Conner Gelwicks

Courtney McGovern

The College of Wooster men's and women's swimming and diving teams kicked off the 2013-14 season Saturday with the annual Kenyon Relays, formerly known as the North Coast Athletic Conference Relays, a unique event that brings together strong programs from the region for a strictly relay competition. Both Wooster squads finished in the top half, fourth-place among the eight-team field.

The Fighting Scots' women's team scored slightly better with 48 points, just four shy of archrival and third-place Wittenberg University (52), while Denison University and Kenyon College tied for top honors (96). Wooster defeated the likes of Ohio Northern University (36), Ohio Wesleyan University (14), and Allegheny College (10).

The highest finishing relay of the day for the Scots was the 200 breaststroke, as the team of Alexandra Desotelle, Kaitlyn Fries, Erin Drake, and Rachel Appleton took fifth-place overall (2:11.63).

In her first collegiate meet, freshman Courtney McGovern stood out. She led off the 200 backstroke relay, also consisting of older sister Mariah McGovern, Molly Laubernds, and Sarah Litt, that touched seventh (1:55.17). The younger McGovern also opened the 200 butterfly relay (1:53.16), followed by Laubernds, Litt, and Fries, and the 200 freestyle relay (1:43.58), followed by Desotelle, Mariah McGovern, and Laubernds, groupings that both finished in eighth-place.

Two additional eight-place teams were the 200 medley relay (1:54.24), which included both McGovern sisters, Appleton, and Laubernds, and the three-member 1500 freestyle relay (16:56.47), with distance specialists Anna McGlade, Caitlin Shea, and Laubernds each going 500 yards.

On the men's side, Wooster scored 36 points, more than Ohio Wesleyan (28), Wittenberg (26), and Allegheny (14), while Kenyon won the meet (104).

The Scots produced five top-10 finishing relays, led by the seventh-place team of Frayne Poeting, Brian Maddock, Jacob Earle, and Evan Hagedorn in the 200 breaststroke (1:54.73).

Maddock led off each of the other top-10 teams. He opened the meet with Poeting, Zackary Pool, and Aaron Brown en route to a ninth-place in the 200 medley (1:39.75). Later, it was Maddock, Pool, Conner Gelwicks, and Poeting combining for eighth in the 200 backstroke relay (1:42.18), and a similar team of Maddock, Pool, Gelwicks, and James Love hitting ninth in the 200 butterfly (1:38.55). In the 1500 free, Maddock was followed by Michael Sokolich and Gelwicks, and their joint effort was good for a solid 10th-place showing (15:52.03).

Wooster will begin the traditional dual-meet part of the season next Saturday at Wittenberg.