Thomas Pitney
Sports Editor
On Saturday, Jan. 22, the Wooster men’s and women’s swimming teams looked to continue their stellar seasons in dual meets against the Hiram College Terriers and the Ohio Wesleyan University Battling Bishops. The Fighting Scots put on yet another dominant display, as the men’s team defeated Hiram and Ohio Wesleyan by respective scores of 239-37 and 231-46, while the women blew out the Terriers by a score of 211-49 and the Battling Bishops by a score of 183-69. These impressive victories allowed head coach Rob Harrington to notch his 254th dual meet victory on Saturday and become the winningest dual meet coach in Wooster history.
The men’s team, like the women’s, were simply too much for Ohio Wesleyan and Hiram to handle on Saturday. The opening 200-yard medley relay team of Damien Donado ’25, Noah Golovan ’23, Josh Pearson ’24 and Ryan Gross ’25 won the relay with a time of 1:40.46. Tucker Andrewjeski ’25 capitalized on the Scots’ momentum by seizing first place in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:22.07, then later capturing victory in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:18.27. Andrewjeski was pleased with his performance, saying that “the 1000 free and 200 breast are both events I take very seriously, so it was nice to see a good result from a competitive dual meet. Although there is room to improve, I know I can clean up my mistakes at our conference meet.”
The men were also aided by Pearson’s individual victories in the 200-yard freestyle, the 100-yard butterfly and the 400-yard individual medley. Isaac Shaker ’25 was also a key contributor to the Scots’ victory, notching wins in the 200-yard butterfly and the 500-yard freestyle. Donado won the 100-yard backstroke, Doak Schultz ’23 emerged victorious in the 100-yard breaststroke, Gross won the 50-yard freestyle and Max Likins ’25 reigned supreme in the 200-yard backstroke to secure victories against both Ohio Wesleyan and Hiram.
The women’s team set the tone with a terrific performance in the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Mia Chen ’22, Molly Likins ’22, Ollie Bream ’25 and Maddie Becker ’24 finished with a winning time of 1:55.22, six seconds ahead of Ohio Wesleyan’s second-place time. Emma Connors ’24 continued the Scots’ momentum by cruising to victory in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:24.52 and then later winning the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:33.65. Chen emerged victorious in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:03.12. In the 50-yard freestyle, Carol Maag ’23 captured victory with a time of 26.61. Meanwhile, Becker won the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 56.08.
Likins took first place in both the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke events. These races put the Scots’ depth on full display, with Becker finishing second place in the 100-yard breaststroke and Madison Whitman ’22 attaining third place in the 200-yard breaststroke. Likins praised her teammates, saying that “we have such a great breaststroke crew that knows how to swim these events well and knows how to get the win.”
Further headlining the women’s dominant performance were Bream’s victories in the 100-yard butterfly, the 200-yard butterfly and the 400-yard individual medley. Bream noted that her positive attitude helped her navigate these individual events. “I approached the races knowing they would be difficult but also knowing I had to have fun. If you’re not having fun at the end of the day, I think you’re doing it wrong.” The women capped off their tremendous performance with the team of Becker, Hallie Findlan ’25, Connors and Likins winning the 200-yard freestyle relay.
With these victories, head coach Rob Harrington reached more dual meet wins than any other coach in Wooster history. The swimmers were very complimentary of Harrington’s impact on them. Bream stated that “at the end of the day Rob has everyone’s best interests at heart and will always be there to support us as we go forward together.” Schultz also predicted more success for his head coach, saying that “I believe it is only a taste of what Rob will continue to accomplish with our team this season into next.”
The Scots’ next meet will be on Saturday, Jan. 29 against Oberlin College at Timken Natatorium.