Scots to Take One More Shot at Qualifying for NCAAs

Eric Babbitt

The completion of the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships means the end of the 2007-08 season for most of The College of Wooster’s swimmers and divers, however, one group is going to take one last shot at recording a qualifying time for the NCAA Div. III Championships. The men’s 200 medley relay team will be in action again this Saturday afternoon, Feb. 23, at the Kenyon Invitational. They broke the school record earlier this season (1:35.67), and would now like to hit at least a time of 1:34.79, which is the “B” cut for the national meet. Additionally, Eric Babbitt (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. / Santa Margarita Catholic) will compete in two individual races.

NCAC Recap (Men): Wooster tallied 740 points for a fifth-place finish (out of nine teams) at the NCAC Championships, hosted at C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton, Ohio. NCAA Div. III national powers Kenyon College (1,633) and Denison University (1,598) topped the field again, while Wabash College also reached the 1,000-point milestone (1,066). The Scots were narrowly behind rival Wittenberg University (768) and well ahead of the rest of the field.

Highlighting Wooster’s results were two relay teams. The 200 freestyle of Eric Babbitt (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. / Santa Margarita Catholic), Brendan Horgan (Hudson, Ohio / Western Reserve Academy), Michael Saltzman (Evansville, Ind. / Asheville School – N.C.), and Ryan Radtke (Willoughby, Ohio / Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin) earned all-NCAC honors via a third-place finish (1:25.18), while the 400 medley set a new school record, as Logan LaBerge (Towson, Md. / Towson), Andrew Olsen (Evanston, Ill. / Evanston Twp.), Babbitt, and Horgan combined for a time of 3:30.95, which was good for fourth-place.

Individually, Babbitt advanced to three championship finals (top-eight). In his specialty, the 200 butterfly, he recorded the fifth-fastest time in the prelims (1:56.46) and stayed in that position in the finals, despite lowering his time (1:56.16). He sprinted an identical time in the prelims and the finals of the 50 free (21.41) while earning sixth in that event, and added a seventh-place effort in the 100 fly (51.80).

Other Scots to reach championship heats were LaBerge and Radtke. For LaBerge, it marked the first of his career. He registered the third-fastest time in school history in the 200 backstroke during the prelims (1:56.85) and then took sixth overall (1:57.29). In the 200 IM, Radtke lowered his own school record by more than two seconds in the prelims (1:56.28) and swam a similar time in the finals (1:56.88) en route to an eighth-place performance.

Wooster had a number of swimmers qualify for consolation finals (9-16) within the same event. In the 100 breaststroke, there were three Scots, as Mateo Chinchilla (North Olmsted, Ohio / North Olmsted) touched 12th (1:00.63), Olsen 13th (1:00.79), and Tyler Hartley-Shepherd (Morrisville, Vt. / Peoples Academy) 16th (1:02.27). Chinchilla and Olsen were also both in the 200 breast, with Chinchilla placing 10th (2:11.91) and Olsen 14th (2:18.69). In the 100 backstroke, it was Logan earning 10th (53.57) and Adel El-Adawy (Cairo, Egypt / German) 12th (54.67), while in the 200 back, El-Adawy finished in 11th (1:58.07) and Brett Dawson (Parma Hts., Ohio / Valley Forge) in 14th (2:01.12). In the 500 free, LaBerge was 12th (4:44.77) and Olsen 16th (4:51.55).

Rounding out Wooster’s consolation swimmers were Radtke taking 10th in the 400 IM (4:14.85), Matt Dominski (Winnetka, Ill. / New Trier Twp.) touching the wall 12th in the 100 fly (52.78), and Saltzman adding a 14th-place showing in the 200 free (1:47.06).

Also of note, Radtke led the Scots’ high-scoring group of distance freestylers, coming in ninth in the 1650 free (16:52.54), followed by Joe Witkowski (Bloomfield Hills, Mich. / Groves) in 15th (17:31.95) and Johann Weber (Oregon City, Ore. / Canby) in 16th (17:37.24), and Saltzman and Horgan were 16th-place finishers in the 50 free (22.41) and 100 free (48.62), respectively.

In the diving well, Alex Gauvin (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Community) contributed valuable points, taking sixth on the one-meter (359.85) and seventh on the three-meter (324.80).

NCAC Recap (Women): Wooster totaled 886.5 points for a third-place finish (out of eight) at the NCAC Championships, hosted at C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton, Ohio. It marked the return into the top-three of the preeminent swimming conference in NCAA Div. III for the Scots, as they had an eight-year run of third-place showings (1998-05) before slipping to fourth in 2006 and fifth in 2007. Kenyon College (1,630) barely held off fellow Div. III national power Denison University (1,615) for the team championship.

Sophomore Syd Kelly (Edina, Minn. / Edina) was one of Wooster’s top individual performers, as she advanced to championship heats (top-eight) in both the 100 and 200 breast. She finished seventh overall in the 200 (2:33.07) and eighth in the 100 (1:10.50), and also registered a 10th-place effort in the 400 IM with a personal-best time of 4:48.44.

Meggie Edwards (Lynchburg, Va. / E.C. Glass) landed a spot in the championship final of her specialty – the 100 back. The junior hit the wall seventh in that event (1:00.45) and added a team-best 12th-place sprint in the 50 free (25.13).

Complementing Kelly in the breaststroke were Lindsey Dorko (Chardon, Ohio / Perry), Tamari Farquharson (Kingston, Jamaica / Mercersburg Academy – Pa.), Stephanie Jarvis (Shelbyville, Ky. / Shelby County), and Allie Kibler-Campbell (Benton Harbor, Mich. / St. Joseph). Dorko, who missed last year’s conference meet due to an injury, came in 11th in the 200 (2:36.57) and 12th in the 100 (1:12.33). Kibler-Campbell won the consolation final of the 100 for ninth-place (1:10.67), while Farquharson took 10th in that race (1:10.96). Jarvis was 15th in the 200 (2:43.40).

Another strong event for the Scots was the backstroke. Providing support to Edwards in the 100, May Tobar (Athens, Ohio / Athens) won the consolation heat for ninth-place (1:00.97) and Rachel Bennett (Tulsa, Okla. / B.T. Washington) was 13th overall (1:03.56). In the 200, Tobar, Bennett, and Elizabeth Zucco (Chesterland, Ohio / Laurel School) were right together with respective finishes of 12th (2:15.89), 13th (2:16.44), and 14th (2:18.52).

Alice Case (Berkeley Hts., N.J. / Mount Saint Mary Academy) was a consolation winner, too, as she was ninth-place in the 100 fly (59.59), followed closely by Kristine Mann (Warren, Ohio / Howland) in 13th (1:01.57). Mann also led Wooster in the 200 fly via a 13th-place finish (2:19.29) and paced the distance freestylers, covering the 1650 in 18:45.48 for ninth-place, while Ashley Meyer (Cordova, Tenn. / Ridgeway) was two spots back in 11th (18:46.20).

Farquharson made an impact in the sprint freestyles as well, touching 13th in the 100 (55.35) and 14th in the 50 (25.34). Teammate Molly Bittner (Westfield Ctr., Ohio / Cloverleaf) was just ahead of her in the 100, in 10th-place (54.77).