First-year Josh Pearson broke the school record in the 400 individual medley on Saturday. Photo by Matt Dilyard.

First-year Josh Pearson broke the school record in the 400 individual medley, and The College of Wooster swimming and diving team broke seven Timken Natatorium records on day one of the Wooster End of Season Meet on Saturday. Wooster's comfortably ahead of visiting Hiram College and Wittenberg University with the Fighting Scots tallying 778.5 points on the men's side and 779 points on the women's side. Hiram's in second-place with 363 men's points and 364 women's points, while Wittenberg has 110.5 points in the men's standings and 182 in the women's.

Pearson was one of several regulars on the record-seeking mission on Saturday, as his day started in the 500 freestyle, where his winning time of 4:39.67 shattered the previous record of 4:47.79 held by Denison University 16-time All-American P.J. Schaner. Pearson closed the opening session as part of Wooster's 400 medley relay, where senior Josh Gluck, sophomore Noah Golovan, and senior Wyatt Foss helped Pearson break the Timken Natatorium record with a 3:30.75, a time nearly five seconds faster than John Carroll University's previous record time of 3:35.45. Additionally, Gluck's 100 backstroke leadoff split of 51.68 edged out University of Mount Union's Tyler Fry's 51.93 for the pool record.

In the evening session, another Denison University record came off the Timken Natatorium board, thanks to Gluck, Golovan, Pearson, and Foss, who had a 1:35.79 in the 200 medley relay. Later, Pearson posted a 4:03.53 in the 400 individual medley, with that time surpassing both Garrett Layde's school-record time of 4:07.20 and Case Western Reserve University's Drew Hamilton's pool-record time of 4:12.80.

Sticking with the men's record setters, Gluck lowered his 100 backstroke pool record set earlier in the day to 50.92 en route to winning the 100 backstroke, and Pearson, Gluck, senior Craig Klumpp, and Foss capped the night with a pool-record time of 7:14.33 in the 800 freestyle relay.

In total, Pearson was a five-time winner on Saturday, as he took the 200 individual medley at 1:55.09. Foss tallied four first-place finishes, thanks to the winning time of 1:48.17 in the 200 freestyle, while Gluck and Golovan (50 breaststroke, 30.32) were also four-time winners on the meet's opening day.

Other winners on the men's side included first-year Lyonel Fritsch, Klumpp, Golovan, and sophomore Noah Fox in the 200 freestyle relay (1:31.05), Fox in the 50 butterfly (25.32), junior Eric Jacques on the three-meter diving board (203.35 points), Klumpp in the 100 breaststroke (59.78), and first-year Garrett Morris in the 100 butterfly (54.27).

Wooster's women toppled an over 30-year-old Timken Natatorium record to cap Saturday's action. Senior Madison Whitman, first-year Emma Connors, sophomore Kay Wetmore, and senior Lexi Riley-DiPaolo posted an 8:06.46 in the 800 freestyle relay, bettering the old record-time of 8:08.87 set back when Scot legends Amy Thayer, Kris Baumann, Carolyn Cunningham, and 28-time All-American Brooke Henderson were among the headliners on the roster.

Junior Molly Likins, Connors, first-year Maddie Becker, and Riley-DiPaolo opened Saturday's action with the winning time of 1:40.92 in the 200 freestyle relay, while senior Hannah Langer, Likins, senior Anne Bowers, and Connors capped Saturday's first session with the winning time of 4:05.84 in the 400 medley relay. In the evening, Langer, Likins, senior Heidi Likins, and Riley-DiPaolo started things off with the winning time of 1:50.16 in the 200 medley relay. Of note, Wooster's three relays outside of the 800 freestyle were all within two seconds of a Timken Natatorium record.

Molly Likins emerged as a six-time winner on Saturday with individual blue ribbons in the 50 (30.73) and 100 breaststrokes (1:06.86) and 50 freestyle (25.08). Connors and Riley-DiPaolo were right behind with four first-place showings apiece. Connors touched first in the 200 freestyle (2:00.44), while Riley-DiPaolo had the top time of 5:19.19 in the 500 freestyle.

Bowers turned in a pair of individual first-place finishes with times of 27.19 and 1:00.24 in the 50 and 100 butterflies, respectively. Other winners included junior Mia Chen in the 100 backstroke (1:01.09), Langer in the 50 backstroke (28.08), and Whitman in the 200 individual medley (2:14.27).

The Wooster End of Season Meet concludes on Sunday with swimming at 11 a.m. and diving at 2 p.m.