Scots in Canton Thursday to Saturday for NCAC Championships

Tamari Farquharson

After a season of preparation, The College of Wooster swimming and diving teams will put their hard work to test this Thursday to Saturday, Feb. 14-16, when they take on some of the top programs in NCAA Div. III at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships, hosted by Wittenberg University. The 24th annual meet will once again take place at C.T. Branin  Natatorium in Canton, Ohio. Each day, the doors will open at 8:30 a.m. for spectators, with preliminary heats slated to start at 10 a.m., and the finals begin at 6:30 p.m. each night. An event-by-event schedule, ticket information, links to individual results and team standings, and a bevy of other information can be found at http://www.northcoast.org/mw/swimchampionships.html. Kenyon College’s men and women are the defending champions.

NCAC Preview (Men): Wooster has finished in fourth-place (out of nine teams) at the NCAC Championships each of the last four years. The Scots’ goal this season is to overtake Wabash College for third-place, and thus, only end up behind NCAA Div. III national powers Kenyon College and Denison University. Kenyon and Denison were 1-2, respectively, at the 2007 NCAA Div. III Championships.

Expected to lead Wooster is sophomore Eric Babbitt (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. / Santa Margarita Catholic). He just missed out on all-conference honors (top-three) last year, taking fourth in the 200 butterfly (1:54.96) and sixth in the 100 fly (52.37). Babbitt is seeded third in both of those events this time around, as well as sixth in the 50 freestyle (21.58), and he has the potential to qualify for the NCAA national meet as an individual in all three.

Complementing Babbitt in the butterfly will be veteran Matt Dominski (Winnetka, Ill. / New Trier Twp.). The senior has scored points in three individual events each of the last three seasons at the NCAC’s, and enters the 2008 meet with the ninth-best time in the 100 fly (52.80) and 11th in the 200 fly (1:58.90).

The backstroke should be another strong event for the Scots. Sophomore Logan LaBerge (Towson, Md. / Towson) will likely anchor that group, as he aims to reach a championship final (top-eight). He’s seeded sixth in the 200 back (1:57.26) and 10th in the 100 back (53.87), while freshman teammate Adel El-Adawy (Cairo, Egypt / German) also is expected to make a significant impact, coming in with the 14th-fastest times in the conference in both the 100 (54.82) and 200 (1:59.88).

Andrew Olsen (Evanston, Ill. / Evanston Twp.) has emerged as one of the top breaststrokers in the NCAC the last couple of years. After placing 10th in both the 100 (1:00.38) and 200 (2:11.75) in 2007, the junior’s the No. 5 seed in the 200 to go with the conference’s ninth-best time thus far in the 100 (1:00.01). Senior Mateo Chinchilla (North Olmsted, Ohio / North Olmsted) has finished as high as seventh in the NCAC in both the 100 (1:01.13) and 200 (2:13.79) during his career, and will look to exceed his seeds of 13th in the 200 (2:18.27) and 16th in the 100 (1:02.65).

The school record holder in the 200 IM (1:58.74), sophomore Ryan Radtke (Willoughby, Ohio / Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin) is hoping to lower that mark as the seventh seed in that event (1:59.12). He’ll also factor in the 400 IM as the 10th seed (4:19.70) and the distance freestyles.

Other Wooster swimmers to watch include sophomore Michael Saltzman (Evansville, Ind. / Asheville School – N.C.), who has developed into the team’s top sprint freestyler, as well as seniors Kyle Oaks (Franklin, Ind. / Franklin Community), Ted Polley (Crawfordsville, Ind. / Crawfordsville), and Joe Witkowski (Bloomfield Hills, Mich. / Groves) and first-years Brett Dawson (Parma Hts., Ohio / Valley Forge) and Brendan Horgan (Hudson, Ohio / Western Reserve Acad.).

In diving, senior Alex Gauvin (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Community), a two-time all-NCAC honoree on the three-meter, will be one of the top contenders for a conference championship, while junior Dustin Klein (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Fox Chapel Area) should score significant points as well.

NCAC Preview (Women): Due in large part to injuries and a couple of top student-athletes studying abroad, the Scots slipped from fourth- to fifth-place (out of eight teams) at the 2007 NCAC Championships. This season, Wooster appears to have the talent and depth to move back into fourth, possibly third, only behind NCAA Div. III powers Kenyon College and Denison University. Kenyon won last year’s national championship, while Denison came in fifth overall.

Based on the pre-meet seedings, the Scots will be led by Tamari Farquharson (Kingston, Jamaica / Mercersburg Academy – Pa.). The freshman sensation has the potential to make championship heats (top-eight) in three individual events, as she has the sixth-fastest entry time in the 50 freestyle (24.84), as well as eighth-fastest in both the 100 free (54.35) and the 100 breaststroke (1:09.59).

In addition to Farquharson, Wooster has a load of young talent in the sprint freestyles. Sophomore Alice Case (Berkeley Hts., N.J. / Mount Saint Mary Academy) and first-years May Tobar (Athens, Ohio / Athens) and Elizabeth Zucco (Chesterland, Ohio / Laurel School) are all among the top-16 seeds in the 50, led by Zucco at No. 12 (25.20). In the 100, junior Meggie Edwards (Lynchburg, Va. / E.C. Glass) turned in a team season-best time of 54.14, which puts her seventh entering the NCAC’s, while classmate Molly Bittner (Westfield Ctr., Ohio / Cloverleaf) is right behind her in 10th (54.72) and she’s the team leader in the 200 free (2:00.19)

Case’s and Edwards’ biggest impacts will be felt in other events. A former All-American in the 100 back (59.11), Edwards is also seeded seventh in that event (1:00.30), while Case is hoping to advance to a championship final in the 100 butterfly, currently with the ninth-best time in the conference (1:00.07). Tobar and Zucco will provide support for Edwards in the backstrokes.

Sophomores Syd Kelly (Edina, Minn. / Edina) and Allie Kibler-Campbell (Benton Harbor, Mich. / St. Joseph) are among the NCAC’s top breaststrokers. After nearly qualifying for the championship heats last February, Kelly will try to do so this time as the 10th seed in the 200 (2:31.86) and 11th in the 100 (1:09.85), while Kibler-Campbell’s strength is the 100, in which she owns the 12th-fastest time (1:10.75) thus far.

Kelly also will make an impact in the 400 IM, as will senior distance freestyle specialist Amanda Bailey (Westlake, Ohio / Westlake). Other key Scots in the pool will be sophomore Rachel Bennett (Tulsa, Okla. / B.T. Washington), sophomore Elaine Coladarci (Evanston, Ill. / Evanston Twp.), junior Lindsey Dorko (Chardon, Ohio / Perry), and sophomore Kristine Mann (Warren, Ohio / Howland).

In the diving well, Wooster’s Caitlin McNulty (Sequim, Wash. / Sequim), a sophomore, and Julie Pinzur (Northbrook, Ill. / Glenbrook North), a junior, are both returning all-NCAC performers on the three-meter. Pinzur was runner-up (310.55) and McNulty took third (299.15).