Scots in Final Preparations for 23rd Annual NCAC Championships

Alice Case

After completing the dual-meet portion of their schedule with respective records of 7-4 and 8-3, The College of Wooster men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will be idle from competition this week, in preparation for the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships Feb. 8-10. The 23rd annual event, widely considered as the top swim competition in NCAA Div. III outside of the national meet, will be hosted by Wabash College and is set to begin next Thursday morning at C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton, Ohio, and will run through Saturday night. Preliminary heats are tentatively scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. each day and the finals will start at 6:30 p.m. each night. Wooster’s men’s team has finished in fourth-place (out of nine) the past three seasons, while the Scot women saw a streak of eight-straight third-place performances (out of eight) come to an end last year when they finished in fourth.    

    Last Week: On Jan. 27, Wooster swept Ohio Athletic Conference regular season champion Ohio Northern University by final scores of 143-98 (men) and 141-99 (women) at the Scots’ Timken Natatorium.  
    On the men’s side, Eric Babbitt (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. / Santa Margarita Catholic) was a double-winner for the third consecutive dual-meet, picking up victories in the 200 freestyle (1:48.58) and the 200 backstroke (2:09.55). Logan LaBerge (Towson, Md. / Towson) touched first in the 500 free, turning in a time of 5:06.75, while Dan Noble (Akron, Ohio / Revere) swam away to the 200 butterfly title, finishing in a time of 2:08.53. Ted Polley (Crawfordsville, Ind. / Crawfordsville) captured first in the 1000 free (11.01.99) and Andrew Olsen (Evanston, Ill. / Evanston Township) won the 200 breaststroke (2:24.83). In addition, Wooster’s 200 medley relay of Michael Saltzman (Evansville, Ind. / Asheville School – N.C.), Olsen, Brandon DuGar (Cleveland Hts., Ohio / Cleveland Heights) and Ryan Radtke (Willoughby, Ohio / ND-CL) posted a victory (1:42.39), as did the 400 freestyle relay of Kyle Oaks (Franklin, Ind. / Franklin Community), Noble, Radtke, and DuGar (3:14.59).
    The women’s meet saw the Scots’ Molly Bittner (Westfield Center, Ohio / Cloverleaf) and Alice Case (Berkeley Hts., N.J. / Mount Saint Mary Academy) both win two individual races. Bittner claimed the 50 free (25.42) and the 200 fly (2:23.08), while Case topped the fields in the 100 free (55.43) and 200 free (2:01.64). Kate Kosenick (Fanwood, N.J. / Scotch Plains-Fanwood) touched first in the 200 back (2:14.83), Kathryn Lehner (Evanston, Ill. / Evanston Township) swam to a first-place finish in the 1000 free (11:45.61), and Syd Kelly (Edina, Minn. / Edina) earned top honors in the 200 breast (2:34.45). In the diving competition, Julie Pinzur (Northbrook, Ill. / Glenbrook North) earned the top-spot on the three-meter board, accumulating a score of 215.80. Also, Wooster’s 200 medley relay team of Kosenick, Kelly, Bittner, and Allie Kibler-Campbell (Benton Harbor, Mich. / St. Joseph) cruised to a first-place finish (1:55.63).