Yes, The College of Wooster women's swimming and diving program has a very talented core with the firepower to score massive points at dual and championship meets alike. However, to achieve true success, the Fighting Scots will need scoring contributions from the entire lineup, and that is something that Wooster looks to iron out this fall prior to preparing for the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships in February.
"Many people would say we have a stronger dual meet team for the women than a championship team," shared head coach Rob Harrington, who became the winningest dual meet coach in program history last year. "I would like to prove people wrong. We are going to use our dual meet season to help us determine the best possible lineup for the NCAC Championships. Our team is very much on board with working to maximize our lineup."
Wooster's sophomore and junior classes lead the way within the program. The Scots have a significant scorer in each event within these two classes, led by sophomore Ollie Bream, a NCAA Div. III Championships qualifier and four-time All-NCAC performer as a first-year.
"I can rely on the sophomore and junior classes to perform at a high level and win individual events in dual meets," summed up Harrington. "They have proven themselves time and time again. We do not have many juniors; however, Emma Connors and Maddie Becker are a very talented duo with Emma in the freestyle events and Maddie in the breaststroke and individual medley. With our sophomore class, you see Ollie and Hallie Findlan at the forefront with the butterfly and freestyle events.
Sophomore Izzy Bellefleur projects to be a mainstay at breaststroke, per Harrington, while classmate Vicky Maumbe "has trained hard over the summer and has looked very strong in the breaststroke and backstroke events," according to the Scots' coach. Other returnees projected to contribute in the breaststroke and backstroke include sophomore Celia Gehrke, senior Min Kim, sophomore Teagan McCullough, and sophomore Abbey Quick. Additionally, Findlan will "probably lead off some relays and swim some sprint backstroke for us," per Harington.
Finding support to complement Findlan in the sprint freestyle events was a point of emphasis in the most recent recruiting cycle, and something Harrington "feels we have accomplished." Depth in the distance freestyle events, led by Connors, senior Naomi Fernandes, sophomore Libby Garbrandt, and senior Kay Wetmore, was already a strength for the team, and that area only grew stronger with numerous additional swimmers to the 500 and mile this year, per Harrington, who noted, "this is probably the largest group of distance freestylers we have had in my tenure."
Bream and Wetmore, the core swimmer in the senior class, per Harrington, anchor the butterfly, while several first-years project to factor in heavily here and in the individual medley events. Becker, Wooster's record-holder in the 100 individual medley (59.93) complements Bream among the returning individual medley swimmers.
In the diving well, Wooster welcomes sophomore Cady Eakins to the program. First-years Patricia Chen, Gracie Duchon, Emma Humbert, Coco Malnar, Lacey Mindock, Bailey Nickols, Hadley Reckard, Ainsley Rogers, and Keara Wiley round out this year's women's team.
"Our newcomers are a very talented and balanced group looking to make an impact in all facets of our team," summed up Harrington.
Wooster's season starts with a home dual meet on October 22 against the University of Mount Union. Other signature meets include the program's annual Wooster Invitational (December 1-3) and the NCAC Championships at Denison University (February 8-11), where Harrington is confident the Scots should finish in the top four.