Anna Duke
Sports Editor
The men’s and women’s Wooster swimming and diving team both took third place out of eight teams at the Kenyon Relays meet. Both teams finished behind Kenyon College and Denison University, who finished first and second respectively in both events.
The season opener is not a typical swim meet. There are no individual events; instead, the meet is composed of 17 relays, some of which are co-ed. Kenyon invited eight teams, seven from the NCAC and Ohio Northern University, to participate in the annual meet.
“The meet at Kenyon is a long day,” said Morgan Hughes ’15. “Everyone swims four, five or six events, and with that repition it’s difficult to keep the momentum through the meet, but both teams really kept up the energy, cheering on deck and working hard in the water.”
The men’s team’s third-place finish showed improvement from last season. They beat Wittenberg University and Oberlin College, two teams that they lost to at the NCAC conference tournament last March, by 12 points and 30 points respectively.
The men had three top-10 finishes that helped contribute to the third place finish. The team composed of veteran swimmers Brian Maddock ’15, Frayne Poeting ’16, Jacob Earle ’17 and Evan Hagedorn ’15 took sixth place in both the 200-yard backstroke relay (1:39.84) and the 200-yard breastroke relay (1:54.03).
“Overall, the team is looking good,” said Maddock, a captain of the team. “We were able to get a solid freshman class to make up for the seniors we lost.”
The women’s team’s third place finish edged out Oberlin College and Wittenberg University by four points each.
Contributing to this third-place finish was the 200-yard freestyle relay that consisted of Courtney McGovern ’17, Hughes, Jillian Saccogna ’18 and Jamie Hibbs ’17, who recently joined the team when she transferred. The team hit the wall fourth with an impressive time of 1:50.28.
The team’s best scoring relay was in the co-ed 200-yard medley relay that placed third (1:43.51) which combined the skills of Maddock, Hagedorn, McGovern and Hughes.
“Kenyon relays was an excellent start to the season,” said Maddock. “We hope we can carry on the momentum forward this weekend against Wittenberg. We beat them this past weekend pretty handily, but we don’t want to underestimate them.”
The Scots will face Wittenberg at Wooster’s Timken Natatorium this Saturday at 12 p.m.