GRANVILLE, Ohio – All-North Coast Athletic Conference honors in the women's 400 medley relay, school records in the men's and women's 400 medley relay, a NCAA Div. III "B" cut, and four second-best times in program history were turned in by The College of Wooster on day two of the NCAC Championships at Denison University's Trumbull Aquatics Center.
Senior Maddie Becker, junior Izzy Bellefleur, junior Ollie Bream, and junior Hallie Findlan took down the program's 400 medley relay record by the slimmest of margins – a single hundredth of a second. The quartet's 3:53.33 edged out the time turned in by alumnae Kate Murphy, Molly Likins, Kalla Sturonas, and Emma Fikse at the 2019 NCAC Championships. Wooster's Thursday time was comfortably ahead of DePauw University's 3:56.09, giving the Scots their second all-conference honor of the meet. Wooster's 400 medley relay earned all-conference status for the fourth time over the last five conference championships, a stretch that started with Murphy, Likins, Sturonas, and Fikse in 2019. Becker's leadoff leg of 59.39 goes in the program record book as the eighth-fastest 100 backstroke time in program history.
On the men's side, junior Max Likins, sophomore Boston Sullivan, senior Josh Pearson, and sophomore Callum Glover stopped the clock at 3:25.03, a mark quicker than the 3:26.29 Alex LaJoie, Peter Parisi, Brian Maddock, and Imre Namath had in 2013. Thursday's time was good for a fourth-place finish for the Scots.
Bream, now a six-time All-NCAC performer, scored the "B" cut, thanks to a 2:05.44 in the 200 individual medley. Bream's time is the second-fastest in program history, ranking behind 17-time All-American Liz Whittam's national runner-up time of 2:05.36 from the 2002 NCAA Div. III Championships. The junior's time won the consolation final Thursday, and Becker was right behind with the 11th-place time of 2:09.22. Junior Mariam Zayour (14th, 2:13.44) and first-year Becca Murray (18th, 2:19.03) gave the program four scorers in the top two heats.
A national runner-up time of 20.16 by 13-time All-American Wes Bennett at the 2000 NCAA Div. III Championships is all that stands between sophomore Callum Glover and the program's 50 freestyle record. Glover's 20.68 was the fourth-place time in Thursday's finals, and he was edged out by Oberlin College's Erik Fendorf's 20.57 for the final all-conference spot. Sophomore Flynn Cowie scored for Wooster in the consolation final, taking 15th overall at 21.54.
Pearson's 1:52.71 in the 200 individual medley qualified the senior for the championship final, where he swam a 1:52.33, a time just off his 2022 school record of 1:51.77. Pearson placed eighth, while Sullivan's 13th-place time of 1:53.43 shot the sophomore up to second on the program's all-time top-10 list after starting the day ninth. Junior Tucker Andrewjeski's 18th-place time of 1:57.45 rounded out the consolation final scorers for Wooster in the 200 individual medley.
Findlan stuck to the theme of trailing just a national runner-up time on the program leaderboard. Her 23.68 in finals of the 50 freestyle sits behind 20-time All-American Kayla Heising's 23.32 from the 2003 NCAA Div. III Championships. Findlan placed eighth at this year's conference meet. First-year Charlotte Helm won the consolation final (19th) at 25.22.
Wooster loaded up in the women's 500 freestyle with five scorers in the consolation final. Junior JP Timken's 5:09.52 won the consolation final, and that time was backed up by senior Emma Connors' 5:09.55. Further down, sophomore Emma Humbert's 5:13.80 scored a 14th-place finish, sophomore Bailey Nickols went 5:22.99 for 16th, and first-year Kate Peck turned in a 5:25.64 for 18th-place. Sophomore Lacey Mindock improved by nearly seven seconds from the prelim swim to post a 5:20.97 in finals to win the bonus heat. Timken (eighth) and Connors (ninth) climbed into the program's top-10 list in the evening session.
Sophomore Will Laubacher's 4:44.88 in the prelims of the 500 freestyle rounded out the eight individual swims to make Wooster's top-10 times list on Thursday. The sophomore led the Scots in finals, posting a 4:48.29 for 15th. Junior Ryan Gross touched at 4:48.76 for 16th-place and junior Isaac Shaker captured the bonus heat with a time of 4:48.20.
The Scots picked up 31 team points in diving. Junior Cady Eakins scored 213.65 points for a 14th-place finish. First-year Grace Laymon was right behind with 185 points.
Wooster's women are in third-place with 358 points, trailing Kenyon College (650.5 points) and host Denison (620.5 points). Wooster's men (381 points) are looking up at Denison (677 points), Kenyon (632 points), and Wabash College (403 points) in the standings.
Friday's schedule starts with swimming prelims at 9:30 a.m. Men's one-meter diving prelims follows at noon with finals set to start at 6 p.m.