Mariah Joyce
Editor in Chief
The College of Wooster’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams both emerged in fifth place, out of eight and 10 teams, respectively, after last weekend’s three day meet.
“There were some very strong performances overall this weekend,” said women’s team captain Margaret Goldsmith ’17. “There was so much positive support and enthusiasm on the deck that created a great atmosphere that produced some really fast swims.”
The Wooster Invitational was held from Dec. 1-3; diving took place on campus in Timken Natatorium, and swimmers competed at Wooster High School in the Ellen Shapiro Natatorium.
On day one of the invitational, both the men and women’s teams ended in fifth place; Case Western Reserve University was first in both genders. On the women’s side, Emma Fikse ’19 had a strong third place finish in the 500 freestyle in 5:09.56, while Anna McGlade ’17 touched fifth in the same event.
On the men’s side, Max Koch ’19 set a new career best time in the 500 free during prelims at 4:44.39, the sixth fastest time in the history of Wooster’s program.
Both teams maintained their fifth place standing on day two of the invitational, with Cameron Gelwicks ’19 bagging a third place finish in the 200 free at 1:42.72. Diving had a strong showing as well – Aaron Salzman ’17 finished first in men’s three-meter diving, and Theresa Spadola ’17 and Morgan Day ’19 finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in women’s one-meter diving.
Wooster’s teams held fifth place on day three. Siblings Garrett Layde ’19 and Maggie Layde ’18 both made impressive comebacks in the 200 fly. Garrett Layde was behind in the first 100 meters of the men’s 200 fly, but overtook the frontrunner and finished first with 1:53.27, a highlight of the meet. Maggie Layde climbed from sixth to second in the women’s 200 fly with a final time of 2:09.98.
Sarah Padrutt ’18 also had a strong showing on day three, finishing the 1,650 freestyle with a career best of 18:12.08. Salzman performed well too, winning first place in men’s one-meter diving, while Spadola earned fourth in three-meter diving.
Case Western Reserve University won the meet overall for both genders, with a final score of 1,846.50 for the women and 1,618 for the men. Case Western was followed by Edinboro University and Westminster College on the women’s side, and Westminster and Gannon University on the men’s. Wooster’s teams both broke 1,000 points — the women claimed a final score of 1,032 and the men finished with 1,009.50.
“The meet went pretty well overall,” said men’s captain Aaron Brown ’17. “We moved up two places from last year and got over a thousand points, which I don’t think we did last year. The majority of the men swam well enough that they are confident going into one of the biggest, most rigorous portions of our season — winter training — and confident for conference.”
Both College of Wooster swimming and diving teams will return from break to take on Mount Union on Friday, Jan. 13. The meet will be held in Alliance, Oh. at 5:30 p.m.