Ben Blotner
Senior Sports Writer
The Fighting Scots swim and dive teams were both successful in their matchups against the Oberlin College Yeomen and Yeowomen, and Wittenberg University Tigers on Nov. 17. The men were victorious by scores of 197-77 against Oberlin and 208-70 over Wittenberg, while the women came out on top by scores of 216-58 and 203-76, respectively.
“The team performed very well for this point in the season,” said Head Coach Rob Harrington. “It’s very nice to get a couple of conference wins.”
The women’s “B” relay team of Mia Chen ’22, Madison Whitman ’21, Heidi Likins ’21 and Emma Bossaert ’22, one of four Wooster teams in the 400-yard medley relay, won the event for the Scots as they finished well ahead of second-place Wittenberg.
On the men’s side, Oberlin and Wittenberg came in second and third, respectively, out of the six teams involved, but Wooster’s “A” team of Josh Gluck ’21, Burke Poeting ’19, Trey Schopen ’20 and Cameron Gelwicks ’19 was able to pull off the victory.
Wooster also pulled off a sweep in the 1000-yard freestyle, with Emma Fikse ’19 and Ryan Campbell ’19 each taking first place.
The trend of Wooster victories continued for most of the day. Although the Scots had more swimmers competing in each event than the other schools did, their dominance was nonetheless quite impressive.
This dominance was particularly evident in the 200-yard backstroke, where no Oberlin or Wittenberg swimmer outraced any Wooster swimmer. The three Wooster women competing, Hannah Langer ’21, Claire Cerne ’21 and Nell Kacmarek ’20, finished as the top three in their race. Hunter Pierson ’20, Doak Schultz ’22, Michael Crookshanks ’19 and Ric Reynolds ’19 all finished in the top four for the men.
Among the rare events in which Wooster athletes did not take home first place were the 100-yard backstroke and the 200-yard butterfly, where both the men and the women were bested. Morgan Siefert ’19 of Wittenberg and Michael Lin ’20 of Oberlin finished first in the backstroke, while Wittenberg’s Marita Banta-Long ’20 and Trey Gregory III ’21 won the butterfly. Lin also came in first in the men’s 200-yard breaststroke and 200-yard individual medley. Oberlin’s Laura Young ’21 took the top spot in women’s one-meter diving, but Wooster’s Eric Jacques ’22 outdove Wittenberg’s Noah Miller ’22 for the men.
Along with their 200-yard backstroke dominance, the women pulled off the feat of beating out every opposing swimmer in multiple other events, including the 50-yard freestyle and 200-yard breaststroke. They also nearly did it in the 100-yard butterfly, boasting the top five swimmers in the event out of 10.
Women’s team captain Annabelle Hopkins ’19 was impressed with the effort the team gave despite being at a difficult point in the season in terms of training.
“Despite common wisdom that swimmers don’t compete well at this point in the year, we had some incredible swims,” Hopkins said. “I think this indicates that we are a force to be reckoned with and we can expect some great things at the Wooster Invitational.”
The College of Wooster swimming and diving teams’ next competition is the Wooster Invitational. Nov. 29 was the first day of the event, but the action continues on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. The swimming competition will be held at Wooster High School, with the diving events taking place at Timken Natatorium.
(Photo from Wooster Athletics)