GRANVILLE, Ohio – The College of Wooster men's swimming and diving team and Wabash College jockeyed back and forth for third-place all night on the final day of the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships, and when all was said and done, the Fighting Scots held off the Little Giants for the program's first top-three conference finish in two decades. Wooster's women maintained its fourth-place status on Saturday at Denison University's Trumbull Aquatics Center.
Saturday saw Wooster and Wabash trade possession of third-place four times, with the Scots taking over for good in the 200 butterfly. Wooster had its cards stacked right in the event, overmatching Wabash 87-39 on the scoreboard, thanks in large part to two Scots in the championship final. Pearson shaved over three seconds off his preliminary swim to lower his school record in the event and post a NCAA Div. III "B cut" in the process at 1:49.65, which was the fifth-place time. Sophomore Isaac Shaker joined Pearson in the championship final and went 1:54.51, which ranked eighth. Shaker's time is the seventh-fastest in program history.
In the consolation final, first-year Matt Kaley cracked Wooster's top-10 list with a 1:57.96, which was 12th, and gave the Scots three finishers before the first Little Giant in the event. Junior Garrett Morris' 2:01.04 ranked 14th to round out the event's scorers.
From there, Wooster played the wait-and-see game during diving, with Wabash having two divers in the three-meter championship final. First-year Leo Edmonds-Doberenz did his part, scoring 19 points in prelims with the 11th-place score of 254.45 points. Wabash's divers placed eighth and ninth, keeping Wooster ahead by 14 points, meaning the Scots secured the third-place finish as long as the 400 freestyle relay did not get disqualified and finished within strike distance of the Little Giants. Wooster was a conservative sixth in the 400 freestyle relay, coming in at 3:09.37, which ranked slightly over a second off the Scots' seed time for the event. However, junior Josh Pearson, first-year Callum Glover, sophomore Ryan Gross, and senior Doak Schultz all were well into the safe zone, with the closest reaction time reading coming in at 0.35 of a second. Wooster was two spots behind Wabash, which went 3:06.52, giving the Scots a 10-point margin of victory for third-place at 1,124.5-1,114.5.
Wabash took its first lead of the night in the 1,650 freestyle, but Wooster stormed right back to pull ahead 831.5-800.5 following the 100 individual medley. Schultz led six scorers in that event with the fifth-place time of 52.71, a clip just off his school-record time of 52.41. First-year Boston Sullivan went 53.81 to win the consolation final, with that time now sitting third on the program's all-time leaderboard. Senior Noah Golovan made the championship final with a 54.19 in prelims and lowered his collegiate-best to 53.84 en route to a ninth-place finish, with the time ranking fourth on the program's top times list. First-year Flynn Cowie went a collegiate-best 55.23 to join the top-10 program crew, and he was 13th at the NCAC meet. Sophomore Zach Fickes placed 17th with a time of 57.10.
Wooster remained ahead of Wabash until the 200 breaststroke. Sophomore Max Likins' ninth-place time of 1:57.93 in the 200 backstroke helped protect the lead. Likins was joined in the top two heats in finals by first-year Will Laymon and junior Lyonel Fritsch, who were 12th and 14th with times of 2:01.12 and 2:02.42, respectively. Wooster still led following the 100 freestyle, despite having just two scorers in the event. Glover's 12th-place time of 46.51 tied Steve Bayuk's 2000 time for the fourth-fastest in program history, while Gross was five spots back at 47.52.
Sophomore Tucke Andrewjeski was Wooster's top 200 breaststroker on the men's side. The sophomore's 2:07.98 was the 11th-place time, while Golovan was three spots back after stopping the watch at 2:12.08. Sophomore Andre Yazhbin claimed top honors among Wooster's men milers with a time of 17:28.91, and Fritsch joined him in the top-18 with a time of 18:08.94.
Of note, Wooster and Wabash have a habit of being the teams at the focal point of Scots' NCAC Championship milestones. In 2017, Wooster and Wabash traded the lead for fourth-place three times before the Little Giants tied the score at 940 at the conclusion of the three-meter diving competition. Alumnus Cameron Gelwicks held off Wabash's Wyatt Tarter following legs by alumni Ryan Campbell, Garrett Layde, and Conner Gelwicks, who broke a 17-year-old school record with a time of 3:05.62 in the 400 freestyle relay. The time was 1.09 seconds faster than Wabash, giving Wooster its first top-four NCAC finish in a decade.
On the women's side, Wooster sophomore Hallie Findlan, first-year Gracie Duchon, junior Maddie Becker, and sophomore Ollie Bream capped the NCAC Championships with the fourth-place time of 3:32.63 in the 400 freestyle relay. Wooster's relay team accounted for three of the Scots' eight championship finals finishes on Saturday. Bream's sixth-place time of 2:06.55 in the 200 butterfly led the quartet, while Duchon and Becker placed seventh in the 100 individual medley and 200 breaststroke, respectively. Duchon joined Becker as the lone Scots to eclipse a minute in the 100 individual medley, coming in a 59.99, which trails Becker's 59.93 for the top time in program history. Becker cracked Wooster's top-10 list for the 200 breaststroke, reaching seventh-place with a 2:24.90 in finals.
Wooster loaded up in the 1,650 freestyle, and that strategy worked, with Scots scoring 145 points to all but solidify a fourth-place finish. Wooster occupied places seven through nine and 11 through 14 in the event. First-year Lacey Mindock led the trio of top-nine Scots at 17:44.68, while JP Timken was right behind at 17:55.67, with both times ranking inside the program's top-10 in the event. Junior Emma Connors went 18:00.75 to place ninth, senior Kay Wetmore's 18:08.77 was 11th, sophomore Mariam Zayour's 18:51.66 was 12th, first-year Bailey Nickols' 19:14.47 was 13th, and first-year Hadley Reckard's 19:59.45 was 14th.
Wetmore made her third championship final start in the 200 butterfly and responded with the eighth-place time of 2:16.29. Eighth-place is where first-year Emma Humbert resided in her first championship final start, with that coming in the 200 backstroke. Humbert touched at 2:10.78. Findlan continued to shine atop the consolation final leaderboard, this time winning that heat of the 100 freestyle at 53.17.
Other top-18 scorers for Wooster included sophomore Izzy Bellefleur (200 breaststroke, 2:31.76), Zayour (200 backstroke, 12th, 2:16.56), senior Min Kim (200 backstroke, 14th, 2:16.93), first-year Coco Malnar (200 backstroke, 15th, 2:17.52), sophomore Vicky Maumbe (100 individual medley, 15th, 1:08.18), first-year Keara Wiley (100 freestyle, 15th, 55.00), sophomore Teagan McCullough (200 breaststroke, 16th, 2:43.58), and McCullough (200 butterfly, 17th, 2:37.09). Notable, McCullough contributed points to the team in consecutive events.
Kenyon College led the nine NCAC men's team with 2,029.5 points. The Owls were followed by Denison at 1,912.5 points. DePauw University rounded out the top-five, finishing behind Wooster and Wabash with 998 points.
Denison held off Kenyon 2,007-1,943.5 on the women's side. DePauw's 1,293.5 points ranked third, while Wooster tallied 1,126.