Senior butterfly specialist and co-captain Steven Hardy will be one of the leaders for the Fighting Scots, who aim to replicate last year's top-five conference finish.

With 16 freshmen and sophomores on its 25-man roster, The College of Wooster believes it has a core group in place that can develop into a team that will continue the program's tradition of finishing among the top half of the uber-competitive North Coast Athletic Conference Championships, possibly as soon as this coming February.

"The theme of this year is that the team is young. We're still trying to figure some things out, but many of the major contributing members will be from the two most recent recruiting classes," said Rob Harrington, who has guided the Fighting Scots to eight top-five NCAC finishes in his 10 years as head coach. "It's always a huge challenge to be in the top half of (our) conference, but that inevitably is the goal, as well as to get some national cuts."

After graduating three high-scoring seniors and two other contributors, Brian Maddock is ready to take on the lead role for Wooster. The junior backstroke specialist "put time in during the off-season," according to Harrington, and thus should be able to improve on his top-10 NCAC performances from last year when he was seventh in the 100 back with a time of 51.78, just one-hundredth second shy of an NCAA "B" cut, and 10th in the 200 (1:55.03).

Sophomores Frayne Poeting and Zackary Pool are two of the key underclassmen ready to play an integral role in the team's development. Pool showed strong potential last season, placing 11th in the 200 butterfly (1:58.41) and 12th in the 200 back (1:59.92) at the conference meet, while Poeting contributed on relays and could be in store for a breakout in the middle distance freestyle and breaststroke events.

There are a host of other veterans who will be significant factors, including senior co-captains Steven Hardy and Kyle Koemm, juniors Evan Hagedorn, James Love, and Sebastian Weber, and James Lorenzin and Andrew Pfeuffer who complement fellow sophomores Poeting and Pool.

Hardy has been an NCAC scorer in the butterfly throughout his career, Hagedorn may be the Scots' leading breaststroker after a 16th-place conference swim in last year's 100 (1:01.07), and Love possesses a great amount of talent as a sprint freestyler/butterflyer.

Lorenzin and Weber are distance freestyle and backstroke specialists, both aiming to produce points as they did at the 2012 NCAC Championships, while Pfeuffer is a talented breaststroker.

The eight-member freshmen class appears to be loaded with potential, with Aaron Brown and Conner Gelwicks headlining the group. Brown appears set to take over as Wooster's top sprinter and Gelwicks will make an immediate impact in the backstroke and distance events, while Jacob Earle and Avery Wilson also seem ready to contribute right away.

Not to be overlooked, the Scots will receive scoring from two divers – freshman Aaron Salzman and sophomore Bryan Smith – which could be the difference in a top-five conference finish.

While a lot of new names will be taking on prominent roles in 2013-14, Harrington likes the "vibe" on the team and thinks there is a "good foundation for the next couple of years."