Scots Have Weekend Off From Competition, Continue to Prep for NCAC’s

Amanda Bailey

With the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships just about a month away, The College of Wooster men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will continue training toward that meet, while receiving a rare break from dual-meet competition this week. Next on the slate will be the Fighting Scots’ final home meet of the season, a dual against Wheeling Jesuit University (1-5 men, 1-5 women) Saturday, Jan. 26, at 1 p.m. It will mark the final appearance for 13 seniors at Timken Natatorium.

Last Week: On Jan. 11-12, both Wooster teams easily swept a pair of NCAC dual meets, with the men cruising past Hiram College 144-83 and Ohio Wesleyan University 147-67 and the women posting similar dominant victories of 161-73 at Hiram and 146-79 against Ohio Wesleyan at home. The Scot men are now 7-1 overall and the women are 6-2 in dual-meet competition this season.

Sophomore standout Eric Babbitt (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. / Santa Margarita Catholic) combined for three individual wins over the weekend, taking the 50-meter freestyle (25.24) at Hiram as well as the 200-yard freestyle (1:50.45) and 200-yard butterfly (2:06.61) against Ohio Wesleyan. He also lead off the 200-meter freestyle relay, which set a Hiram pool record (1:38.21), while joining him in that record-setting effort were freshman Brendan Horgan (Hudson, Ohio / Western Reserve Academy), sophomore Michael Saltzman (Evansville, Ind. / Asheville School – N.C.), and sophomore Ryan Radtke (Willoughby, Ohio / Notre Dame Cathedral Latin).

Another double-winner for Wooster was sophomore Logan LaBerge (Towson, Md. / Towson), who topped the field in the 100-meter backstroke (1:02.13) at Hiram and the 200-yard backstroke (2:03.52) against Ohio Wesleyan. Radtke and junior Andrew Olsen (Evanston, Ill. / Evanston Twp.) also earned victories at Hiram in the 400-meter freestyle (4:24.69) and 100-meter breaststroke (1:10.88), respectively, while Horgan, Saltzman, and freshman Adel El-Adawy (Cairo, Egypt / German) triumphed against Ohio Wesleyan in the following respective events – the 100-yard freestyle (49.01), the 50-yard freestyle (22.76), and the 400-yard IM (4:33.00).

The Scots also scored some key points in diving, with junior Dustin Klein (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Fox Chapel Area) finishing first on both the one-meter (176.25) and three-meter (168.80) at Hiram and on the one-meter (173.00) and three-meter (141.80) against Ohio Wesleyan.

On the women’s side, senior distance specialist Amanda Bailey (Westlake, Ohio / Westlake) paced Wooster, winning all four individual events she entered in the two meets. Bailey swept the 400-meter freestyle (4:50.23) and the 800-meter freestyle (10:01.55) at Hiram, and repeated in the 500-yard freestyle (5:37.60) and 1000-yard freestyle (11:23.78) against Ohio Wesleyan.

Additionally, sophomore Syd Kelly (Edina, Minn. / Edina) won three events – the 200-meter IM (2:38.05) at Hiram as well as the 200-yard breaststroke (2:37.59) and the 400-yard IM (4:58.54) against Ohio Wesleyan – while sophomore Alice Case (Berkeley Hts., N.J. / Mount Saint Mary Acad.), junior Meggie Edwards (Lynchburg, Va. / E.C. Glass), freshman Tamari Farquharson (Kingston, Jamaica / Mercersburg Academy – Pa.), and freshman May Tobar (Athens, Ohio / Athens) were all double-winners during the weekend. Case touched the wall first in both the 200-yard freestyle (2:03.79) and the 200-yard butterfly (2:18.47) against Ohio Wesleyan, Edwards won the 100-meter freestyle (1:03.36) at Hiram and the 200-yard backstroke (2:17.62) against Ohio Wesleyan, Farquharson placed first in both the 50-meter freestyle (28.88) and the 100-meter breaststroke (1:20.71) at Hiram, and Tobar was the victor in the 100-meter backstroke (1:10.85) at Hiram and the 100-yard freestyle (56.86) against Ohio Wesleyan. The Scots’ other win in the pool came from sophomore Allie Kibler-Campbell (Benton Harbor, Mich. / St. Joseph) in the 50-yard freestyle (26.13) against Ohio Wesleyan.