Kate Hunt

The College of Wooster women's swimming and diving team solidified its third-place finish during the final day of the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships, finishing with 947 points, well clear of fourth-place DePauw University (877), while the Fighting Scot men slipped one spot to eighth as action wrapped up Saturday at C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton, Ohio.

Wooster has now finished in third three out of the last five seasons, however, this year's result may be more impressive with the addition of a strong DePauw team to the conference. Consider the Scots scored 90 more points than at last season's NCAC's, while repeat champion Denison University totaled 218 less. For those efforts, Rob Harrington was selected as the NCAC Women's Swim Coach of the Year for the first time in his career.

On Saturday, Wooster racked up four more "B" cut times for the NCAA Div. III Championships, three school records, and a couple of all-conference (top-three) performances.

Its strongest event was the 200 butterfly, in which three of the eight championship heat competitors were Scots. Kate Hunt paced the group with a third-place time of 2:05.49, slightly better than the Wooster record held by Melissa Haug, who had reset her own record during the prelims to 2:05.90. Both were "B" cut marks. Haug finished fourth in the finals (2:06.47), and one of her twin sisters, Rebecca Haug, was sixth (2:09.87), while teammates Anna Duke, Colleen Kill, and Caitlyn Murphy also all scored, taking 13th (2:14.84), 17th (2:15.30), and 21st (2:18.75), respectively.

The third Haug triplet, Priscilla Haug, significantly lowered her own school record and turned in an NCAA "B" cut in the 200 backstroke. Her fifth-place swim of 2:05.41 during the championship finals was more than two seconds faster than her previous best (2:08.00), while Samira El-Adawy produced the second-fastest time by a Scot with a 2:07.25 in the consolation heat. That put El-Adawy 12th overall, with Mariah McGovern not far behind in 14th (2:10.45).

More notable individual efforts came from Rachel Appleton, Kaitlyn Fries, Adriana Hoak, Morgan Hughes, Kara Markham, Sarah Rudawsky, and Clare Walsh. Appleton and Hughes each placed 11th in their specialties, the 200 breaststroke (2:32.72) and 100 freestyle (53.10), respectively. Markham led Wooster and was 13th overall in the 1650 free (18:13.24), followed by Rudawsky in 15th (18:28.61). The latter earned 16th in the 200 breast (2:36.55), while Fries won the bonus heat of that event for 17th-place (2:32.99) and Walsh accomplished the same in the 100 free (54.45). Hoak added some team points via a ninth-place showing on the one-meter diving board (242.15).

The lone relay of the day allowed the Scots to close the meet with one more "B" cut and school record. The 400 freestyle team of Hunt, Hughes, Walsh, and Melissa Haug covered the race in 3:30.65, about a half-second faster than the program's top time set in 2002 and good for all-NCAC honors (third-place).

In the men's 10-team standings, Wooster's final tally was 473 points, just 52 shy of sixth-place Oberlin College (525), while Denison successfully defended its championship (1,665), outdistancing fellow national power Kenyon College (1,546).

Saturday's top performer for the Scots was Alex LaJoie, who came in 11th in the 200 back (1:54.78), followed by teammates Brian Maddock in 13th (1:58.83) and Matt Wong in 23rd (2:12.44). The other event with multiple scorers was the 200 fly, in which Peter Hause and James Love touched 15th (2:03.26) and 22nd (2:06.89), respectively.

Imre Namath won the bonus heat of the 100 free for 17th-place (47.77), Kevin Audet scored in the 1650 via an 18th-place swim (17:37.36), and Joe Wilch added a 23rd in the 200 breast (2:22.54).

Now, Wooster will wait to hear from the NCAA if any of its 11 "B" cut performances from the last three days will be strong enough to qualify for March's national meet.