Adel El-Adawy

Melissa Haug

Behind all-conference performances from the 200 freestyle relay team and diver Luke Knezevic, The College of Wooster men's swimming team is off to a fourth-place start through day one at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships, being held at C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton, Ohio, from Thursday to Saturday. Wooster's women's squad sits sixth.

If the men's team can hold on to that position, it would mark a two-spot improvement over last season, despite fielding an inexperienced, young squad this time. The Fighting Scots scored 220 points, just four shy of third-place Wittenberg University (224), thanks in part to a strong opening as Peter Parisi, Imre Namath, Brett Dawson, and Adel El-Adawy joined forces for a third-place finish in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:25.45.

As individuals, El-Adawy, Namath, and Dawson all reached the consolation finals of the 50 free, with El-Adawy sprinting to a team-best 12th-place effort in 21.84. That narrowly edged Namath, who took 13th (21.90), and Dawson touched 16th (22.21). Parisi matched El-Adawy's 12th-place showing in the 200 IM while posting a finals time of 1:58.77, and Brendan Horgan came in 16th in that event (2:00.55).

Over in the diving well, Knezevic, the 2010 NCAC Diver of the Year, earned third-place on the three-meter with a 471.80 score, which was more than last year when he won the event (455.95). Teammate Ryan O'Dell complemented him with a 10th-place effort (253.30).

In the women's competition, Wooster tallied 204 points, not far off the pace of Oberlin College (213), Wittenberg (230), and even third-place Allegheny College (282), and the Scots' stronger events are coming in the days ahead.

Melissa Haug had a 10th-place performance in the 200 IM (2:10.49) to lead the way after narrowly missing out on a spot in the championship heat (top-eight) when she was edged in a swim-off after her 2:10.09 time tied her for eighth in the prelims.

Wooster's top event of the day was the 50 free, as Clare Walsh came in 14th (25.48), Adriana Hoak 16th (25.53), and May Tobar 19th (25.73)/ Additional top-20 swims were turned in by Samira El-Adawy and Mariah McGovern, both bonus heat winners for 17th-place overall in the 200 IM (2:11.82) and 500 free (5:07.40), respectively, as well as Rebecca Haug, who was 20th in the 200 IM (2:15.58).

Also of note, diver Alyse Marquinez notched 10th-place on the one-meter (276.50) and both relay teams produced fifth-place finishes via times of 1:39.55 in the 200 free and 4:04.76 in the 400 medley. Walsh was part of both of them.

Denison University is leading both the men's and the women's competition with respective 580 and 609 point totals, ahead of fellow national powerhouse Kenyon College (426 men, 430 women). The meet continues Friday morning with the prelims at 10 a.m., and the finals take place at 6:30 p.m.