04.15), Sturonas (1:05.00), first-year Leah Jorn (1:05.27), and first-year Michelle Sayre (1:05.42).

Other top consolation times included Wooster's effort in the 200-yard breaststroke, led by junior Allison Clough's 11th-place time of 2:31.05 and Rachel Mandel's 12th-place time of 2:33.18.

Additionally, Riley-DiPaolo (54.77) and sophomore Avery Pearson (54.81) placed 16th and 17th, respectively, in the 100 free while Lamarca (2:22.02) and Jorn (2:22.24) placed 16th and 17th, respectively, in the 200 fly.

On the men's side, Wooster earned its third-straight top-five team finish with 872 points. On Saturday, the Scots totaled three championship heat individual qualifiers and four top-nine individual times on top of nine consolation heat finalists and eight additional individual scoring performances.

Junior Griffin Campbell, the current school-record holder in the 100 IM, advanced to the championship heat with a 53.94 before finishing in seventh-place with a clip of 53.96.

Other "A" heat qualifiers included sophomore Trey Schopen and junior Garrett Layde in the 200 fly, as they both currently hold the first- and second-fastest times in school history. Schopen went 1:53.73 in the prelims before claiming eighth-place with a 1:54.21 in the finals, while Layde improved on his preliminary time of 1:53.87 with a sixth-place time of 1:53.27.

Of note, Wooster totaled five top-20 times in the 200 back. Sophomore Eli Samuelson (1:55.88) led Wooster's consolation heat contingent with a 12th-place showing, followed by senior Matthew Pech (1:58.40) in 15th, first-year Jordan Oss (2:00.28) in 16th, sophomore Hunter Pierson (2:01.38) in 17th, and junior Ric Reynolds (2:03.59 in 18th.

Samuelson moved up the program's top-10 list in the event's prelims after turning in the sixth-fastest time with a 1:55.50.

Rounding out Wooster's top-nine individual times was junior Max Koch in the 1,650 free, who placed ninth with a time of 16:31.72. Other scorers in the event included Oss in 19th (17:40.6) and sophomore Nicholas Hull (18:13.12) in 22nd.

In the 100 free, junior Cameron Gelwicks led a Scots' trio with a final time of 46.53, good for 11th overall. In the prelims, Gelwicks hit the wall at 46.41 – the second-fastest time in school history – before opening Wooster's 400 free relay with a time of 46.15 to further secure his second-best time. Junior Ryan Campbell, Griffin Campbell, and Garrett Layde rounded out Wooster's school-record and fourth-place 400 free relay (3:04.57). Additionally, Ryan Campbell finished the 100 free in 16th-place at 47.22 and first-year Wyatt Foss claimed won the bonus heat with 19th-place time of 48.21.

First-year Craig Klumpp had a breakout performance on Saturday, led by a 2:10.81 in the prelims of the 200 breast – the second-fastest time at Wooster – before claiming 14th-place in the consolation final (2:10.96). Klumpp added to his top-three program times with a clip of 56.76 in the 100 IM, good for 17th-place overall and third-fastest in program history. Additionally, junior Burke Poeting placed 24th overall to score in the 100 IM (57.88).

In the 200 breast, scoring times included senior Luke Mierzejewski (2:21.52) while junior Michael Crookshanks (2:03.38), sophomore Tyler Hartman (2:08.85), and sophomore Nicholas Hull (2:10.13) placed 19th, 23rd, and 25th, respectively.

Up next, Wooster competes at the Kenyon Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 1 p.m. in Gambier, Ohio.