Lily Kate Harpham
Staff Writer
Following a tumultuous season of canceled and rescheduled competitions, the Wooster swim and dive team has wrapped up the end of its season with a meet full of incredible performances and broken records. Competing against Hiram College and Wittenberg University over the course of two days, the Fighting Scots men’s and women’s teams tallied a total of 1,187.5 points and 1,130 points, respectively. This impressive final score is more than double the points earned by the runner-up of the competition, Hiram. During the two days of competition, many Timken Natatorium records were bested in the course of the events. Of note, Josh Pearson ’24 went 8-for-8 in first-place finishes, including clocking in at 16:23.55 in the 1,650 freestyle, a time 10 seconds faster than the previous record. Pearson also teamed up with Wyatt Foss ’21, Josh Gluck ’21 and Craig Klummp ’21 to win the 400 freestyle relay with a final time of 3:16.10.
Gluck broke a Timken Natatorium record with a 200 backstroke time of 1:51.60, a personal best for him. Gluck also set his record for the 100 backstroke with a time of 50.92, finishing the competition as a six-time winner. Foss was first to touch in the 100 freestyle with a time of 48.33, as well as being a member of the winning 800 and 400 men’s relay teams. Foss also ended the competition as a six-time winner. Other men’s winners included Eric Jacques ’22, earning 367.6 points on the one-meter diving board and Craig Klumpp ’21 clocking in at 2:12.00 in the 200 breaststroke. In the 200 freestyle relay, Lyonel Fritsch ’24, Noah Golovan ’23, Noah Fox ’23 and Klumpp clocked in a winning time of 1:31.05.
Eric Jacques ’22, currently the only diver on the team, spoke about the bittersweet nature of a season coming to a close, especially one as unorthodox as a season in a pandemic. “We are all extremely grateful that we had the opportunity to compete. It’s sad to see all the seniors leave. Each and every one of them is so unbelievably special.”
Madison Whitman ‘21 and Lexi Riley-DiPaolo ‘21, along with Emma Connors ’24 and Kay Wetmore ’22, beat an over 30-year-old Timken Natatorium record in the 800 freestyle relay with a time of 8:06.46. With a time of 4:05.84, Hannah Langer ’21, Anne Bowers ’21, Molly Likins ’22 and Connors capped the first session on Saturday by winning the 400 medley relay. Likins also earned individual blue ribbons in the 50 and 100 breaststroke as well as the 50 freestyle, with times of 30.73, 1:06.86 and 25.08 respectively.
Members of the record-breaking women’s 800 freestyle relay, Whitman and Wetmore both described the energy of the weekend’s competition. “The team atmosphere was pretty high because our team had really great swims all day and a lot of records were being broken. All of the team support and positivity pushed us to swim our hardest and break the record,” said Whitman. Wetmore added, “Although it was a very unconventional swim season, everyone persisted through and we definitely all swam our best!”
Other notable women’s victories include Wetmores’ impressive wins in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:18.83 and a time of 18:21.49 in the 1,650 freestyle. Other winners include Mia Chen ’22, with a 100 backstroke time of 1:01.09, and Anne Bowers’ ’21 first-place finishes in both the 50 and 100 butterflies, with a time of 27.19 in the 50 and 1:00.24 in the 100.