The College of Wooster swimming and diving teams maintained their respective positions on day three of the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships, held at C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton, Ohio, as the Fighting Scot women finished third overall and the men in fifth-place.

Kenyon College successfully defended its championship in both genders. The Lords’ 1,633-point total edged Denison University (1,598) and Wabash College also hit the 1,000-point milestone (1,066). The Ladies also barely held off Denison, 1,630 to 1,615.

For the Wooster women, it marked the return into the top-three of the preeminent swimming conference in NCAA Div. III. The Scots, who tallied 886.5 points, had an eight-year run of third-place showings (1998-05) before slipping to fourth in 2006 and fifth in 2007. This year, fourth-place went to Allegheny College (835.5) as the Gators rounded out the top-half of the eight-team field.

In the evening session’s opening event, Wooster piled up some key points, paced by Kristine Mann, who came in ninth overall in the 1650 freestyle (18:45.48). Two spots back in 11th was teammate Ashley Meyer (18:46.20), and three other Scots also were among the top-16 – Lizzie Deringer in 13th (19:13.50), Sam Spencer in 14th (19:33.05), and Amanda Bailey in 16th (19:38.64).

Syd Kelly advanced to a championship final (top-eight) for the second-straight day, hitting the wall seventh in the 200 breast (2:33.07). Lindsey Dorko and Stephanie Jarvis were in the consolation heat of that event, contributing 11th- (2:36.57) and 15th-place swims (2:43.40), respectively.

Wooster had three qualify for the consolation finals of the 200 back. May Tobar, Rachel Bennett, and Elizabeth Zucco were right together with respective finishes of 12th (2:15.89), 13th (2:16.44), and 14th (2:18.52).

Another strong event was the 100 free, in which Molly Bittner and Tamari Farquharson touched 10th (54.77) and 13th (55.35), respectively, in the consolation, and Meggie Edwards won the “bonus” heat for 17th overall (54.32).

Also in the pool, Mann led four Scot scorers in the 200 fly, taking 13th overall (2:19.29), Deringer was a “bonus” heat winner in the 200 breast (2:39.80), and the 400 freestyle relay of Farquharson, Edwards, Bittner, and Alice Case teamed up for a fifth-place finish (3:41.55).

In the diving well, Julie Pinzur and Caitlin McNulty both scored on the one-meter, with Pinzur in seventh (271.70) and McNulty in 10th (255.30).

On the men’s side, Wooster totaled 740 points, narrowly behind fourth-place Wittenberg University (768) but well ahead of the rest as none of the other schools reached the 500-point plateau.

Highlighting the final day of competition for the Scots were Eric Babbitt and Logan LaBerge, who both reached championship finals in individual events. Babbitt did so in his specialty, the 200 fly, as he had the fifth-fastest times in the prelims (1:56.46) and stayed in that position in the finals, despite lowering his time (1:56.16). LaBerge recorded the third-fastest time in school history in the 200 back during the prelims (1:56.85) to reach the initial NCAC championship heat of his career and then took sixth overall (1:57.29).

Adel El-Adawy nearly joined LaBerge in that heat, swimming the ninth-best prelim time (1:59.01) and settling for 11th-place overall (1:58.07), while teammate Brett Dawson came in 14th in that event (2:01.12).

Mateo Chinchilla and Andrew Olsen were both consolation finalists in the 200 breaststroke, while Brendan Horgan was so in the 100 freestyle. Chinchilla closed his career, touching 10th (2:11.91), followed by Olsen in 14th (2:18.69), and Horgan was 16th in his event (48.62).

Similar to the women, Wooster started the night with a group of scorers in the mile, paced by Ryan Radtke’s ninth-place showing (16:52.54). Joe Witkowski, Johann Weber, and Ted Polley were 15th (17:31.95), 16th (17:37.24), and 17th (17:43.97), respectively.

In Saturday’s lone relay, Horgan, Kyle Oaks, Michael Saltzman, and Radtke joined forces for fifth-place in the 400 free (3:14.30).