Senior Evan Hagedorn looks to further lower his school record in the 200 breaststroke this season.

The College of Wooster men's swimming and diving team has put a rebuilding, and sometimes frustrating, 2013-14 season behind it and is ready to work back up the North Coast Athletic Conference standings, where the Fighting Scots traditionally finish among the top half in NCAA Div. III's preeminent swim league.

"We had a younger team, and it was disappointing that two relays (disqualified) at NCAC's, plus our No. 2 diver wasn't able to compete. That set us back more than 120 points and at least a couple of places in the standings," said 12th-year head coach Rob Harrington. "We're moving forward this year with pretty much the entire scoring group back, plus the addition of a couple of talented first-years."

Senior co-captains Brian Maddock and Evan Hagedorn will lead the way. Maddock has been on the fringe of qualifying for the NCAA Div. III Championships and setting school records in the backstroke events, which include a fifth- and eighth-place in the 100 (51.54) and 200 (1:54.76), respectively, at last season's conference meet. Ever the team player, he is working on adding some new events to his repertoire this season, primarily the 200 and 400 individual medleys.

Hagedorn had a breakout performance at the 2014 NCAC Championships, shattering a Wooster mark in the 200 breaststroke (2:11.66). He'll continue to focus on the breast events, forming a strong trio in that area with junior Frayne Poeting and sophomore Jacob Earle. Poeting moved up to 20th in the conference in the 200 (2:15.30) last year, while Earle was 18th in both the 100 (1:00.60) and 200 (2:14.23), but the latter is currently trying to overcome an injury.

Similarly, the Scots have an exciting trio in the butterfly events, consisting of senior James Love, junior Zackary Pool, and sophomore Avery Wilson. Love paced the group in the 100 last February, coming in 14th (52.40), and Pool was the team leader in the 200 and 15th overall (1:58.91). Wilson and Love touched right behind him in the 200, taking 16th (1:59.84) and 17th (2:01.84), respectively.

Not to be overlooked are hard-working and talented sophomores Conner Gelwicks and Aaron Brown. Gelwicks looks to continue to develop following respective 11th-, 13th-, and 14th-place NCAC swims in the 200 back (1:56.62), 200 free (1:43.18), and 1650 free (16:52.95), and his personal goal is to break the school records in the 200 and 500 free. Brown is in good shape to serve as Wooster's top sprinter again and improve on a 22nd-place showing in the 50 free (21.80) and as well as a 23rd-place in the 100 (48.28).

There are a number of others who have the potential to be regular dual-meet and conference-level scorers, such as junior butterflyer Travis Burgess, sophomore Ben Hopper, who came through with a 16th-place NCAC performance in the 100 back (55.73), junior distance specialist James Lorenzin, junior freestyler Michael Sokolich, and senior backstroker Sebastian Weber.

Also of note, sophomore Aaron Salzman will provide valuable points in diving. He was 12th on both the one-meter (336.10) and three-meter (291.05) among a very competitive field at the 2014 NCAC's.

Among the first-year class look for Matthew Pech and James Austin to contribute right away, and possibly Luke Mierzejewski.