Deep Senior Class Cornerstone of Wooster’s 2024-25 Team

The College of Wooster women's swimming and diving team certainly has plenty of depth. A talented incoming class projects to complement an already-strong, versatile core of upperclass swimmers and divers. The Fighting Scots were fortunate to have just two graduates in 2024, leading to one of the larger teams in program history.

"I am very excited about the possibilities of this season," shared veteran head coach Rob Harrington. "We are eager to start the season and see how we match up with other programs."

Senior Ollie Bream is locked in on another hopeful national championships berth. Should she qualify for the Div. III Championships, Bream would be the program's first three-time national qualifier since W Association Hall of Famer Elizabeth Roesch, the 2005 NCAA Div. III national champion in the 1,650 freestyle. Bream's top showing at last year's national meet was 21st in the 200 butterfly.

"We have similar aspirations from last season with Ollie," confirmed Harrington. "We are hoping for her to score at nationals. She started the season really strong and looks to be in great shape."

Behind Bream is a very deep and talented senior class, which numbers 10 in all. While last year's senior duo of Maddie Becker and Emma Connors could cover all the events between them, this year's is more specialized, but just as good overall with the depth contributed to each event area.

"Our seniors will very much be leaders on the team. This class has a tremendous amount of scoring power between them."

Harrington is very high on his backstroke core, and feels they are instrumental in the team's overall success, while perhaps getting a little lost in the limelight behind all the recent individual accolades among the butterfly and breaststroke specialists. Rising sophomore Charlotte Helm qualified for the championship final of the 200 backstroke as a first-year and turned in a top-10 program time in the event. Senior Hallie Findlan is a "considerable force in the 100 backstroke," per Harrington. Other upperclass backstrokers include junior Emma Humbert and senior Mariam Zayour. Senior Celia Gehrke, sophomore Tara McGovern, and junior Hadley Reckard are the other key returning backstrokers.

Bream, Humbert, and Zayour are all "very reliable" individual medley scorers, according to Harrington. The Scots' coach went on to note, "nearly all of our first-years swim individual medley events." Sophomore Becca Murray, also a key butterfly swimmer, is another top returnee in the individual medley. Sophomores Lilly Borquist-Williams and Molly Sterrett add depth to the butterfly and individual medley.

The emergence of senior Izzy Bellefleur as an All-North Coast Athletic Conference relay performer and championship-final breaststroker gives Harrington a lot of confidence the Scots will continue to be strong in that area. Seniors Vicky Maumbe, Teagan McCullough, and Abbey Quick, and junior Ainsley Rogers are a strong quartet of returnees who will factor into Wooster's overall breaststroke success.

Senior JP Timken is the top returning distance swimmer, evidenced by a seventh-place finish in the 1,650 freestyle at conference. Timken's contributions leant themselves to being a key freestyle relay swimmer as well, where she helped the team to a fourth-place finish in the 200 free relay. Rising sophomore Kate Peck was another Scot from the distance crew who provided a significant boost to relays, as she earned All-NCAC laurels in the 800 freestyle relay. Other distance swimmers among the returnees include sophomore Rachel Frank, sophomore Anna Lundquist, junior Lacey Mindock, and junior Bailey Nickols.

Findlan is the cornerstone of the sprint group, per Harrington, who is also excited about junior Keara Wiley rejoining the team and sophomore Sylvia Krieg returning from injury. Junior Patricia Chen adds depth to the sprinters.

Senior Cady Eakins and sophomore Grace Laymon are two talented divers, and Wooster projects to be the strongest it has been in several years in the diving well. The addition of new diving coach Joel Weeman brings on-campus practice access to the program, a much welcomed boost to the student-athlete experience.

Wooster's roster is rounded out by eight first-years – Savannah Cox, Alex Hein, Ella Henderson, Charlotte Kottenstette, Maggie Layne, Guin Oliver, Elizabeth Theobald, and Maram Zayour.

"Our first-years bring a considerable amount of talent to the table," shared Harrington. "They are particularly strong in the breaststroke and butterfly. We have a lot of potential with this group."

Following the season-opening Kenyon College Relays on October 19, Wooster's run of 33 consecutive dual meet victories will be put to the test when the Scots take on Hillsdale College, a top-25 NCAA Div. II school on Saturday, November 2 at Malone University.