Complete Results
Day 1 Recap
Day 2 Recap

The College of Wooster's women's swimming and diving team reached its goal of a third-place finish, solidifying that position during day three at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships being held inside C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton, Ohio, while its male counterparts nearly did the same before settling for sixth-place.

Wooster ended up with 964 total points on the women's side for its second third-place performance in three years and 10th out of the last 13. The only squads in front of the Fighting Scots were NCAA Div. III powerhouses Denison University (1766) and Kenyon College (1520), while Wooster was comfortably ahead of fourth-place Wittenberg University (827), which rounded out the top-half of the eight-team field.

In the closely-contested, nine-team men's competition, the Scots tallied 735 overall, just 81 shy of third-place Wabash College (815.5), and Allegheny College (799) and Wittenberg (789.5) also snuck in just ahead. Denison completed its second-straight championship sweep, edging Kenyon 1678-1529.

Highlighting Saturday's results for the Scots was the women's 200 breaststroke event, in which both Syd Kelly and Caroline Hanson qualified for the championship finals (top-eight). Kelly, a senior, notched a "B" cut time for the NCAA Championships – the first of her career – as she cruised in at 2:26.31, good for fifth-place, while Hanson's 2:29.00 flat landed her seventh overall. Tacking on more key team points in the 200 breast were Allie Kibler-Campbell in 11th (2:31.76) and Liv Aspiras, who won the "bonus" heat for 17th (2:39.74).

Matching Kelly not only with a fifth-place performance, but a national "B" cut was Melissa Haug in the 200 butterfly. She delivered a 2:07.71 in the finals, just a fraction short of breaking her own school record (2:07.45), while her sister, Rebecca Haug, added a 10th-place effort during the consolations (2:11.68).

A fourth swimmer to reach a championship heat on Saturday was Kate Hunt, who sprinted to an eighth-place showing in the 100 freestyle with a time of 54.47 after a similar swim in the prelims of 54.25.

Wooster tallied up a lot of team points in the 1650 freestyle, with Hanson taking 12th (18:19.70), followed right behind by Ashley Meyer in 13th (18:20.89), Mary Nappi in 14th (18:45.58), Sarah Rudawsky in 15th (18:46.25), and Caitlyn Murphy in 16th (18:57.64).

Another strong event was the 200 backstroke, in which Priscilla Haug touched 11th (2:10.41) and Samira El-Adawy 14th (2:11.68) during the consolation finals, and also, Rachel Kassenbrock won the "bonus" for 17th-place (2:15.66).

Noteworthy, Clare Walsh swam to 14th in the 100 free (54.94) and divers Alyse Marquinez and Gabby Benkovits finished seventh (296.65) and 11th (254.00) on the one-meter board, respectively.

Headlining day three's results for the Scot men was backstroke specialist Logan LaBerge, who advanced to the championship in the 200, earning sixth with a time of 1:54.96 after a nearly identical time in the prelims (1:54.71). Brett Dawson complemented him with a 12th-place in the consolation (1:58.57) and Adel El-Adawy won the "bonus," good for 17th (1:56.89).

Ryan Radtke was a force in the 1650 free, coming in seventh (16:46.66), and Wooster scored well in the 200 fly and 200 breast. In the former, Eric Babbitt touched 11th (1:56.90), followed fairly closely by teammate Alex LaJoie in 15th (2:01.18), and in the latter, Tyler Hartley-Shepherd was 12th (2:12.15) and Ethan Rudawsky 18th (2:15.73).

Also on Saturday, Michael Saltzman garnered a 15th-place performance in the 100 free (48.17) and Kevin Audet wound up 19th in the 1650 (17:49.14).

While he did not compete Saturday, the Scots' Luke Knezevic took home NCAC Diver-of-the-Year honors. The sophomore diver is the first male from Wooster to earn the prestigious award since it began in 1990 and joins Liz Helstein (1992, 1996) as the only other in school history to achieve it. Knezevic prevailed Thursday on the one-meter board with a score of 449.70 and then notched the sweep with a 455.95 during the three-meter on Friday.