400 Medley Relays, Men’s Diving Lead Way on Day 2 of NCAC Meet

GRANVILLE, Ohio – The College of Wooster women's swimming and diving team logged its third fourth-place relay of the 2025 North Coast Athletic Conference Championships on Thursday at Denison University's Trumbull Aquatics Center. Wooster's men's 400 medley relay placed fifth, while individually, senior Ollie Bream, junior Noah McDonald, and sophomore Chris Caldwell qualified for championship finals.

Sophomore Charlotte Helm and seniors Izzy Bellefleur, Bream, and Hallie Findlan went 3:57.72 for the fourth-place finish in the 400 medley relay. They were just over five seconds off the final all-conference spot. On the men's side, junior Will Laymon, junior Boston Sullivan, sophomore Ethan Neuner, and junior Callum Glover raced to a 3:27.22 for fifth to cap the session. Laymon's leadoff leg of 51.46 is a collegiate-best, and improved his already-held fifth-fastest 100 backstroke time in program history.

Bream went 2:07.27 in the prelims of the 200 individual medley to qualify for the championship final. There, the senior took eighth with a 2:06.42, a time that was a little over a second away from her collegiate-best in the event. Senior Mariam Zayour backed Bream up with the 15th-place time of 2:17.40, while sophomore Becca Murray was in the consolation final and took 18th at 2:23.58. First-year Alex Hein's 2:20.07 was the winning time of the bonus heat.

Junior Emma Humbert shaved over six seconds off the prelim swim in the 500 freestyle and posted a 5:14.51 for 12th in finals. Senior JP Timken and sophomore Rachel Frank were right behind, placing 14th and 15th with times of 5:16.00 and 5:20.08, respectively. Four Fighting Scots were in the consolation final, where junior Bailey Nickols rounded out the quartet with the 17th-place swim of 5:26.39. Sophomore Anna Lundquist won the bonus heat with a time of 5:29.97.

Findlan led Wooster in the 50 freestyle, with her 24.19 ranking 13th at Div. III's preeminent conference championship.

Diving scored Wooster 54 points. McDonald's 298.20 points were fifth, and those were backed up by a seventh-place score of 276.55 from Caldwell. Wooster moved up from sixth to fourth once the diving points were added to the meet scores.

Junior Will Laubacher continued the strong meet, logging a collegiate-best 4:44.66 in the prelims of the 500 freestyle. Laubacher was even faster in finals, going 4:41.82 for 12th-place. The time is the sixth-fastest in program history and the program's top time since 2021. Sophomore Philipp Drappatz's 4:48.43 was 18th in the 500 freestyle, while senior Ryan Gross went 4:45.27 to win the bonus heat.

Two collegiate-bests were turned in by senior Isaac Shaker in the 200 individual medley. Shaker went 1:56.72 to move to up ninth in program history in prelims, while the 1:55.41 in finals vaulted the senior up to eighth in program history. Shaker was 15th in the conference.

Classmate Tucker Andrewjeski was right behind Shaker at 1:55.59, with that time just off a collegiate-best of 1:55.29 from 2024. Junior Boston Sullivan captured the bonus heat with a time of 1:55.30.

Glover's 21.59 ranked 18th in the 50 freestyle and the junior was the program's top finisher.

Led by its divers, Denison's men have opened a sizable 716-565 lead on Kenyon College with two days of competition remaining. Wabash College has 416 points, while Wooster has a 325-324 lead over Oberlin College for fourth-place.

On the women's side, Kenyon leads Denison 721-685. Wooster is 30 points behind DePauw University for third entering Friday.

Friday's prelims start at 9:30 with finals set for a 6 p.m. start.