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| Luke Knezevic |
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| Kate Hunt |
The College of Wooster's women's swimming team moved up a spot for the second day in a row, concluding the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships with a fourth-place finish after starting the three-day event, held at C.T. Branin Natatorium, in sixth-place, while the Fighting Scots' men's team wound up in fifth-place, a one-spot improvement over last season.
The Wooster women scored 857 points in all, beating out archrival Wittenberg University (792) for a top-half finish in the eight-team standings, while NCAA Div. III powerhouses Denison University (1829) and Kenyon College (1482) finished 1-2, followed by Allegheny College (944).
Among Saturday's highlights for the Scots, Melissa Haug and Kate Hunt both delivered top-five efforts in the 200 butterfly, as Haug edged Hunt at the wall for fourth-place, 2:08.71 to 2:08.93. One of Haug's twin sisters, Rebecca Haug, contributed a 12th-place swim in that same event (2:13.17).
Another race that saw multiple Wooster swimmers advance to the championship final (top-eight) was the 200 backstroke, where the third Haug sister, Priscilla Haug, took sixth overall (2:09.37) and Samira El-Adawy eighth (2:11.71). May Tobar complemented them via a 13th-place performance (2:14.97).
Caroline Hanson reached a championship heat as well and earned seventh in the 200 breaststroke (2:30.34).
Mariah McGovern paced the Scots' distance freestylers with a 13th-place finish in the 1650 (18:20.49), while teammates Kara Markham, Sarah Rudawsky, and Mary Nappi weren't far behind in 15th (18:37.21), 17th (18:58.22), and 18th (18:59.35), respectively. Rudawsky won the bonus heat in the 200 breast for 17th in that event (2:36.93) as well.
Also of note, Clare Walsh and Adriana Hoak were in the consolation heat of the 100 free, notching respective places of 14th (54.78) and 16th (55.90), and the combination of Melissa Haug-Hunt-Hoak-Walsh turned in a fourth-place swim in the 400 free relay (3:37.01).
In men's action, Wooster slipped one spot Saturday to finish right in the middle of the nine-team field with 671.5 points, an impressive showing when taking into account the youth of the team. Denison won the championship with 1774.5 points, ahead of Kenyon (1572.5), while Wabash came in third (805), followed by a tight pack of Wittenberg (691), Wooster, Oberlin College (659), and Allegheny (633).
The Scots received an all-conference performance from diving standout Luke Knezevic, as his score of 465.85 on the one-meter board was good for third-place. He also took third on the three-meter (471.80) Thursday, while teammate Ryan O'Dell was 10th in the one-meter competition (274.30).
In the pool, Wooster's top event was the 200 backstroke, with Alex LaJoie and Adel El-Adawy advancing to the consolation finals and hitting the wall 13th (1:58.29) and 14th (1:58.50), respectively.
Peter Parisi, Imre Namath, Brett Dawson, and El-Adawy closed the meet by teaming up for fifth-place in the 400 freestyle relay (3:12.10), while individually, Kevin Audet paced the Scots in the 1650 free, as did Peter Hause in the 200 butterfly, Joe Wilch in the 200 breaststroke, and Brendan Horgan in the 100 free. Overall, Audet was 17th (17:35.74), Hause 19th (2:02.09), Wilch 19th (2:19.61), and Horgan 20th (49.64).
Some members of the team will continue to vie for qualifying marks for the NCAA Div. III Championships next Saturday at Kenyon. Melissa Haug and Hunt each notched a "B" cut in the 100 fly on Friday.