Last Saturday the Scots traveled to western Pennsylvania in the hopes of defeating Grove City College in the final dual-meet of the season. The Scots had an advantage this week as they were coming off the momentum of a win over Wheeling Jesuit University last weekend.† As the season came to a close, the Scots were looking to achieve a victory in order to build momentum going into the conference championship in two weeks. Unfortunately for the Scots, both the men and women would fall just short of victory.
For the women, this meet was the end of any hope for a perfect season. The Grove City Wolverines opened the meet with a very strong 200-medley race, defeating the Scots by only 0.16 seconds. Although the women fell short in combined action, individually they experienced great success as Allie Kimber-Campell í10 won the 100-yard breaststroke. In addition, Caroline Hanson í13 won the 1000-meter freestyle, Melissa Haug í12 won in the 200-yard butterfly and Priscilla Haug í12 won in the 500-meter freestyle. Despite these impressive personal showings, the Scots fell just short of victory, ruining their hopes of a perfect dual-meet season.
The men also fell short in terms of team competition, however they did manage some individual victories of their own. Eric Babbitt í10 won two races, the 500- and 1000- yard. In addition, Michael Saltzman í10 placed the field in the 50-yard freestyle and Logan LaBerge í10 paced the field in the 200-yard backstroke. These impressive performances were not enough to push the Scots to victory as Grove City managed to dominate many of the afternoonís races pushing past the Scots to achieve victory.
Despite this weekís disappointing losses, the Scots look forward to competing in the 26th annual North Coast Athletic Conference Championships in two weeks. The championships will be held in Canton, Ohio, Feb, 11-13.† The Scots will look to improve on last yearís fifth place finish for the men and fourth place finish for the women. The expectations will be high this year as the Wooster men have finished fifth for two years straight and the Wooster women have managed to have a spectacular season. In addition, both teams placed third in conference relays at the beginning of the season, creating high expectations for a better showing at the conference championships this year.